Fosdick, Harry Emerson - Timeline Biography
Time Period
05-24-1878 - 10-05-1969
Description
Harry Emerson Fosdick graduated from Colgate and Union Theological Seminary before being ordained as a Baptist minister in 1903.
However, it was while serving as the supply pastor of First Presbyterian Church in New York City that Fosdick delivered his most well-remembered sermon, "Shall the Fundamentalists Win?," in 1922. Fosdick was a theological modernist who believed that fundamentalists -- who upheld the inerrancy of the Bible -- were obscurantists who would prevent the Christian church from keeping pace with modern society and scholarship. The sermon enraged the fundamentalist faction in the Presbyterian Church, forcing Fosdick to resign in 1924.
Fosdick, however, was friends with the wealthy John D. Rockefeller Jr., who paid for the construction of the technically Baptist but practically nondenominational Riverside Church, where Fosdick served for the remainder of his ministry.
However, it was while serving as the supply pastor of First Presbyterian Church in New York City that Fosdick delivered his most well-remembered sermon, "Shall the Fundamentalists Win?," in 1922. Fosdick was a theological modernist who believed that fundamentalists -- who upheld the inerrancy of the Bible -- were obscurantists who would prevent the Christian church from keeping pace with modern society and scholarship. The sermon enraged the fundamentalist faction in the Presbyterian Church, forcing Fosdick to resign in 1924.
Fosdick, however, was friends with the wealthy John D. Rockefeller Jr., who paid for the construction of the technically Baptist but practically nondenominational Riverside Church, where Fosdick served for the remainder of his ministry.
Interactive Timeline(s)
Browse Related Timeline Entries
Religious Groups
Baptist Family: Other ARDA LinksBaptist Family: Religious Family Tree
Presbyterian-Reformed Family: Other ARDA Links
Presbyterian-Reformed Family: Religious Family Tree
Events
Harry Emerson Fosdick Preaches "Shall the Fundamentalists Win?"Movements
Christian ModernismRelated Dictionary Terms
Bible, Christian, ChristianityPhotographs
Harry Fosdick portrait- Library of Congress- Courtesy of the Special Collections Department University of Iowa Libraries
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Harry Fosdick Riverside Church inscription- Wikimedia Commons- photo by Bhuck (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Harry Fosdick visit to American Colony- Library of Congress, LC-DIG-matpc-08869
Book/Journal Source(s)
Miller, Robert Moats, 1985. Harry Emerson Fosdick: Preacher, Pastor, Prophet New York: Oxford University Press.Web Page Contributor
Paul MatzkoAffliated with: Pennsylvania State University, Ph.D. in History
