The Big Tent
Billy Graham was a very well known evangelist from the 20th century, who became famous not just by the contents of his preaches but also because of his close relationship with notorious politicians and famous leaders of those times, that helped him become the symbol of the evangelism by “branding the evangelicalism as the mainstream American faith” (The Big Tent 31). Graham’s religious beliefs went from the fundamentalism in which he was raised , to a open and liberal conception of faith, ending up in what was called the New Evangelical approach to religion, a more moderate and tolerant way of interpreting God’s message. As he defined himself, he was “a theological conservative but a social liberal” (The Big Tent 28). Just like Graham, throughout the twentieth century the religious beliefs of the people went from one extreme to the other going through a more moderate expression of those beliefs, accompanying the social and political events that were taking place at the same time.
By the year 1900, the general religious belief was based on certain principles which were deemed to be the basis of the true faith: the Bible is the only truth, the divinity of Virgin born Jesus Christ, Christ’s bodily resurrection and the existence of biblical miracles. At that same time, Darwin’s theory of evolution initiated a different approach to religion that made more emphasis on Christ’s humanity and challenged the divine quality of creation. Although by 1918 there were other religious tendencies (like Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians) that differed between them, they all had a shared orthodoxy, Darwin’s theory changed this scenario by giving ground to a new expression of the religious beliefs: the modernism, that would foster the concept that God can be seen in the evolution of man on earth. As a result, some Presbyterians and Baptists started practices based on the new liberal approach to the Christian orthodoxy, while their opponents (now called the fundamentalists) would state that liberal theology was a false religion that could not exist in parallel with what they called true faith (as theologian J. Gresham Machen sustained).
Soon, these arguments resulted in the modernist controversy surpassing the success of the Christian missions and by 1940, the fundamentalism was not as popular as it used to be. Fundamentalists started to split even within their own group giving origin to what was called the separatists, which were the more radical believers.
Walter Rauschenbusch is widely regarded are a great American theological leader who is regarded as the founder of the social gospel movement in America, that transformed the church and the society in general . His main belief was that religion was not an individual activity or a phenomenon that affected only a single person. Instead, he believed that religion affected the entire society and therefore, the impetus for social reform and raising one’s voice against any sort of social evils or injustice should also come under the ambit of religion and church1. In this write-up an attempt is made to understand the religious philosophies of Walter Rauschenbusch and elaborate his principles of the social gospel movement. The Social Gospel movement also had a significant impact on the Protestant stream of thought prevalent in America .
Modernists accepted change and even embraced; they accepted evolution. Some modernists still believed in God but they also accepted evolution. The fundamentalists in Inherit the Wind feared modernism because it challenged the social order and posed a threat to those at the top of the social order. The fundamentalists were quite narrow-minded and rejected Darwin’s theory of evolution.
New brands of distinctly American Christianity began developing early in the country’s history. Before the revolution, George Whitefield set the stage for American religious movements. The most important factor that helped launch these movements was the American Revolution. The country was ripe with conversation and action on a new understanding of freedom. The revolution “expanded the circle of people who considered themselves capable of thinking for themselves about issues of … equality, sovereignty, and representation” (6). The country was beginning to move toward an understanding of strength lying in the common people, and the people’s ability to make their own personal decisions on issues of leadership and authority. There was a common belief that class structure was the major societal problem. The revolution created the an open environment that pushed equality of the individual, allowing political and religious beliefs to flourish and grow without being held in check by authoritarian leaders.
Charles Darwin, the Father of Evolution, was a British scientist who laid the foundations of the theory of evolution, transforming the thinking of the entire world about the living things around us (Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882)). After working on his theory for nearly 20 years, he published On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection in 1859. As soon as the book was released, the controversy began with each sides gaining followers until the climax on July 10, 1925. The idea that animals could “evolve” and change into new species, including humans, was one that challenged not only how people thought about the natural world, but challenged the story of the creation from the Bible itself. Even though Darwin himself never said that humans “evolved” from apes, everyone took it as a logical extension of his new theory. It went against the idea of argument for design that had unified theology and science for decades (Moran 5). This new threat to Christianity and the social culture of the time was one that would transform state laws on their educational curriculum.
The 1920’s were a time of change. New ideas were becoming more readily experimented with and even accepted by large portions of the population. Some of these included jazz music and the fight against the alcoholic prohibition. The radical idea I will focus on in this paper, however, is Evolution. It is a theory that had been around for over half a century before the 20’s but had only more recently caught on in the US. It contradicted the Christian theory of Divine Creation as described in the Bible. This caused many religious fundamentalists to fight against it. They took their battle to the law books, and they were challenged by pro-evolution modernists in the Scopes "Monkey Trial" of 1925.
Religion of the protestant church was an important factor in the pre-war timeline culture. The Second great awakening, which occurred in the 19th century, greatly impacted American society. This new point of view in terms and matters of faith led northerners to cherish the theory of Christian perfection, a theory that in fact was applied to society in an attempt to eliminate social imperfection. On the other hand, southerners reacted by cherishing a faith of personal piety, which focused mainly on a reading of the Bible; however, it expressed very little concern in addressing society’s problems.1
However, both groups consciously reshaped the organizing framework of religion to diminish its ordering of their lives within the public and private sphere. Prothero posits that while “The Bible remained authoritative [. . .] Americans insisted on interpreting it for themselves” (47), especially women who lived under its patriarchal construction. “In that effort,” Prothero continues “they were assisted by a new culture hero: the populist preacher, who combined evangelicalism and egalitarianism in daring new ways” (47). Prothero maintains that it was “the rise of pulpit storytelling” (51) that allowed such reimagining of religious ideology. Prothero goes on to argue that the “story sermon” (51) as a rhetorical style “did not catch on as fast in New England as it did in the South and the West (51),” a point ...
In the years between 1730 and 1740, there was a period of a religious “awakening” this brought about new ideas and new faith in God. The old Puritan ways didn’t fade out but new beliefs came about with new religious options. This gave people a chance to start over with their religious faith. People listened to great preachers like Charles Wesley, who founded Methodism, George Whitfield, and a Congregationalist named Jonathan Edwards.
In the first chapter of Nathan Hatch’s book, The Democratization of American Christianity, he immediately states his central theme: democratization is central to understanding the development of American Christianity. In proving the significance of his thesis, he examines five distinct traditions of Christianity that developed in the nineteenth century: the Christian movement, Methodists, Baptists, Mormons and black churches. Despite these groups having diverse structural organization and theological demeanor, they all shared the commonality of the primacy of the individual conscience.
The impact these men had on religious thought was tremendous. Some of them are the starting points for many of the controversies existing today. Of all the scientists, historians, and philosophers in the nineteenth century, the most influential and controversial was Charles Darwin. Born in 1809, Charles Darwin always had an interest in the nature, so he chose to study botany in college. His strengths in botany led him to become the naturalist on the H.M.S. Beagle. On a trip to South America, he and the rest of the crew visited the near by Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean. It was there he noticed many different variations of the same general plants and birdshe saw previously in South America. He also observed ancient fossils of extinct organisms that closely resembled modern organisms. By 1859, all of these observations inspired him to write down his theories. He wanted to explain how evolution had occurred through a process called natural selection. In his published work, On the Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, or On the Origin of Species for short, Darwin stated that, "new species have come on the stage slowly and at successive intervals."(1) He also said, "old forms are supplanted by new and improved forms," and all organisms play a part in the "struggle for life.
"This is the Hour of Decision with Billy Graham, coming to you from Minneapolis Minnesota" Billy Graham, has preached to more than 210 million people through a live audience, more than anyone else in history. Not only that, but Mr. Graham has reached millions more through live televison, video and film. This has led Billy to be on the "Ten Most Admired Men in the World" from the Gallup Poll since 1955 a total of thirty-nine times. This includes thirty-two consecutive more than any other individual in the world, placing him as the most popular American for about forty years. This essay is going to talk about Graham's personal life, and what kind of family he grew up in and im also going to talk in detail about how he became an evangelist, because I feel it is very important yet interesting. His accomplishments in the fifties are uncomparable, so I will be including a considerable amount of information concerning that topic. Finally I will be talking about his personal achievements, books written, and how he has been a companion to some of the American Presidents. William Franklin Graham Jr. was born in Charlotte, North Carolina on November 17, 1918. Graham was raised on a dairy farm by William Franklin (deceased 1962) and Morrow Coffey Graham (deceased 1981). In 1943 he married his wife Ruth McCue Bell, and had four children Virginia 1945, Anne Morrow 1948, Ruth Bell 1950, William Franklin, Jr. 1952, and Nelson Edman 1958. At age eighty, he keeps fit by swimming, playing with is nineteen grand children, and from aerobic walking, in the mountains of North Carolina, where he currently lives. (Billy Graham Best Sellers, 1999) Billy Graham told Time Magazine in one article about his life before becoming a preacher. "I lived on a farm. The only difference was I had to get up early in the morning and go milk cows. When I came back from school that day, I had to milk those same cows. There were about twenty cows I had to milk. By hand. That was before they had those machines. I loved being a farmer. But God called me to this work that I'm in now. I knew it was God calling. I said, "Yes. I will follow what God wants me to do." And so I went to two or three schools to get education.
...main a widely respected evangelical preacher for more than 50 years because he avoided misinterpretations of the bible and financial scandals (Hall). What will count most to the lives that Billy Graham effected, will be the day those people die. Graham has led to eternal life that Jesus gave us. Those people will no longer perish but join Graham in Heaven one day.
Boyd, Gregory A., and Paul R. Eddy. Across the Spectrum: Understanding Issues in Evangelical Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2009.
William McLaughlin notes in his book Revivals, Awakenings and Reform that there have been several “Awakenings” in American religious history ,and that not all of these moments of renewal resembled the fiery preaching frenzies of the famed eighteenth century. Each “Awakening” had at its core a specific issue it was addressing. The issues in question could be spiritual declension (first Great Awakening), national back-sliding (second Great Awakening), biblical interpretation and liberalism (third Great Awakening), or American identity and progressivism (fourth Great Awakening). Thus, it is perhaps my own limitations that bristle at the idea of preaching the n...
“ Meyer. 916-17 Emanuel, James A. “Hughes’s Attitudes toward Religion.” Meyer. 914-15. The. Hughes, a.k.a.