CH211: American Church History — Evolution, Higher Criticism, and the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy (c. 1890s–1930s)

Foundations for the Christian Life · Aug 2, 2026 · 44m

This episode explores the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy, a pivotal early 20th-century schism that permanently divided American Protestantism into liberal mainline and conservative evangelical branches. The text details how the rise of Darwinian evolution and German higher criticism challenged traditional views of biblical authority, forcing a confrontation between those seeking to modernize faith and those defending the "Five Fundamentals" of supernatural orthodoxy. By highlighting key figures like Harry Emerson Fosdick and J. Gresham Machen, the source illustrates a deep ideological…