American Religion Timelines
Presbyterian Events and People - Events by Name
| Event | Introduction | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Adopting Act of Westminster Confession | By adopting the Westminster Confession of Faith (1729) as its doctrinal standard, American Presbyterianism moved a step closer to becoming a fully regularized denomination. | |
| American Bible Society Founded | The American Bible Society (est. 1816) is a faith-based voluntary society that distributes millions of Bibles throughout the country. | |
| American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions | In 1810, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions formed in order to send Congregationalist and Presbyterian missionaries all over the world. | |
| Auburn Affirmation | In 1924, the Auburn Affirmation denounced the Five Point Deliverance as a necessary means for ordination in the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. | |
| Bible Presbyterian Church | The Bible Presbyterian Church, led by Carl McIntire in 1937, was the product of division between Presbyterian traditionalists and fundamentalists in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. | |
| Cane Ridge Camp Meeting | Barton Stone organized the Cane Ridge camp meeting (1801), the largest and most famous religious revival of the Second Great Awakening. | |
| Charles Finney's Rochester Revival | Charles Finney's Rochester Revival (1830-1831) played a foundational role for the more widespread revivalism and conversions of the 1830s and 1840s. | |
| Christianity and Liberalism Published | John Gresham Machen’s Christianity and Liberalism (1923) challenged the cultural shift toward modernist interpretations of the Bible within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) | |
| Cumberland Presbyterian Church | In 1810, the Cumberland Presbytery formed as a response to ordination and theological differences with the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. | |
| Cumberland Presbyterian Church of America Founded | In 1874, former slaves in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church founded an independent denomination, later named the Cumberland Presbyterian Church of America. | |
| Eugene Peterson's The Message Published | In 1993, Eugene Peterson began publishing sections of The Message (Bible), which translated the Christian Bible into modern everyday language. | |
| Evangelical Presbyterian Church | In 1981, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church became the third major conservative denomination to split off from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A). | |
| First African Presbyterian Church Organized | In May 1807, John Gloucester organized the first African American Presbyterian Church. | |
| First General Assembly of the PCUSA | In 1789, American Presbyterians created the General Assembly and adopted a new name, the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (i.e., PCUSA). | |
| First Presbytery Formed in Philadelphia | The formation of a presbytery in Philadelphia in 1706 brought official Presbyterianism to the colonies. | |
| Formation of the Associate Reformed Presbytery, or "Seceders" | The Associate Reformed Presbytery, formed in Philadelphia in 1782, represented Scottish immigrants from the "seceder" tradition in the Church of Scotland. | |
| Freedmen's Aid Society | In the 1860s, the Freedmen's Aid Society formed with the goal of increasing educational opportunities for blacks in the American South. | |
| George Bourne Dismissed for His Opposition to Slavery | Presbyterian minister George Bourne lost his pastor position in 1815 for advocating the immediate emancipation of the slaves. | |
| Gilbert Tennent Preaches "The Dangers of an Unconverted Ministry" | Gilbert Tennent's 1740 sermon, "The Dangers of an Unconverted Ministry," helped spark the Old Side-New Side division among American Presbyterians. | |
| Hanover Presbytery Organized in Virginia | The 1755 founding of Hanover Presbytery in Virginia highlighted the rapid expansion of evangelicalism in the South during the First Great Awakening. | |
| Harry Emerson Fosdick Preaches "Shall the Fundamentalists Win?" | In 1922, Harry Emerson Fosdick's sermon accused fundamentalists of being "essentially illiberal and intolerant." His subsequent dismissal made Fosdick a martyr for liberal mainline Christianity. | |
| Life of David Brainerd Published | Jonathan Edwards published The Life of David Brainerd (1749) to promote evangelical theology during the First Great Awakening. | |
| Margaret Towner Ordained in PCUSA | Margaret Towner's ordination in 1956 was the culmination of a long struggle for gender equality in the Presbyterian Church USA. | |
| Merger of UPCNA and PCUSA | The merger of the UPCNA and the PCUSA in 1958 created the largest Presbyterian denomination in America, but was followed by controversy and dissension. | |
| Merger of UPCUSA and PCUS | In 1983, the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and the Presbyterian Church in the United States merged to form the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) | |
| Murders of Marcus and Narcissa Whitman | In 1847, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, early missionaries to the Oregon territory, were killed by the Cayuse Indians in a widely publicized massacre. | |
| New School-Old School Controversy Splits the General Assembly | The New School-Old School controversy, driven by theological differences during the Second Great Awakening, split the mainstream of American Presbyterianism in 1837. | |
| Orthodox Presbyterian Church Founded | In 1936, discontented conservative Presbyterians left the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America to form the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. | |
| PCUSA Allows Same-Sex Marriage | On June 19, 2014, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) passed an amendment to allow pastor to perform same-sex marriages. | |
| PCUSA Approves Gay/Lesbian Ordination | On July 8, 2010, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) approved the ordination of "openly"/partnered gay and lesbian members. Many conservative members left the denomination thereafter. | |
| Presbyterian Church in America | In 1973, conservative Presbyterians dissatisfied with the liberal tendencies of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. left to form the Presbyterian Church in America. | |
| Presbyterian Church in the U.S. | The Civil War divided northern and southern Presbyterians, leading those in the South to secede and form the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. in 1861. | |
| Presbyterian Church v. Hull Memorial Presbyterian Church | In 1969, this Supreme Court case prohibited the government from interfering in doctrinal disputes between churches. | |
| Princeton University Founded | New Light Presbyterians founded Princeton University in 1746 as one of the first national colleges in America. | |
| Reunification of New School and Old School Presbyterians | After 30 years of division between New School and Old School Presbyterians, the factions reunited in 1869. | |
| Sarah Dickson Becomes First Female Presbyterian Elder | On June 2, 1930, Sarah Dickson became the first female elder in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). | |
| Scottish Covenanters Form First Presbytery in Pennsylvania | Expatriates from dissident Scottish Presbyterians formed a presbytery in central Pennsylvania in 1774. | |
| Synod of 1737 and the Old Side-New Side Controversy | The Synod of 1737, which restricted itinerancy and tightened ordination standards, launched the Old Side-New Side Controversy, which divided American Presbyterianism for two decades. | |
| The American Sunday School Union | In 1817, the American Sunday School Union formed as a faith-based voluntary society to spread education and knowledge of the Bible throughout the country. | |
| The First Great Awakening | The First Great Awakening (1730s-1770s) was a series of religious revivals that propelled the expansion of evangelical denominations in the colonies. | |
| The Plan of Union of 1758 | The Plan of Union in 1758 ended the Old Side-New Side controversy among American Presbyterians. | |
| The Plan of Union of 1801 | In 1801, the Plan of Union united the Presbyterians and the Congregationalists in efforts to evangelize the Midwest. | |
| The Second Great Awakening | The Second Great Awakening(s) (1790s-1840s) fueled the rise of an evangelical Protestant majority in antebellum America, giving rise to new denominations and social reform organizations. | |
| Trial of Albert Barnes | The trial of Presbyterian minister Albert Barnes regarding his unorthodox theology in 1835 increased tensions between Old School and New School Presbyterians. | |
| Trial of Charles Augustus Briggs | The 1892 heresy trial of theologian Charles Augustus Briggs anticipated the fundamentalist-modernist controversy in the Presbyterian Church twenty years later. | |
| UPCUSA Confession of 1967 | The 1967 Confession added calls for racial and social reconciliation, but conservatives in the United Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) accused it of hedging on essential doctrines. | |
| William Tennent's "Log College" | In 1727, William Tennent's "Log College" became the first seminary in North America. |
