Falwell, Jerry - Timeline Biography
Time Period
08-11-1933 - 05-15-2007
Description
Jerry Falwell ministered for almost all of his career in the same place he was born and died, Lynchburg, Virginia, and where he founded Thomas Road Baptist Church in 1956. That same year, he began broadcasting "The Old-Time Gospel Hour," a program that reached millions of households by the 1980s.
Falwell's first documented foray into politics was ostensibly a repudiation of clerical involvement of politics; in March 1965, Falwell's sermon "Ministers and Marches" excoriated ministers who supported civil rights for African-Americans. Falwell later apologized for the message, but his political involvement ramped up in response to the legalization of abortion. In 1979, Falwell helped found the Moral Majority, an organization to unite Christians in support of conservative political causes which played a key role in Ronald Reagan's victory in 1980.
In 1971, Falwell founded Liberty University, the largest evangelical school in the nation with nearly 100,000 online and residential students.
Falwell's first documented foray into politics was ostensibly a repudiation of clerical involvement of politics; in March 1965, Falwell's sermon "Ministers and Marches" excoriated ministers who supported civil rights for African-Americans. Falwell later apologized for the message, but his political involvement ramped up in response to the legalization of abortion. In 1979, Falwell helped found the Moral Majority, an organization to unite Christians in support of conservative political causes which played a key role in Ronald Reagan's victory in 1980.
In 1971, Falwell founded Liberty University, the largest evangelical school in the nation with nearly 100,000 online and residential students.
Interactive Timeline(s)
Browse Related Timeline Entries
Religious Groups
Baptist Family: Other ARDA LinksBaptist Family: Religious Family Tree
Timeline Entries for the same religious group: Independent Fundamentalist Family
Independent Fundamentalist Family: Other ARDA Links
Events
Bible Baptist FellowshipElection of Jimmy Carter
Jerry Falwell Helps Found the Moral Majority
Liberty University
Movements
Christian FundamentalismReligious Right
Related Dictionary Terms
Baptist, Christianity, Moral MajorityPhotographs
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Jerry Falwell portrait- Wikimedia Commons- from Liberty University (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Jerry Falwell preaching- National Portrait Gallery Smithsonian Institution- Gift of Time Magazine
Book/Journal Source(s)
Larson, Timothy and David Bebbington and Mark Noll, 2003. Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois.Harding, Susan, 2001. The Book of Jerry Falwell: Fundamentalist Language and Politics Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Web Page Contributor
Paul MatzkoAffliated with: Pennsylvania State University, Ph.D. in History
