Old Issue

Fundamentalism v. Modernism is the oldest of church issues. It reappears annually in the U. S. when the Protestant sects hold conventions. Lately, and especially last week, this great fissure within the sects has been dwarfed in churchmen's minds by the larger idea of uniting the sects themselves. But last week there were two typical survivals of Fundamentalism v. Modernism, and a notable comment thereanent:

World Divided. Convening in Minneapolis, the World's Christian Fundamentals Association declared that in ten years the Christian World will be divided between Roman Catholics, Modernists and Fundamentalists. Other divisions of Christianity would "largely perish from the earth.''

Princeton. Convening in St. Paul, the 141st Presbyterian General Assembly settled the four-year fight over the management of Princeton Theological Seminary, greatest Presbyterian seminary in the U. S. Over the protests of Fundamentalists, who feared the move would unduly strengthen the hand of liberal Dr. Joseph Ross Stevenson, the president, it was voted to vest control of the seminary in a single joint board instead of the present dual control of trustees and directors. Those in favor insisted they were doing "nothing whatever which will tend to alter the distinctive doctrinal position which the seminary has maintained throughout its entire history."

Coffin's Warning. Addressing this year's 64 graduates of Union Theological Seminary (New York City), Union's eloquent, outstanding president, Dr. Henry Sloane Coffin, declared that Fundamentalists and Modernists had best lay their differences entirely aside and join in repelling "the humanist movement, which makes God simply a name for the ethical idea evolved by mankind and attempts to draw its moral standards from a study of human behavior. . . . Both sides must recognize a serious menace to vital Christian faith in the humanist movement. The urgent task for Christian scholars is to state the conception of God in Christ convincingly and to help build a Christian Church which will embody his spirit."