Book Review: George Marden’s Fundamentalism and American Culture John Bellingham

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JOHN BELLINGHAM

JOHN BELLINGHAM is a Pastor at Rosedale Baptist Church in Welland, and an ordained minister in the Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches. Before coming to Rosedale he was a missionary in Montreal with Campus Crusade for Christ. John was born and raised in the Niagara Region along with his wife Leslie. John and Leslie have three children: Daniel, Christina, and Carey. John graduated from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago (MDiv), and in 2014 he completed an MA in Historical Theology from McGill University.

AMERICAN CULTURE FUNDAMENTALISM & book review:

George Marsden in his classic book Fundamentalism and American Culture has provided a fascinating account of the historical, theological and social factors that contributed to the American religious movement known as “fundamentalism.” Marsden is not primarily concerned with contemporary self-professing fundamentalists, but rather with those of an earlier era who did much to shape American evangelicalism as we know it today. Although ‘fundamentalism’ stood in the legacy of earlier American evangelicals, Marsden insists that it must be viewed as a “distinct version” of evangelicalism that was characterized by close ties to the revivalist tradition of the Second Great Awakening and a distinctive militancy against the liberal theology known as “modernism” which emerged during the late nineteenth century.

Throughout the book, Marsden resists the temptation to oversimplify or over-generalize and thus significantly modifies the previously formulated ‘social’ and ‘theological’ interpretations. His main thesis is that fundamentalism is not merely a passing “social aberration,” but rather is a movement deeply rooted in the earlier American evangelical tradition with its own distinct set of beliefs. Marsden focuses on three major motifs: firstly, the connection of fundamentalism with its evangelical heritage, secondly, the tendency of fundamentalists to waver between seeking reform within the denominations and separation from them and thirdly, the ambivalence of fundamentalists toward culture and intellect. The book is arranged chronologically, and Marsden carefully connects key figures, and social and theological factors to the development of the fundamentalist movement.

Marsden’s analysis begins at the close of the Civil War, maintaining that American Christianity had been significantly affected by revivalism and widespread spiritual awakening. American religion was characterized by a strong commitment to Christian education and an optimistic postmillennial eschatology which was practically manifested in widespread social activity. Marsden places great importance on the pervasive influence of “Scottish Common Sense Realism” on evangelicalism, especially through the influence of the Princeton theologians. This philosophy held that the human mind was capable of knowing the real world directly and thus was capable of discerning truth. When used in conjunction with the inductive scientific method of Francis Bacon, scientific discoveries were widely held by American evangelicals to confirm the truths of Scripture when evaluated according to common sense and reason.

The introduction of Darwinian Evolution in the 1870s therefore presented a novel challenge as many academics began to view scientific discovery as a refutation of biblical revelation. Some theologians such as Charles Hodge held strongly to their philosophical moorings and dismissed Darwinism as incompatible with biblical truth. Increasingly, others such as Henry Ward Beecher sought to reconcile science and Christianity with a new philosophy of “Idealism” which posited that science was concerned with objective facts whereas religion was concerned with subjective experience. This new philosophy in combination with a corresponding “New Theology” or “modernism” that originated from biblical scholars and critics in Germany began to find a place first in American pulpits and later in American seminaries. Theology was increasingly viewed as a malleable entity rather than a fixed set of “eternally valid truths” (p.25). Marsden demonstrates that the philosophical shifts of the late nineteenth century began to cause a rift in American evan

gelicalism where former friends and comrades in the gospel became enemies.

It was during this time that D.L. Moody rose to prominence as an outstanding American evangelist. Marsden describes Moody as a transitional figure who contributed much to the development of fundamentalism without fully subscribing to its ideals. Moody brought the longstanding tradition of American revivalism with its emphasis on holiness, and combined these with a strong adherence to biblical inerrancy, premillennialism and dispensationalism, which were to become theological trademarks of many fundamentalists. Whereas Moody emphasized pragmatism and pietism, his successors, especially R. A. Torrey, emphasized intellectualism, especially in their dogmatic emphasis on dispensational premillennialism, which Marsden cites as the “most distinctive intellectual product of emerging fundamentalism” (p. 44). This largely pessimistic approach to eschatology stood in stark contrast to the longstanding American postmillennial optimism. Marsden suggests that this new eschatology was adopted partly in reaction to liberal interpretations of the Kingdom which clung closely to postmillennial optimism. Dispensationalism also claimed to embrace a more ‘literal’ (and Baconian) interpretation of Scripture, and helped explain the moral and theological decline that many theological conservatives observed in their society.

The Keswick holiness movement is highlighted by Marsden as a major contributing factor in the emergence of fundamentalism. Keswick holiness rejected the Wesleyan notion of perfectionism while maintaining its emphasis on the power of the Holy Spirit for witnessing and service. Marsden maintains that proto-fundamentalists prior to 1890 were actively engaging in social activity and openly cooperating with other holiness groups such as the Salvation Army. He postulates that the emergence of the liberal Social Gospel in the 1890s caused the “great reversal” during which time many conservative evangelicals reacted by withdrawing completely from any direct social activity. The overall effect of Keswick theology on the fundamentalist movement according to Marsden was to replace earlier postmillen-

nial optimism for cultural and social progress, now intimately associated with liberalism, with premillennial optimism for personal victory and progress in holiness.

In the years leading up to World War I, controversy regarding modernism was heating up in both Northern Presbyterian and Baptist denominations. According to Marsden, the common enemy of modernism helped forge unlikely alliances between pessimistic, conservative dispensationalists and optimistic non-dispensationalists. Marsden points to the publication of The Fundamentals from 1910-1915, as a tangible expression of this cross-denominational cooperation. This widely distributed series of tracts attempted to defend conservative evangelical doctrine against the errors of liberalism without endorsing some of the more divisive doctrines such as dispensationalism and premillennialism that separated Baptists from Presbyterians. Marsden notes that the anti-modernist movement at this stage of development lacked the aggressive militancy of later fundamentalism. Marsden believes that the characteristic militancy of fundamentalism in the 1920s developed largely as a result of the culture shock associated with WWI. The most radical premillennialists entered the war with distinct pacifist views, but soon began to associate the German atrocities with Darwinism, and the liberals who tolerated it. This realization transformed the views of premillennialists who emerged from the war with a renewed zeal for the preservation of American society that brought them closer in line with postmillennial Presbyterians and intensified their resolve to battle the destructive teaching of evolution. Fundamentalist coalitions took shape within the Baptist and Presbyterian denominations at this time and premillennialists formed the interdenominational World’s Christian Fundamentals Association to further their agenda. “Marsden

demonstrates that the philosophical shifts of the late nineteenth century began to cause a rift in American evangelicalism where former friends and comrades in the gospel became enemies.”

Fundamentalist advances in the 1920s began to stall in the Northern Baptist denomination which Marsden explains by their hesitancy to adopt a formal creed by which to expose and

discipline liberals within their ranks. The advance continued intellectually in the Presbyterian Convention with the publication of Christianity and Liberalism in 1923 by J. Gresham Machen of Princeton. 1 Soon however, the Presbyterian advance also began to founder. Marsden explains that the American tradition of tolerance prevented more moderate conservatives from joining their fundamentalist brothers in expulsing liberals. In addition to the undercutting effect of the moderates, the highly publicised Scopes trial of 1925 dealt a fatal blow to the progress of the movement. The fundamentalists, represented by William Jennings Bryan, were made to appear foolish in the public eye through their attempt to battle evolution in the courts. In the wake of this defeat, the more extreme fundamentalists abandoned the denominations they were unable to reform. More moderate fundamentalists continued the struggle for reform from within their denominations.

Although the fundamentalist movement had largely disbanded, Marsden traces their ongoing influence in twentieth-century American evangelicalism through the Bible school movement, publications and radio and television exposure. Marsden contends that fundamentalism expressed itself in three major forms, first in growing fundamentalist contingencies within the major denominations, secondly in various Pentecostal and immigrant denominations, and thirdly in schismatic fundamentalist denominations. The first two groups preferred to take the term “evangelical” while the third maintained the “fundamentalist” badge. In this way, Marsden shows that fundamentalism has contributed much to the shaping of contemporary evangelicalism in America. “Marsden explains that the American tradition of tolerance prevented more moderate conservatives from joining their fundamentalist brothers in expulsing liberals.”

Marsden’s evaluation of fundamentalism as a movement rooted in earlier American evangelical traditions such as revivalism and Calvinism, and his emphasis on the ongoing impact of the movement on twentieth-century American evangelicals, is a very helpful correction to the overly simplistic “social” interpretations of earlier historians such as Stewart Cole who viewed

fundamentalism in terms of a short-lived, antiintellectual reaction to a rapidly changing society. In this respect Marsden’s use of the term “movement” to describe fundamentalism is in itself corrective. Marsden’s treatment is also a necessary revision of the “theological” interpretations of later historians such as Ernest Sandeen who defined the movement in overly narrow theological terms and largely ignored the social influences that impacted the development of fundamentalism. Marsden has steered a course between these two extremes and has in the process contributed significantly to this discussion.

Particularly helpful in correcting Sandeen’s interpretation is Marsden’s evaluation of the social impact of World War I in the development of fundamentalist militancy. His use of primary sources from both liberal and conservative periodicals in demonstrating the radical transformation of premillennialists from pacifists to patriots is particularly cogent. In defining the movement theologically, Marsden avoids overgeneralizations and provides a well nuanced evaluation that recognizes the importance of premillennial dispensationalism, while also highlighting the significant contributions of non-dispensational fundamentalists such as Machen, Bryan and Shields. His discussion of Machen and the Presbyterians clearly shows that Fundamentalism was not merely a movement of bigoted antiintellectuals as many assume, but was rooted in a distinct intellectual tradition that valued both science and philosophy. Marsden’s continuous referral to Common Sense Realism and the inductive scientific method of Bacon contribute to an understanding of the intellectual underpinnings of this movement which could otherwise appear to be anti-intellectual.

Marsden seems to insinuate in the context of this discussion that Common Sense Realism gave rise to the concept of biblical inerrancy (pp. 56- 57), attributing its popularization (or perhaps its origin) to Archibald Alexander, Charles Hodge and Benjamin Warfield (pp. 112-113) and referring to their view of Scripture as “peculiar” (p. 116). Although perhaps Marsden is correct in his contention that the word “inerrancy” was popularized at Princeton it seems impossible to assert

that this concept arose as a result of Common Sense Realism, since the apostle Paul constructs a theological argument on the assumption of iner- rancy (Gal 3:16).

Marsden’s book is an informative and enjoyable read. His chronological arrangement of the discus- sion is helpful in understanding the gradual pro- gression of fundamentalism which at times is very complicated. His separate discussions of events that transpired within the Baptist and Presbyterian denominations, and his discussion of overarching interdenominational happenings among premi- llennialists are useful in getting a sense of the scope of the modernist controversy in America. Marsden has aptly demonstrated that fundamen- talism transcends a mere “social” or “theological” definition and he has argued convincingly that this movement was deeply rooted in earlier American evangelicalism and that it has profoundly affected contemporary evangelicalism.

1 See Nate Wright’s review of this book in Jubi- lee Spring 2019.

Ezra Institute for Contemporary Christianity Book Review 43