Religion: Fosdick

When Presbyterians last officially assembled (TIME, June 9) dominant Fundamentalists were persuaded by the majority Moderates to make a concession to the minority Liberals, to wit: Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick was not to be ousted from his pulpit on lower Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, provided he subscribed to the Westminster Confession of Faith. The proviso was fair, but . . .

Dr. Fosdick sailed for England. He crowded the greatest Protestant “chapels” of England. He touched the heart of England. His theology was acceptable to England. Dr. Fosdick returned. He was offered several famous American pulpits. He considered whether his preaching of the gospel ought to be contingent upon a theological bargain such as the Presbyterians demanded. He said nothing, but . . . The rumor started, the rumor spread, the rumor became confident prediction that Dr. Fosdick would cease to grace the lower Fifth Avenue Presbyterian pulpit. Probably, it was said, he would undertake, every Sunday, to go from Union Theological Seminary (upper Manhattan) to the Plymouth Congregational Church, Brooklyn, and thus be come successor to Henry Ward Beecher, Lyman Abbott, Newell Dwight Hillis (TIME, Apr. 21). Said Dr. Fosdick by telegram: “. . . WILL MAKE NO STATEMENT UNTIL OFFICIALLY APPROACHED BY AUTHORIZED COMMITTEE OF NEW YORK PRESBYTERY.”