The fundamentalist and liberal debate is one of numerous debates throughout the history of Christianity in the United States. Fundamentalism and liberalism are not denominations of Christianity but religious movements. The division between fundamentalists and liberals is based on several conflicting Christian ideas that are primarily based on interpretation of biblical scripture and the role Christianity plays in a changing world. Fundamentalists believed in the doctrines of biblical inerrancy, meaning the bible is without error, the authenticity of the miracles of Jesus and his resurrection, and his second coming.1 Liberals were at odds with these old ideas and sought to modernize Christianity through a new interpretation. Two important figures at the center of this debate were Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield and Harry Emerson Fosdick. Warfield, a Princeton theologian and fundamentalist, wrote many books and essays that were influenced by fundamentalist doctrine. His essay, “Incarnate Truth” explores his view on biblical inerrancy. Fosdick, a liberal protestant preacher, defended the liberal platform through his sermon, “Shall the Fundamentalists Win?” Both Warfield and Fosdick introduce compelling arguments but …show more content…
Warfield says, “We are coolly told that ‘as a teacher of spiritual truth sent from God and full of God he is universal,’ but ‘as a logician and critic he belongs to his times,’ and therefore had ‘a definite, restricted outfit and outlook, which could be only those of his own day and generation.’”4 Though he does not mention the liberals by name, the science and criticism of the authorship of the old testament versus the new testament is essentially a reinterpretation of Jesus’s personal testimony which is a key part of liberal doctrine. Biblical inspiration directly from God is handled more directly