John Murdoch MacInnis and the crisis of authority in American Protestant fundamentalism, 1925--1929

During the last forty years there has been a renascence of historical writing on the characteristics and origins of American protestant fundamentalism. Numerous historical interpretations have been formulated to explain how fundamentalism emerged as a potent religious force in the 20th century, and why it continues to influence culture and politics in the 21st century. This dissertation examines such important historical questions as how fundamentalism is to be defined, how it emerged in the twentieth century, and how it differed from earlier evangelical movements. Moreover, because this study focuses especially on protestant fundamentalism in Los Angeles, California, it also examines the regional factors that influenced protestant fundamentalism. Finally, this study focuses on one regional instance of the broader Fundamentalist Modernist Controversy, drawing out from this local controversy aspects of similarity and difference that help to explain the complexities of American protestant fundamentalism, both from a regional and a national perspective.;There are a number of important subtopics addressed in this study. The biographical component of this study traces the life and thought of a mainline Presbyterian leader from Northeastern Canada in the late 19th century to his role in the Bible Institute of Los Angeles during the 1920s. His correspondence with prominent leaders provides insights into the nature of fundamentalist militancy and the sectarian strains that were pulling moderates from radicals and denominational traditionalists from evangelical pietists. Leaders mentioned in this study include Harry Emerson Fosdick, E. Stanley Jones, Charles Erdman, Reuben Torrey, Dwight L. Moody, William Jennings Bryan and W. B. Riley. Another important subtopic is how the Bible Institute movement developed into an important institutional base for sectarian fundamentalism, and how its educational philosophy changed and adapted to the post World War I intellectual environment. Finally, this study highlights the theological and cultural diversity of fundamentalism demonstrating that the movement was not monolithic but was increasingly dominated by a militant sectarian dispensational premillennialism. Attitudes toward evolution, philosophy, biblical criticism, higher education, and religious liberalism are also discussed.