A Thesis by Michael Adger Smith August 2010
ABSTRACT
The Scopes Trial held in Dayton, Tennessee, lasting for eight days in 1925, is one
of the seminal events in American history. Its importance has little to do with the place,
but much to do with cultural, political, scientific, and religious trends of the times.
Historians extensively studied these trends and volumes were written filled with their
analysis of these trends and why the Scopes Trial represented such an interesting
snapshot of history.
One of the first media events of this stature, the extensive coverage of the Scopes
Trial resulted in thousands of words of print, interviews, and commentary sent from
Dayton which helped to shape the public perception of what occurred there. How these
reports was received, of course, depended on the worldview of the reader or hearer.
Religious conservatives took note of any anti-religious bias aimed at those who chose the literal interpretation of the Bible. Others no doubt responded favorably to the exposure of Fundamental religious views as outdated and not in step with the times.
Christian Fundamentalism, arguably the most significant religious movement of
the twentieth century, was a product of chaotic times. It reflected the concerns of many
believers regarding the diminishing role of religion in everyday life, and the Scopes Trial
embodied those concerns. Coming on the heels of great social, political, and scientific
upheaval, those individuals who would naturally turn to religion for comfort, found the
same questions about modernity, science, and the Bible debated there as well, adding to
their sense of uncertainty.
Most conventional definitions of Fundamentalism cite the movement’s strong
stand for doctrinal purity and its anti-modernity position, coming from the fight over
evolution. Historians seldom consider the militancy of Fundamentalism as a key to
understanding how the movement formed, or with the passage of time, how militancy
allowed it to grow and develop into a major social movement and religious powerhouse.
With the benefit of historical hindsight, this key element adds much to the understanding of what happened at Dayton and beyond. The importance of studying this often-ignored aspect of Christian Fundamentalism should be apparent in an age when this type of religious response is increasingly common.
To understand the role of militancy in relation to doctrine, another event, with much the same relationship and during the same period, provides an example. In 1917 the Bolshevik Revolution overthrew the government of Russia. Communist doctrine, the
foundation of the revolution, was the subject of much debate from 1844 when Karl Marx
and Friedrich Engels first met and began their collaboration on the Communist
Manifesto, published in 1848. Marxist doctrine, while a great subject for debate, came
into its own, when, in 1917 a small number of ardent believers in Marx’s writings
violently overthrew the government and deposed Czar Nicholas II. Thus, while the
movement was all about doctrine and belief (Marxism) it was not until its adherents felt
strongly enough about making a stand for those believes that change in Russia was
effected. In the same way, Christian Fundamentalists, in 1919 and after, brought a
militant challenge to a public issue which affected their belief.
One area in which the 1920s media and historians tend to agree is that Fundamentalism was anti-modern. In reality, one major issue was at stake between religion and science, namely the belief that man was a special creation of God. This age old argument began in earnest with the Copernican Revolution and saw the fight renewed with Darwinism, as huge paradigm shifts in thinking threatened commonly held beliefs and raised the specter of the battle between new scientific truths and religious dogma.
While doctrine will always be important to any study of Christian Fundamentalism, the militancy with which the early Fundamentalists attacked evolution in the 1920s and later issues such as abortion provide a better understanding of how the movement arose and came to prominence in America around the Scopes Trial. This willingness to draw a line in the sand over issues that challenged their beliefs about the Bible, and fight for them to influence the surrounding culture sheds needed light on the reasons why this event is so important to America’s history.
By 1930 the media pronounced the death of the Fundamentalist movement. Yet, the report was highly exaggerated. Its sudden resurgence in the 1970s and 1980s upended the conventional wisdom of historians and with it, their assumptions concerning both the roots and the cause of Fundamentalism. The movement persists despite of, and thus, because of modernity. How was Fundamentalism able to recruit and charge an army of followers to lay a foundation for a stronger movement after the Scopes Trial which resurged and gained political clout in modern times? These questions provide a new and compelling perspective from which a new look at the Scopes Trial can prove valuable to theologians and historians.
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.834.7237&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Manifesto, published in 1848. Marxist doctrine, while a great subject for debate, came
into its own, when, in 1917 a small number of ardent believers in Marx’s writings
violently overthrew the government and deposed Czar Nicholas II. Thus, while the
movement was all about doctrine and belief (Marxism) it was not until its adherents felt
strongly enough about making a stand for those believes that change in Russia was
effected. In the same way, Christian Fundamentalists, in 1919 and after, brought a
militant challenge to a public issue which affected their belief.
One area in which the 1920s media and historians tend to agree is that Fundamentalism was anti-modern. In reality, one major issue was at stake between religion and science, namely the belief that man was a special creation of God. This age old argument began in earnest with the Copernican Revolution and saw the fight renewed with Darwinism, as huge paradigm shifts in thinking threatened commonly held beliefs and raised the specter of the battle between new scientific truths and religious dogma.
While doctrine will always be important to any study of Christian Fundamentalism, the militancy with which the early Fundamentalists attacked evolution in the 1920s and later issues such as abortion provide a better understanding of how the movement arose and came to prominence in America around the Scopes Trial. This willingness to draw a line in the sand over issues that challenged their beliefs about the Bible, and fight for them to influence the surrounding culture sheds needed light on the reasons why this event is so important to America’s history.
By 1930 the media pronounced the death of the Fundamentalist movement. Yet, the report was highly exaggerated. Its sudden resurgence in the 1970s and 1980s upended the conventional wisdom of historians and with it, their assumptions concerning both the roots and the cause of Fundamentalism. The movement persists despite of, and thus, because of modernity. How was Fundamentalism able to recruit and charge an army of followers to lay a foundation for a stronger movement after the Scopes Trial which resurged and gained political clout in modern times? These questions provide a new and compelling perspective from which a new look at the Scopes Trial can prove valuable to theologians and historians.
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.834.7237&rep=rep1&type=pdf
LOST: AMERICAN EVANGELICALS IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE, 1925-1955
By Patrick Daniel Jackson
Dissertation for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
in History
December, 2012
INTRODUCTION
Of Angels and Angles
“Together with the problem of gaining political and economic power, the proletariat must also face the problem of winning intellectual power. Just as it has thought to organize itself politically and economically, it must also think about organizing itself culturally.”
– Antonio Gramsci (1919)
“A fundamentalist is an evangelical who is mad about something.”
– Jerry Falwell (1988)
*****
In the 1930s and 1940s there were millions of conservative, evangelical
Protestants in America, and what we think we know about them can mostly be summed up in a few stubborn stereotypes – both popular and academic – that seem to live by their wits rather than by the strength of the evidence. It is widely known among the general populace, for example, that “fundamentalism” is an exclusively southern, and particularly Appalachian, phenomenon. According to this view, it represents a kind of hill-country voodoo, complete with serpents, ecstatic chants, and wild dancing. But while conservative evangelicals have certainly long been at home in Dixie, the World Christian Fundamentals Association – the first national organization to bring them together – was founded at a 1919 meeting held not in Atlanta or Dallas, but in Philadelphia.
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