Chapter 5: The Broadening Church in the USA - PCA Historical Center

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The Broadening Church In the U.S.A. 191Church was not willing to tolerate at least one institutionwithin the Presbyterian Church which stood, without compromise,for the Word of God and the Presbyterian principlesfound therein. 109The Broadened ChurchIn summary, we have seen modernism, under the guise ofindifferentism, take control of the denominational machineryof the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., so that this greatChurch virtually became The Broadened Church in theU.S.A. This modernism was a new phenomenon opposed inprinciple both to the spirit and teaching of the Bible, toReformed theology, and to Presbyterian ecclesiastical principles.Indeed, it was opposed to historic Presbyterianism,whether of the Old School or New School tradition. It is truethat there are certain formal similarities between modernismand certain aspects of the New School tradition; and that,without a doubt, New School tolerance respecting certaindoctrinal issues helped to prepare the mind of the Church forthe triumph of modernistic indifferentism. However, NewSchool Presbyterianism was certainly not the direct parent ofmodernism, if for no other reason than that it was rooted in aprofound reverence for the authority of the Bible in the traditionalsense. As Loetscher points out, with reference to therelationship of the Old School—New School controversy tothe rise of modernism: „The old issues had given place tonew, and the lines of division were not identical.‟ 110That this is the case is convincingly argued by George M.Marsden, who maintains that the characterization of NewSchool Presbyterianism as „proto-liberal‟ is „a vast and misleadingsimplification.‟ 111 In fact, there are very striking109. Cf. Machen, Attack, 10, 16 f., 39. For the details of this development,see BC, 136-148; Stonehouse, Machen, 409-441; Rian, op. cit., 60 ff.110. BC, 36; cf. 18, 25-27, 33.111. Marsden, New School, 312 (cf. 306). Both conservative and liberalauthors tend to fall for this oversimplification. Cf. Rian, op. cit., 19-23. E. A.The History Behind the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod, pp. 152-193.
192 The Broadening Church In the U.S.A.similarities between New School Presbyterianism and fundamentalism.„The New School, despite its undeniable affinitiesto theological “liberalism” in its tradition of a broader interpretationof the Westminster Confession, had nearly as greataffinities to twentieth century Fundamentalism. The emphasisin the New School movement on revivalism, legalisticreformism, strict Biblicism, a relatively low view of thechurch, a form of millennialism, and a tendency to emphasizethe fundamentals of orthodoxy as a means of unifying thechurch against rationalism and corruption all suggest characteristicsof the later Fundamentalist Movement.‟ 112With regard to the turn of events of the U.S.A. PresbyterianChurch, it is of the utmost importance to realize that modernisticindifferentism could not have carried the day apart fromthe theological and ecclesiastical indifference of many so-calledconservatives, or evangelicals, or fundamentalists within theChurch. Various factors, no doubt, account for this fact. Howeverwithout a doubt two are primary. The first is that much ofthe conservatism within the Church—shot through, as it were,with dispensationalism and other hardly Reformed theologicaltendencies—was far from the confessional position of historicPresbyterianism. Although this conservatism was more faithfulto the Westminster Confession of Faith than rank modernism,it was likewise open to the justifiable charge of dishonestunfaithfulness not only to the confessional system of doctrineitself but also to the ordination vows by which that systemwas supposedly to be upheld by solemn oath. This fact wasexploited by the modernists for all it was worth; and it disastrouslyweakened any fundamentalist appeal to the Confessionwith a view to excluding modernists from the Church.The second factor to be noted is the fact that the conservativeparty within the Church was either ignorant of, orindifferent to, the historic Presbyterian view of the church.Smith, The Presbyterian Ministry in American Culture: A Study in ChangingConcepts, 1700-1900, 1962, 264.112. Ibid., 308 ff.This digital edition prepared by the staff of the PCA Historical Center, 2009.
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Chapter 5: The Broadening Church in the USA - PCA Historical Center

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