Yet Saints Their Watch are Keeping: Fundamentalists, Modernists, and the Development of Evangelical Ecclesiology, 1887-1937Evangelicals have always worried about how to be the Church in "the world." They have also struggled to determine with which institutions to attach themselves. Examining the idea of the church, or ecclesiology, within the Northern Protestant "establishment" in the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, J. Michael Utzinger argues that evangelical ecclesiology was characterized by denominational ambivalence. This ambivalence meant that, while Northern Protestants valued their denominational affiliations, they also had no compunction to work outside of them. Trans-denominational affiliations, a result of this ambivalence, often acted as an agent for change that not only disturbed but revitalized their home denominations. Evangelicals believed their denominations were worth fighting for, even while they criticized their respective denomination's shortcomings. Faced with what they perceived to be the waning of their cultural influence, different parties of evangelicals in the late-nineteenth worked to change the vision of the church within their home denominations. Utzinger examines the theological sources of ecclesiological change (doctrine of the Holy Spirit, eschatology, and methods of cultural engagement) that evangelicals promoted, and how these influenced later fundamentalism and modernism. Further, he carefully charts the dynamics of conflict and compromise within the Northern Protestant establishment churches. Using the Northern Baptist Convention, the Presbyterian Church in the USA, and Disciples of Christ as case studies, Utzinger shows that, despite their infighting, evangelicals typically found ways to cooperate with one another in order to preserve their denominational institutions. In other words, the controversies' results were not only contention but compromise. And, rather than indicating the eclipse of denominationalism, fundamentalism and modernism acted to revitalize those institutions and help them persist. - Publisher. |
Contents
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11 | |
13 | |
What Would Jesus Do? Evangelicals Methods to Implement Their Mission to American Culture | 29 |
Pneumatology The Holy Spirit and the shape of Authority | 75 |
The Church the Kingdom of God and Evangetical Eschatology | 111 |
19201937 | 143 |
Catalysts for Contention | 145 |
Common terms and phrases
A. J. Gordon advocates American culture American Protestantism Anonymous argued Assembly asserted Baptist Bible Union believed Bible Union biblical bishop called Chicago Christian Century Christian Standard City claimed committee compromise conference Congregationalists conservative controversy creed Darby December denominational Disciples of Christ dispensationalism divine doctrine Dwight L ecclesiology Episcopal Church Erdman eschatology evangelist faith Fleming H Fosdick fundamentalists Gladden Grand Rapids Henry History Holy Spirit Homiletic Review Ibid individual Interchurch World Movement J. C. Massee James Keswick Keswick Holiness kingdom leaders liberal Macartney Machen Methodist minister mission Missionary modernists Moody Northern Baptist Convention open membership organization pastor PCUSA Philadelphia practical preaching premillennialism premillennialists Presbyterian Church progressive orthodoxy promoted Protestant establishment Protestantism R. A. Torrey Rainsford Rauschenbusch religion religious resolution Revell Company revivalism Riley Salvation Scofield social Christianity social gospel society strict restorationists Testament Theologians trans-denominational truth UCMS unity University Press urban Watchman-Examiner William William Bell Riley York
Popular passages
Page v - God, we pray for Thy Church, which is set today amid the perplexities of a changing order, and face to face with a great new task. We remember with love the nurture she gave to our spiritual life in its infancy, the tasks she set for our growing strength, the influence of the devoted hearts she gathers, the steadfast power for good she has exerted. When we compare her with all other human institutions, we rejoice, for there is none like her. But when we judge her by the mind of her Master, we bow...
Page ii - Though with a scornful wonder Men see her sore opprest, By schisms rent asunder, By heresies distrest; Yet saints their watch are keeping, Their cry goes up, "How long?
Page xiii - George M. Marsden, Fundamentalism and American Culture: the Shaping of Twentieth-century Evangelicalism, 1870—1925 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980); but also valuable, from quite different perspectives, are Ernest R.
Page v - Bid her cease from seeking her own life, lest she lose it. Make her valiant to give up her life to humanity, that like her crucified Lord, she may mount by the path of the Cross to a higher glory.