This week in Christian history: Bob Jones loses at Supreme Court, Protestants banned from Canada
Prominent theological liberal born – May 24, 1878
This week marks the anniversary of when Harry Emerson Fosdick, a noted theological liberal and critic of fundamentalist Christianity, was born in Buffalo, New York.
A preacher with a history of pastoring churches of different denominations, Fosdick famously preached a sermon in 1922 titled “Shall the Fundamentalists Win?”
Author and blogger Tim Challies, a critic of Fosdick, wrote in 2014 that Fosdick was “by no means the only liberal theologian of his day, but he was the one to gain the widest acclaim and the broadest platform.”
“While many others were pressing theological liberalism in the seminaries and the halls of academia, Fosdick was on the radio waves and in the bookstores, taking his message to the common people,” wrote Challies.
“His voice extended through his radio program, The National Vespers Hour, which was broadcast in the Northern and Eastern United States, and through many bestselling books which eventually sold in the millions. On two separate occasions he was on the cover of TIME magazine.”