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

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 clash over whether Christianity is an evolving moral framework or an unchanging, divinely revealed truth. Ultimately, the narrative tracks how the movement transitioned from academic debate to a broader culture war, culminating in the Scopes Trial and the strategic retreat of conservatives into an independent network of Bible colleges and grassroots organizations.