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134-614: During the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy of the 1920s, Christian evangelist Bob Jones Sr. grew increasingly concerned about what he perceived to be the secularization of higher education and the influence of religious liberalism in denominational colleges. Jones recalled that in 1924, his friend William Jennings Bryan leaned over to him at a Bible conference service in Winona Lake, Indiana , and said, "If schools and colleges do not quit teaching evolution as

268-590: A Presbyterian ruling elder , was elected to Congress in 1890, then became the Democratic presidential candidate for three unsuccessful presidential bids in 1896 , 1900 , and 1908 . After his 1900 defeat, Bryan re-examined his life and concluded that he had let his passion for politics obscure his calling as a Christian. Beginning in 1900, he began lecturing on the Chautauqua circuit, where his speeches often involved religious as well as political themes. For

402-531: A seminary after completing their undergraduate education. Others take ministry positions straight from college, and juniors participate in a church internship program to prepare them for pastoral ministry. In 1995, 1,290 BJU graduates were serving as senior or associate pastors in churches across the United States. In 2017 more than 100 pastors in the Upstate alone were BJU graduates. The university uses

536-406: A " heresy " and "in a very definite sense, a blasphemy ". The Division of Fine Arts has the largest faculty of the university's six undergraduate schools. Each year, the university presents an opera in the spring semester and Shakespearean plays in both the fall and spring semesters. The Division of Fine Arts includes an RTV department with a campus radio and television station, WBJU . More than

670-602: A BJU graduate with a BSN is eligible to take the National Council Licensure Examination to become a registered nurse . The BJU engineering program is accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) . Bob Jones Sr. was leery of academic accreditation almost from the founding of the college, and by the early 1930s, he had publicly stated his opposition to holding regional accreditation . Jones and

804-700: A Christianity without worship, without God, and without Jesus Christ." Led by Macartney, the Presbytery of Philadelphia requested that the General Assembly direct the Presbytery of New York to take such actions as to ensure that the teaching and preaching in the First Presbyterian Church of New York City conform to the Westminster Confession of Faith. This request would lead to over a decade of bitter wrangling in

938-507: A European war. When the US did finally join World War I in 1917, Bryan volunteered for the army, though he was never allowed to enlist. At a time of widespread revulsion at alleged German atrocities, Bryan linked evolution to Germany, and claimed that Darwinism provided a justification for the strong to dominate the weak and was therefore the source of German militarism . He drew on reports by

1072-426: A Greenville Republican consultant, noted that some candidates closely identified "with the folks at Bob Jones. So it makes sense for them to want to be there." Nevertheless, unlike BJU's earlier periods of political involvement, Pettit did not endorse a candidate. According to Furman University political science professor Jim Guth, because Greenville has grown so much recently, it is unlikely BJU will ever again have

1206-750: A base, ultimately issued a declaration known to history as the Auburn Affirmation . The Auburn Affirmation opened by affirming the Westminster Confession of Faith, but argued that within American Presbyterianism, there had been a long tradition of freedom of interpretation of the Scriptures and the Confession. The General Assembly's issuance of the Five Fundamentals not only eroded this tradition, but it flew in

1340-409: A behavioristic or atheistic slant on education control or even influence the administrative policies of our college." Five years later, Jones reflected that "it cost us something to stay out of an association, but we stayed out. We have lived up to our convictions." Because graduates did not benefit from accredited degrees, the faculty felt an increased responsibility to prepare their students. Early in

1474-578: A conscious adaptation of the Christian faith in response to the new scientific discoveries and moral pressures of the age. At first, the schism was limited to Reformed churches and centered around the Princeton Theological Seminary , whose fundamentalist faculty members founded Westminster Theological Seminary when Princeton went in a liberal direction. However, it soon spread, affecting nearly every Protestant denomination in

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1608-446: A conservative manifesto that had been in circulation within the denomination entitled "Back to Fundamentals". Liberal Presbyterian magazines replied that if conservatives wanted a fight, they should bring heresy charges in the church's courts or keep quiet. No charges were brought. It is worth pointing out that the only people who actually embraced the name "fundamentalist" during the 1910s were committed dispensationalists , who elevated

1742-559: A fact, we are going to become a nation of atheists." Though Jones was not a college graduate, he was determined to found a college. On September 12, 1927, Jones opened Bob Jones College in Panama City , Florida, with 88 students. Jones said that although he had been averse to naming the school after himself, his friends overcame his reluctance "with the argument that the school would be called by that name because of my connection with it, and to attempt to give it any other name would confuse

1876-666: A fairly technical, scholarly issue, Briggs now spelt out its full implications. In the address, he announced that higher criticism had now definitively proven that Moses did not write the Pentateuch ; that Ezra did not write Ezra, Chronicles or Nehemiah ; Jeremiah did not write the books of Kings or the Lamentations ; David did not write most of the Psalms ; Solomon wrote not the Song of Solomon or Ecclesiastes but only

2010-461: A few Proverbs ; and Isaiah did not write half of the book of Isaiah . The Old Testament was merely a historical record that showed man in a lower state of moral development, with modern man having progressed morally far beyond Noah , Abraham , Jacob , Judah , David, and Solomon. At any rate, according to Briggs, the Scriptures as a whole were riddled with errors and the doctrine of scriptural inerrancy taught at Princeton Theological Seminary "is

2144-483: A ghost of modern evangelicalism to frighten children." Not only was the Westminster Confession in error but also the very foundation of the Confession, the Bible, could not be used to create theological absolutes. He now called on other rationalists in the denomination to join him in sweeping away the dead orthodoxy of the past and work for the unity of the entire church. The inaugural address provoked widespread outrage in

2278-490: A historical film set in 1920s upstate South Carolina. Unusual Films also maintains a student film production program. The Film and Digital Storytelling program provides professional training in motion picture production. This training combines classroom instruction with hands-on experience in various areas, including directing, editing, and cinematography. Before graduation, seniors produce high-definition short films which they write, direct, and edit. BJU Press originated from

2412-544: A hundred concerts, recitals, and laboratory theater productions are also presented annually. Each fall, as a recruiting tool, the university sponsors a "High School Festival" in which students compete in music, art, and speech (including preaching) contests with their peers from around the country. In the spring, a similar competition sponsored by the American Association of Christian Schools , and hosted by BJU since 1977, brings thousands of national finalists to

2546-418: A misuse of his theory. Germany, or so Bryan's argument ran, had replaced Christ's teachings with Nietzsche's philosophy based on ideas of survival of the fittest , and the implication was that America would suffer the same fate if unchecked. This fear was reinforced by the report of the psychologist James H. Leuba 's 1916 study indicating that a considerable number of college students lost their faith during

2680-652: A news conference following the letter's release, "I make no excuses. I had an opportunity and I missed it. I regret that....I wish I had gotten up then and seized the moment to set a tone, a tone that I had set in Texas, a positive and inclusive tone." Also during the 2000 Republican primary campaign in South Carolina, Richard Hand, a BJU professor, spread a false e-mail rumor that John McCain had fathered an illegitimate child. The McCains have an adopted daughter from Bangladesh , and later push polling also implied that

2814-667: A non-binding summary of the church's faith. It mentioned neither biblical inerrancy nor reprobation , affirmed God's love of all mankind, and denied that the Pope was the Antichrist . It was adopted by General Assembly in 1902 and ratified by the presbyteries in 1904. As a result of the changes, the Arminian-leaning Cumberland Presbyterian Church petitioned for reunification, and in 1906, over 1000 Cumberland Presbyterian ministers joined

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2948-678: A novel by Bob Jones Jr., represented the United States at the Cannes Film Festival . The first four films are historical dramas set, respectively, in the time of Christ, the U.S. Civil War, 16th-century Spain, and the late 19th-century South—the latter a fictionalized treatment of the life of Methodist evangelist, Robert Sayers Sheffey . Beyond the Night closely follows an actual 20th-century missionary saga in Central Africa, and The Printing uses composite characters to portray

3082-519: A pamphlet to every Protestant clergyman in the country. Conservative Clarence E. Macartney , pastor of Arch Street Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia , responded to Fosdick with a sermon of his own, entitled "Shall Unbelief Win?" which was quickly published in a pamphlet. He argued that liberalism had been progressively "secularizing" the church and, if left unchecked, would lead to "a Christianity of opinions and principles and good purposes, but

3216-466: A political bone in my body." In 2015 BJU reemerged as a campaign stop for conservative Republicans. Ben Carson and Ted Cruz held large on-campus rallies on two successive days in November. BJU president Steve Pettit met with Marco Rubio , Rick Perry , Mike Huckabee , and Scott Walker . Jeb Bush , Carson, Cruz, and Rubio also appeared at a 2016 Republican presidential forum at BJU. Chip Felkel,

3350-505: A proponent of dispensationalism as taught in the newly published Scofield Reference Bible , decided to use his wealth to sponsor a series of pamphlets to be entitled The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth . These twelve pamphlets published between 1910 and 1915 eventually included 90 essays written by 64 authors from several denominations. The series was conservative and critical of Higher Criticism but also broad in its approach, and

3484-447: A relocation to South Carolina. Though Jones had served as acting president as early as 1934, his son, Bob Jones Jr. officially became the school's second president in 1947 before the college moved to Greenville, South Carolina , and became Bob Jones University. In Greenville, the university more than doubled in size within two years and started a radio station, film department, and art gallery—the latter of which eventually became one of

3618-572: A series of articles and replies in the pages of the New York Times . In these circumstances, when General Assembly met in 1923 in Indianapolis , Bryan was determined to strike against Darwinism and against Fosdick, so he organized a campaign to have himself elected as Moderator of the General Assembly . He lost the election by a vote of 451–427 to the Rev. Charles F. Wishart , president of

3752-583: A tool of " anti-Catholic bigoted forces", after the visit. King described BJU as "an institution that is notorious in Ireland for awarding an honorary doctorate to Northern Ireland's tempestuous Protestant leader, Ian Paisley ." Bush denied that he either knew of or approved what he regarded as BJU's intolerant policies. On February 26, Bush issued a formal letter of apology to Cardinal John Joseph O'Connor of New York for failing to denounce Bob Jones University's history of anti-Catholic statements. Bush said at

3886-836: A university board member, the BJU board of trustees hired an independent ombudsman, GRACE ( Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment ), to investigate. Released in December 2014, the GRACE report suggested that BJU had discouraged students from reporting past sexual abuse, and though the university declined to implement many of the report's recommendations, President Steve Pettit formally apologized "to those who felt they did not receive from us genuine love, compassion, understanding, and support after suffering sexual abuse or assault". The university's mishandling of sexual abuse in

4020-490: A violation of scholarly freedom . In October 1892, the faculty would vote to withdraw from the denomination. In the meantime, New York Presbytery brought heresy charges against Briggs, but these were defeated by a vote of 94–39. The committee that had brought the charges then appealed to the 1892 General Assembly, held in Portland, Oregon . The General Assembly responded with its famous Portland Deliverance , affirming that

4154-483: A year of graduation." The Department of Biology hosts two research programs on campus, one in cancer research, the other in animal behavior. Although ten of the sixteen members of the science faculty have bachelor's degrees from BJU, all earned their doctorates from accredited, non-religious institutions. The university's nursing major is approved by the South Carolina State Board of Nursing, and

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4288-768: Is a replica of the room in Westminster Abbey in which work on the King James Version of the Bible was conducted, and it displays a collection of rare Bibles. An adjoining Memorabilia Room commemorates the life of Bob Jones Sr. and the history of the university. The library's Fundamentalism File collects periodical articles and ephemera about social and religious matters of interest to evangelicals and fundamentalists. The University Archives holds copies of all university publications, oral histories of faculty and staff members, surviving remnants of university correspondence, and pictures and artifacts related to

4422-481: Is for individuals. The main message we have is to individuals. We're not here to save the culture." In a 2005 Washington Post interview, Jones dodged political questions and even admitted that he was embarrassed by "some of the more vitriolic comments" made by his predecessors. "I don't want to get specific," Jones said, "But there were things said back then that I wouldn't say today." In October 2007, when Bob Jones III, as "a private citizen," endorsed Mitt Romney for

4556-580: The College of Wooster , a strong proponent of allowing evolution to be taught at Presbyterian-run colleges and universities. Undaunted, Bryan took to opposing Darwinism on the floor of the General Assembly , the first time General Assembly had debated the matter. He proposed a resolution that the denomination should cease payments to any school, college, or university where Darwinism was taught. Opponents argued that there were plenty of Christians in

4690-803: The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had already determined in 1970 that "private schools with racially discriminatory admissions policies" were not entitled to federal tax exemption. In 1975, the University Board of Trustees authorized a policy change to admit Black students, a move that occurred shortly before the announcement of the Supreme Court decision in Runyon v. McCrary (427 U.S. 160 [1976]), which prohibited racial exclusion in private schools. In May 1975, BJU expanded rules against interracial dating and marriage. In 1976,

4824-492: The Internal Revenue Service revoked the university's tax exemption retroactively to December 1, 1970, because it practiced racial discrimination. The case was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1982. After BJU lost the decision in Bob Jones University v. United States (461 U.S. 574)[1983], the university chose to maintain its interracial dating policy and pay a million dollars in back taxes. The year following

4958-529: The King James Version (KJV) of the Bible in its services and classrooms, but it does not hold the KJV to be the only acceptable English translation or that it has the same authority as the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. The King-James-Only Movement became a divisive force in fundamentalism as conservative, modern Bible translations, such as the New American Standard Bible (NASB) and

5092-542: The Living Gallery , a series of tableaux vivants recreating noted works of religious art using live models disguised as part of two-dimensional paintings. BJU has been criticized by some fundamentalists for promoting "false Catholic doctrine" through its art gallery because much of Baroque art was created for the Counter-Reformation . A painting by Lucas van Leyden that had been displayed in

5226-589: The New International Version (NIV), began to appear in the 1970s. BJU has taken the position that orthodox Christians of the late 19th and early 20th centuries (including fundamentalists) agreed that while the KJV was a substantially accurate translation, only the original manuscripts of the Bible written in Hebrew and Greek were infallible and inerrant. Bob Jones Jr. called the KJV-only position

5360-562: The Populist Party . Jones was a friend and admirer of William Jennings Bryan but also campaigned throughout the South for Herbert Hoover (and against Al Smith ) during the 1928 presidential election . The authorized history of BJU notes that both Bob Jones Sr. and Bob Jones Jr. "played political hardball" when dealing with the three municipalities in which the school was successively located. For instance, in 1962, Bob Jones Sr. warned

5494-552: The Presbyterian Church in the United States of America . At issue were foundational disputes about the role of Christianity ; the authority of the Bible ; and the death , resurrection , and atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ . Two broad factions within Protestantism emerged: fundamentalists , who insisted upon the timeless validity of each doctrine of Christian orthodoxy ; and modernists , who advocated

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5628-476: The Princeton theologians in the pages of The Presbyterian Review . In 1889, B. B. Warfield became co-editor and refused to publish one of Briggs' articles, a key turning point. In 1891, Briggs was appointed as Union's first-ever professor of Biblical theology . His inaugural address, entitled "The Authority of Holy Scripture", proved to be highly controversial. Whereas previously, higher criticism had seemed

5762-458: The design argument , it was effectively atheism and could not be reconciled with biblical Christianity. Asa Gray responded that Christianity was compatible with Darwin's science. Both he and many other Christians accepted various forms of theistic evolution , and Darwin had not excluded the work of the Creator as a primary cause. Most churchmen, however, took a far more prosaic attitude. In

5896-578: The entomologist Vernon Kellogg of German officers discussing the Darwinian rationale for their declaration of war, and the sociologist Benjamin Kidd 's book The Science of Power which contended that Nietzsche's philosophy represented an interpretation of Darwinism, to conclude that Nietzsche 's and Darwin's ideas were the impetus for German nationalism and militarism. Bryan argued that Germany's militarism and "barbarism" came from their belief that

6030-567: The premillennial return of Christ to the status of a fundamental of the Christian faith. None of the "fundamentalist" leaders (Machen, Van Til, Macartney) in the Presbyterian Church were dispensationalists. Several leading Presbyterians, notably Robert E. Speer, played a role in founding the Federal Council of Churches in 1908. This organization (which received 5% of its first year's budget from John D. Rockefeller Jr. )

6164-640: The "struggle for survival" described in Darwin's On the Origin of Species applied to nations as well as to individuals, and that "The same science that manufactured poisonous gases to suffocate soldiers is preaching that man has a brute ancestry and eliminating the miraculous and the supernatural from the Bible." Bryan was, in essence, fighting what would later be called Social Darwinism , social and economic ideas owing as much to Herbert Spencer and Thomas Malthus as to Darwin, and viewed by modern biologists as

6298-472: The 1947–48 school year, and later buildings were also faced with the light yellow brick chosen for the originals. Bob Jones Jr. was a connoisseur of European art from his teen years and began collecting after World War II on about $ 30,000 a year authorized by the University Board of Directors. Jones first concentrated on the Italian Baroque , a style then out of favor and relatively inexpensive in

6432-494: The 87 clergymen who had signed the Plea for Peace and Work manifesto drafted by Henry van Dyke , which argued that all these heresy trials were bad for the church and that the church should be less concerned with theories about inerrancy and more concerned with getting on with its spiritual work. Indeed, it is probably fair to say that most clergymen in the period took the moderate view, being willing to tolerate Higher Criticism within

6566-709: The Association was conferred in November 2006. In December 2011, BJU announced its intention to apply for regional accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACSCOC), and it received that accreditation in 2017. In 2017, US News ranked BJU as #61 (tie) in Regional Universities South and #7 in Best Value Schools. As a twelve-year-old, Bob Jones Sr. made a twenty-minute speech in defense of

6700-600: The BJU Museum & Gallery opened a satellite location, the Museum & Gallery at Heritage Green near downtown Greenville, which featured rotating exhibitions from the main museum and interactive children's activities. In February 2017, the Museum & Gallery closed both locations permanently. In 2018, the museum announced that a new home would be built at a yet undetermined located off the BJU campus. In 2021, Erin Jones said

6834-611: The Court decision, contributions to the university declined by 13 percent. In 2000, following a media uproar prompted by the visit of presidential candidate George W. Bush to the university, Bob Jones III dropped the university's interracial dating rule, announcing the change on CNN 's Larry King Live . In the same year, Bob Jones III drew criticism after reposting a letter on the university's web page referring to Mormons and Catholics as being members of "cults which call themselves Christian". In 2005, Stephen Jones , great-grandson of

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6968-494: The Doctrinal Deliverance of 1910, which declared that five doctrines were "necessary and essential" to the Christian faith: The five propositions would become known to history as the "Five Fundamentals" and by the late 1910s, theological conservatives rallying around the Five Fundamentals came to be known as "fundamentalists." In 1910, a wealthy Presbyterian layman, Lyman Stewart , the founder of Union Oil and

7102-638: The Fosdick case was not put properly before the General Assembly, and that, as the General Assembly was a court, not a legislative body, the Five Fundamentals could not be imposed upon church officers without violating the constitution of the church. At the same time, Henry Sloane Coffin of Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City issued a statement saying that he did not accept the Five Fundamentals and that if Fosdick were removed from his pulpit, they would need to get rid of him too. Even before

7236-671: The General Assembly of 1923, Robert Hastings Nichols, a history professor at Auburn Theological Seminary was circulating a paper in which he argued that the Old School-New School reunion of 1870 and the merger with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church of 1906 had created a church specifically designed to accommodate doctrinal diversity. Two weeks after the General Assembly of 1923, 36 clergymen met in Syracuse, New York , and, using Nichols' paper as

7370-572: The General War-Time Commission to coordinate the work of Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish programs related to the war and work closely with the Department of War . It was chaired by Speer and liberal Union Theological Seminary professor William Adams Brown. Following the war, they worked hard to build on this legacy of unity. The Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions consequently called for a meeting of Protestant leaders on

7504-490: The Greenville City Council that he had "four hundred votes in his pocket and in any election he would have control over who would be elected." Bob Jones Sr.'s April 17, 1960, Easter Sunday sermon, broadcast on the radio, entitled "Is Segregation Scriptural?" served as the university position paper on race in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. The transcript was sent in pamphlet form in fund-raising letters and sold in

7638-519: The IRS website had listed the university as a 501(c)(3) organization , and by May 2017, BJU had forged a working relationship with Greenville's Phillis Wheatley Center. In 2017, 9% of the student body was "from the American minority population". The Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy The fundamentalist–modernist controversy is a major schism that originated in the 1920s and 1930s within

7772-475: The Jones family and the history of the university. Both Bob Jones Sr. and Bob Jones Jr. believed that film could be an excellent medium for mass evangelism, and in 1950, the university established Unusual Films within the School of Fine Arts. (The studio name derives from a former BJU promotional slogan, "The World's Most Unusual University".) Bob Jones Jr. selected a speech teacher, Katherine Stenholm , as

7906-542: The Museum & Gallery collection are seven large canvases, part of a series by Benjamin West painted for George III , called "The Progress of Revealed Religion", which are displayed in the War Memorial Chapel. The museum also includes a variety of Holy Land antiquities collected in the early 20th century by missionaries Frank and Barbara Bowen. Every Easter, the university and the Museum & Gallery present

8040-483: The New School's Union Theological Seminary was more willing to allow non-Presbyterians to teach at the school and was more broadminded in its academic output. American Presbyterians first became aware of higher criticism (the historical-critical method) as a development of the German academy. Between 1829 and 1850, the Princeton Review , the leading Old School theological journal under the editorship of Charles Hodge , published 70 articles against higher criticism, and

8174-414: The New York decision and declared Briggs guilty of heresy. He was defrocked as a result (but only until 1899, when the Episcopal bishop of New York , Henry C. Potter , ordained him as an Episcopal priest.) There was no subsequent attempt to ferret out followers of Higher Criticism in the years following the Portland Deliverance and the de-frocking of Briggs. Most followers of Higher Criticism were like

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8308-452: The Presbyterian Church holds that the Bible is without error and that ministers who believe otherwise should withdraw from the ministry. Briggs' case was remanded to New York Presbytery, which conducted a second heresy trial for Briggs in late 1892, and in early 1893 again found Briggs not guilty of heresy. Again, Briggs' opponents appealed to General Assembly, which in 1893 was held in Washington, D.C. The General Assembly now voted to overturn

8442-429: The Presbyterian Church in the USA. The arrival of so many liberal ministers strengthened the New School's position in the church. In 1909, there was heated debate in the New York Presbytery about whether or not to ordain three men who refused to assent to the doctrine of the virgin birth of Jesus . (They did not deny the doctrine outright but said that they were not prepared to affirm it.) The majority eventually ordained

8576-454: The Presbyterian Church. Throughout the proceedings, Fosdick's defense was led by lay elder John Foster Dulles . A giant of Old School Presbyterianism at Princeton, Charles Hodge , was one of the few Presbyterian controversialists to turn their guns on Darwinism prior to World War I . Hodge published his What is Darwinism? in 1874, three years after The Descent of Man was published, and argued that if Charles Darwin 's theory excluded

8710-480: The Presbyterian Church. They criticized the New Side/School's revivals as being emotionally manipulative and shallow. Another major division had to do with their attitude towards other denominations: New Siders/Schoolers were willing to set up parachurch ministries to conduct evangelism and missions and were willing to cooperate with non-Presbyterians in doing so. The Old Siders/Schoolers felt that evangelism and missions should be conducted through agencies managed by

8844-407: The Republican nomination for president, Stephen Jones made it clear that he wished "to stay out of politics" and that neither he nor the university had endorsed anyone. Despite a hotly contested South Carolina primary, none of the candidates appeared on the platform of BJU's Founders' Memorial Amphitorium during the 2008 election cycle. In April 2008, Stephen Jones told a reporter, "I don't think I have

8978-437: The Southern Presbyterians taking on the name the Presbyterian Church of the Confederate States of America (PCCSA). In 1864, the United Synod merged with PCCSA, with the Southern New School Presbyterians ultimately being absorbed into an Old School denomination. In 1869, the Northern New School Presbyterians returned to the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America. Although the controversies involved many other issues,

9112-424: The United States . Denominations that were not initially affected, such as the Lutheran churches , eventually were embroiled in the controversy, leading to a schism in the United States. By the end of the 1930s, proponents of theological liberalism had, at the time, effectively won the debate, with the modernists in control of all mainline Protestant seminaries, publishing houses, and denominational hierarchies in

9246-404: The United States of America. In late 1892, Henry Preserved Smith , Professor of Old Testament at Lane Theological Seminary , was convicted of heresy by the Presbytery of Cincinnati for teaching that there were errors in the Bible, and, upon appeal, his conviction was upheld by the General Assembly of 1894. In 1898, Union Theological Seminary Professor of Church History Arthur Cushman McGiffert

9380-421: The United States. More conservative Christians withdrew from the mainstream, founding their own publishing houses (such as Zondervan ), universities (such as Biola University ), and seminaries (such as Dallas Theological Seminary and Fuller Theological Seminary ). This would remain the state of affairs until the 1970s, when conservative Protestantism emerged on a larger scale in the United States, resulting in

9514-432: The Westminster Confession (to the degree Old Side/Old School required). Their emphasis was more on the authority of scripture and a conversion experience, rather than on the Westminster Confession. They argued the importance of an encounter with God mediated by the Holy Spirit. They saw the Old Side/Old School as being formalists who fetishized the Westminster Confession and Calvinism . The Old Side/Old School responded that

9648-400: The Westminster Confession of Faith. Since 1889, Van Dyke had been calling for credal revision to affirm that all dying infants (not just elect dying infants) go to heaven, to say that God loved the whole world (not just the elect), and to affirm that Christ atoned for all mankind, not just the elect. In 1901, he chaired a 25-man committee (with a New School majority). Also in 1901, he drew up

9782-517: The Westminster Confession was the foundational constitutional document of the Presbyterian Church and that since the Confession was simply a summary of the Bible's teachings, the church had a responsibility to ensure that its ministers' preaching was in line with the Confession. They accused the New Side/New School of being lax about the purity of the church and willing to allow Arminianism , unitarianism , and other errors to be taught in

9916-472: The Westminster Confession. A fiery debate ensued, with Bryan initially seeking a compromise to drop the prosecution of Fosdick in exchange for a reaffirmation of the Five Fundamentals. When this proved impossible, he lobbied intensely for the minority report, and was successful in having the minority report adopted by a vote of 439–359. Even before the end of General Assembly, this decision was controversial. 85 commissioners filed an official protest, arguing that

10050-540: The broader organization would be in charge of things like missions and lobbying for things like prohibition. Under the terms of presbyterian polity , the measure would have to be approved by the presbyteries to take effect. The plans for Church Union were roundly denounced by the Old School Princeton Theological Seminary faculty. It was at this point in 1920 that Princeton professor J. Gresham Machen first gained prominence within

10184-435: The campus the racial and cultural diversity and harmony characteristic of the true Church of Jesus Christ throughout the world". In his first meeting with the university cabinet in 2014, the fifth president Steve Pettit said it was appropriate for BJU to regain its tax-exempt status because BJU no longer held its earlier positions about race. "The Bible is clear," said Pettit, "We are made of one blood." By February 17, 2017,

10318-461: The chairman of the university's board of trustees. Shortly thereafter, the president of the board also resigned. Vice President Alan Benson became the interim president for the 2023–24 school year. In May of 2024, Baptist pastor and BJU alumnus Joshua Crockett was elected the university's sixth president. The university comprises seven colleges and schools offering more than 60 undergraduate majors, including fourteen associate degree programs. Many of

10452-649: The child was biracial. Although the March 2007 issue of Foreign Policy listed BJU as one of "The World's Most Controversial Religious Sites" because of its past influence on American politics, BJU has seen little political controversy since Stephen Jones became president. When asked by a Newsweek reporter if he wished to play a political role, Stephen Jones replied, "It would not be my choice." Further, when asked if he felt ideologically closer to his father's engagement with politics or to other evangelicals who have tried to avoid civic involvement, Jones answered, "The gospel

10586-423: The church because they were open to the points Higher Criticism was making or they wanted to avoid the distraction and dissension of heresy trials. For many, that came out of the traditional New School resistance to heresy trials and the rigid imposition of the Confession. There were two further heresy trials in subsequent years, which would be the last major heresy trials in the history of the Presbyterian Church in

10720-472: The church who believed in evolution . Ultimately, Bryan could not convince even Machen to back his position, and the Assembly simply approved a resolution condemning materialistic (as opposed to theistic) evolutionary philosophy. The major question dealt with at the General Assembly of 1923 was not, however, Darwinism. It was the question of what to do about Harry Emerson Fosdick and his provocative sermon of

10854-588: The college also ended participation in intercollegiate sports. Bankrupt at the nadir of the Depression, without a home and with barely enough money to move its library and office furniture, the college became the largest liberal arts college in Tennessee thirteen years later. With the enactment of the GI Bill at the end of World War II , the need for campus expansion to accommodate increased enrollment led to

10988-406: The college were criticized for this stance, and academic recognition, as well as student and faculty recruitment, were hindered. In 1944, Jones wrote to John Walvoord of Dallas Theological Seminary that while the university had "no objection to educational work highly standardized…. We, however, cannot conscientiously let some group of educational experts or some committee of experts who may have

11122-571: The denomination and led Old Schoolers in the denomination to move against him, with Francis Landey Patton taking the lead. Under the terms of the reunion of 1869, General Assembly had earned the right to veto all appointments to seminary professorships so at the 1891 General Assembly, held in Detroit , Old Schoolers successfully raised a motion to veto Briggs' appointment, which passed by a vote of 449–60. The faculty of Union Theological Seminary, however, refused to remove Briggs, saying that it would be

11256-468: The denomination and not involving outsiders, since it would involve a watering down of the church's theological distinctives. The two sides also had different attitudes towards their seminary professors: Princeton Theological Seminary , the leading institution of the Old School, demanded credal subscription and dedicated a large part of its academic theology to the defense of Calvinist orthodoxy; while

11390-456: The denomination as a fundamentalist opponent of Church Union, which he argued would destroy Presbyterian distinctives, and effectively cede control of the denomination to modernists and their New School allies. However, chinks were starting to show in the Princeton faculty's armor. Charles Erdman and the president of the seminary, William Robinson, came out in favor of the union. Ultimately,

11524-639: The dispute precipitated a decline in BJU enrollment of about 10% in the years 1956–59, and seven members of the university board (of about a hundred) also resigned in support of Graham, including Graham himself and two of his staff members. When, in 1966, Graham held his only American campaign in Greenville, the university forbade BJU dormitory students to attend under penalty of expulsion. Enrollment quickly rebounded, and by 1970, there were 3,300 students, approximately 60% more than in 1958. In 1971, Bob Jones III became president at age 32, though his father, with

11658-619: The early 2000s, the university quietly reexamined its position on accreditation as degree mills proliferated, and some government agencies, such as local police departments, began excluding BJU graduates because the university did not appear on appropriate federal lists. In 2004, the university began the process of joining the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools . Candidate status—effectively, accreditation—was obtained in April 2005, and full membership in

11792-423: The early period, it must have appeared far from clear that Darwin's theory of natural selection would come to be hegemonic among scientists, as refutations and alternate systems were still being proposed and debated. Then, when evolution became widely accepted, most churchmen were far less concerned with refuting it than they were with establishing schemes whereby Darwinism could be reconciled with Christianity. This

11926-466: The face of the Presbyterian Church's constitution, which required all doctrinal changes be approved by the presbyteries. While some members of the church could regard the Five Fundamentals as a satisfactory explanation of Scriptures and the Confession, there were others who could not, and therefore, the Presbyteries should be free to hold to whatever theories they saw fit in interpreting Scripture and

12060-637: The first director. Although she had no experience in cinema, she took summer courses at the University of Southern California and received personal instruction from Hollywood specialists, such as Rudolph Sternad . Unusual Films has produced seven feature-length films, each with an evangelistic emphasis: Wine of Morning , Red Runs the River , Flame in the Wind , Sheffey , Beyond the Night , The Printing , and Milltown Pride . Wine of Morning (1955), based on

12194-430: The founder, became BJU's president. Bob Jones III then took the title Chancellor. In 2008, the university declared itself "profoundly sorry" for having allowed "institutional policies to remain in place that were racially hurtful". That year, BJU enrolled students from fifty states and nearly fifty countries, representing diverse ethnicities and cultures, and the BJU administration declared itself "committed to maintaining on

12328-489: The four years they spent in college. Bryan launched his campaign against Darwinism in 1921 when he was invited to give the James Sprunt Lectures at Virginia's Union Theological Seminary . At the end of one, The Menace of Darwinism , he said that "Darwinism is not a science at all; it is a string of guesses strung together" and that there is more science in the Bible's "And God said, Let the earth bring forth

12462-655: The gallery's collection for more than ten years and had been consigned to Sotheby's for sale was recognized by Interpol as art that had been stolen by the Nazis from the Mittelrhein-Museum in Koblenz . The painting was eventually returned to Germany after months of negotiations between the Mittelrhein-Museum and Julius H. Weitzner, a dealer in Old Master paintings. After the death of Bob Jones Jr., Erin Jones,

12596-505: The history of the college, there had been some hesitancy on the part of other institutions to accept BJU credits at face value, but by the 1960s, BJU alumni were being accepted by most of the major graduate and professional schools in the United States. Undoubtedly helpful was that some of the university's strongest programs were in the areas of music, speech, and art, disciplines in which ability could be measured by audition or portfolio rather than through paper qualifications. Nevertheless, by

12730-743: The issue of the IWM was small compared to the Church Union debate. In 1919, the General Assembly sent a delegation to a national ecumenical convention that was proposing church union, and in 1920, General Assembly approved a recommendation which included "organic union" with 17 other denominations – the new organization, to be known as the United Churches of Christ in America, would be a sort of "federal government" for member churches: denominations would maintain their distinctive internal identities, but

12864-594: The largest collections of religious art in the Western Hemisphere. During the late 1950s, BJU and alumnus Billy Graham , who had attended Bob Jones College for one semester and received an honorary degree from the university in 1948, engaged in a controversy about the propriety of theological conservatives cooperating with theological liberals to support evangelistic campaigns, a controversy that widened an already growing rift between separatist fundamentalists and other evangelicals. Negative publicity caused by

12998-524: The law of hate – the merciless law by which the strong crowd out and kill off the weak", and warned that it could undermine the foundations of morality. In 1913 he became Woodrow Wilson 's secretary of state , then resigned in 1915 because he believed that the Wilson administration was about to enter World War I in response to the sinking of the RMS Lusitania and he opposed American intervention in

13132-540: The liberals in both the Presbyterian and Baptist denominations as sincere evangelical Christians who were struggling to reconcile new discoveries in history, science, and religion with the Christian faith. Fundamentalists, on the other hand, were cast as intolerant conservatives who refused to deal with these new discoveries and had arbitrarily drawn the line as to what was off limits in religious discussion. Many people, Fosdick argued, simply found it impossible to accept

13266-399: The living creature..." than in all of Darwin. These lectures were published and became a national bestseller. Now that Bryan had linked Darwinism and Higher Criticism as the twin evils facing the Presbyterian Church, Harry Emerson Fosdick responded by defending Darwinism, as well as Higher Criticism, from Bryan's attack. In the early 1920s, Bryan and Fosdick squared off against each other in

13400-487: The local Republican party with unfortunate short-term political consequences, but by 1980 the religious right and the "country club" Republicans had joined forces. From then on, most Republican candidates for local and statewide offices sought the endorsement of Bob Jones III and greeted faculty/staff voters at the University Dining Common. National Republicans soon followed. Ronald Reagan spoke at

13534-474: The men; the minority complained to the General Assembly, and it was that complaint that would form the basis of the subsequent controversy. Under the order of the Presbyterian Church in the USA, the General Assembly was not authorized to accept or dismiss the complaint. It should have demitted the complaint to the presbytery and could have done so with instructions that the presbytery hold a heresy trial. The result of

13668-583: The museum was exploring a permanent home near the proposed downtown conference center. The 90,000-square-foot (8,400 m) Mack Library (named for John Sephus Mack ) holds a collection of more than 300,000 books and includes seating for 1,200 as well as a computer lab and a computer classroom. (Its ancillary, a music library, is included in the Gustafson Fine Arts Center.) Mack Library's Special Collections includes an American Hymnody Collection of about 700 titles. The "Jerusalem Chamber"

13802-803: The need for textbooks for the burgeoning Christian school movement. The press publishes a full range of K–12 textbooks. More than a million pre-college students worldwide use BJU textbooks, and the press has about 2,500 titles in print. BJU Press also offers distance learning courses online, via DVD and hard drive. Another ancillary, the Academy of Home Education, is a "service organization for homeschooling families" that maintains student records, administers achievement testing, and issues high school diplomas. The press sold its music division, SoundForth , to Lorenz Publishing on October 1, 2012. The university operates Bob Jones Academy, which enrolls students from preschool through 12th grade. With about 1100 students,

13936-477: The next 25 years until his death, Bryan was one of the most popular Chautauqua lecturers and he spoke in front of hundreds of thousands of people. By 1905, Bryan had concluded that Darwinism and the modernism of Higher Criticism were allies in promoting liberalism within the church, thereby in his view undermining the foundations of Christianity. In lectures from 1905, Bryan spoke out against the spread of Darwinism, which he characterized as involving "the operation of

14070-537: The number increased in the years after 1850. However, it was not until the years after 1880 that higher criticism really had any advocates within American seminaries. When higher criticism arrived, it arrived in force. The first major proponent of higher criticism within the Presbyterian Church was Charles Augustus Briggs , who had studied higher criticism in Germany (in 1866). His inaugural address upon being made Professor of Hebrew at Union Theological Seminary in 1876

14204-538: The overarching issue had to do with the nature of church authority and the authority of the Westminster Confession of Faith . The New Side/New School opposed a rigid interpretation of the Westminster Confession. Their stance was based on spiritual renewal/revival through an experience with the Holy Spirit based on scripture. Therefore, they placed less emphasis on receiving a seminary education and

14338-610: The past came into light again in August 2020 when a student filed a lawsuit against Bob Jones University and Furman University alleging both administrations ignored the sexual assault report and expelled the student for consuming alcohol, which is against the Student Code of Conduct handbook. Although BJU had admitted Asian students and other ethnic groups from its inception, it did not enroll Black students until 1971. From 1971 to 1975, BJU admitted only married Black people. However,

14472-461: The people". Bob Jones took no salary from the college. Jones supported the school with personal savings and income from his evangelistic campaigns. The Florida land boom had peaked in 1925, and a hurricane in September 1926 further reduced land values. The Great Depression followed. Bob Jones College barely survived bankruptcy and its move to Cleveland, Tennessee , in 1933. In the same year,

14606-530: The persecution of believers in the former Soviet Union . According to The Dove Foundation , The Printing "no doubt will urge Christian believers everywhere to appreciate the freedoms they enjoy. It is inspiring!" In 1999, Unusual Films began producing feature films for children, including The Treasure Map , Project Dinosaur , and Appalachian Trial . They also released a short animated film for children, The Golden Rom . Unusual Films returned to their customary format in 2011 with their release of Milltown Pride ,

14740-701: The presbyteries defeated church union by a vote of 150–100 in 1921. The splits between fundamentalists and modernists had been bubbling in the Presbyterian Church for some time. The event which was to bring the issue to a head was Harry Emerson Fosdick 's sermon of May 21, 1922, " “Shall the Fundamentalists Win?” " Fosdick was ordained as a Baptist, but had been given special permission to preach in First Presbyterian Church in New York City . In this sermon, Fosdick presented

14874-438: The previous year. The Committee on Bills and Overtures recommended that the assembly declare its continuing commitment to the Westminster Confession, but leave the matter to New York Presbytery, which was investigating. The Committee's minority report recommended a declaration re-affirming the denomination's commitment to the Five Fundamentals of 1910 and to require New York Presbytery to force First Presbyterian Church to conform to

15008-689: The rise of conservatism among the Southern Baptists , Presbyterians , and others. American Presbyterianism had gone into schism twice in the past, and these divisions were important precursors to the fundamentalist – modernist controversy. The first was the Old Side–New Side controversy , which occurred during the First Great Awakening and resulted in the Presbyterian Church in 1741 being divided into an Old Side and New Side. The two churches reunified in 1758. The second

15142-423: The same political influence it had between the 1960s and the 1980s. Nevertheless, about a quarter of all BJU graduates continue to live in the Upstate , and as long-time mayor Knox White has said, "The alumni have had a big impact on every profession and walk of life in Greenville." The university occupies 205 acres at the eastern city limit of Greenville. The institution moved into its initial 25 buildings during

15276-443: The scholars who contributed articles included several Presbyterian moderates who would later be opposed to "fundamentalism" such as Charles R. Erdman Sr. and Robert Elliott Speer . It was apparently from the title of the pamphlets that the term "fundamentalist" was coined, with the first reference to the term being an article by Northern Baptist editor Curtis Lee Laws. In 1915, the conservative magazine The Presbyterian published

15410-578: The school in 1980, although the Joneses supported his opponent, John Connally , in the South Carolina primary. Later, Bob Jones III denounced Reagan as "a traitor to God's people" for choosing George H. W. Bush —whom Jones called a "devil"—as his vice president. Even later, Jones III shook Bush's hand and thanked him for being a good president. In the 1990s, other Republicans such as Dan Quayle , Pat Buchanan , Phil Gramm , Bob Dole , and Alan Keyes also spoke at BJU. Democrats were rarely invited to speak at

15544-406: The school's demographic makeup leans heavily white (90.3%), with non-Black minorities making up the bulk of other ethnicities. Black students make up 0.5% of enrollment. In December 2011, in response to accusations of mishandling of student reports of sexual abuse (most of which had occurred in their home churches when the students were minors) and a concurrent reporting issue at a church pastored by

15678-399: The title of Chancellor, continued to exercise considerable administrative authority into the late 1990s. At the 2005 commencement, Stephen Jones was installed as the fourth president, and Bob Jones III assumed the title of chancellor. Stephen Jones resigned in 2014 for health reasons, and evangelist Steve Pettit was named president, the first president unrelated to the Jones family. In 2011,

15812-483: The topic and in early 1919 the Interchurch World Movement (IWM) was established with John Mott as its chairman. The Executive Committee of the Presbyterian Church offered millions of dollars worth of support to help the IWM with fundraising. When the IWM collapsed financially, the denomination was on the hook for millions of dollars. However, the debate between modernists and conservatives over

15946-452: The trial could then be appealed to the Synod of New York and from there to the General Assembly. However, the 1910 General Assembly, acting outside its scope of authority, dismissed the complaint against the three men and at the same time instructed its Committee on Bills and Overtures to prepare a statement for governing future ordinations. The committee reported, and the General Assembly passed

16080-552: The university became a member of the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS) and reinstated intercollegiate athletics. In March 2017, the university regained its federal tax exemption after a complicated restructuring divided the organization into for-profit and non-profit entities, and in June 2017, it was granted accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools . In March 2023, Pettit resigned, effective May 5, citing his inability to work with

16214-401: The university bookstore. In the sermon, Jones states, "If you are against segregation and against racial separation, then you are against God Almighty." The school began a long history of supporting politicians who were considered aligned with racial segregation. From nearly the inception of Bob Jones College, a majority of students and faculty were from the northern United States , where there

16348-486: The university employees consider their positions as much ministries as jobs. It is common for retiring professors to have served the university for more than forty years, a circumstance that has contributed to the stability and conservatism of an institution that has virtually no endowment and at which faculty salaries are "sacrificial". The School of Religion includes majors for both men and women, although only men train as ministerial students. Many of these students go on to

16482-454: The university from around the country. In 2005, 120 of the finalists from previous years returned to BJU as freshmen. Bob Jones University supports young-earth creationism , all their biology faculty are young Earth creationists and the university rejects evolution, calling it "at best an unsupportable and unworkable hypothesis". According to the BJU website, "More than 80% of our premed graduates are accepted to medical or dental school within

16616-466: The university's ban on interracial dating. During the Michigan primary, Bush was also criticized for not stating his opposition to the university's anti-Catholicism. The McCain campaign targeted Catholics with "Catholic Voter Alert" phone calls, reminding voters of Bush's visit to BJU. New York Republican Representative Peter King , who was supporting John McCain in the presidential primary, called Bush

16750-477: The university, in part because they took political and social positions (especially support for abortion rights ) opposed by the Religious Right . On February 2, 2000, then Texas Governor George W. Bush, as a candidate for president, spoke during school's chapel hour. Bush gave a standard stump speech, making no specific reference to the university. His political opponents quickly noted his non-mention of

16884-520: The virgin birth of Christ, the doctrine of substitutionary atonement , or the literal Second Coming of Christ in the light of modern science. Given the different points of view within the church, only tolerance and liberty could allow for these different perspectives to co-exist in the church. Fosdick's sermon was re-packaged as "The New Knowledge and the Christian Faith" and quickly published in three religious journals, and then distributed as

17018-508: The wife of BJU president Stephen Jones, became director. According to David Steel, curator of European art at the North Carolina Museum of Art , Erin Jones "brought that museum into the modern era", employing "a top-notch curator, John Nolan", and following "best practices in conservation and restoration". The museum cooperates with other institutions, lending works for outside shows such as a Rembrandt exhibit in 2011. In 2008,

17152-552: The years immediately following the war. The museum's collection currently includes more than 400 European paintings from the 14th through the 19th centuries, period furniture, and a notable collection of Russian icons. The museum also includes a variety of Holy Land antiquities. The gallery is strong in Baroque paintings and includes notable works by Rubens , Tintoretto , Veronese , Cranach , Gerard David , Murillo , Mattia Preti , Ribera , van Dyck , and Gustave Doré . Included in

17286-598: Was a larger ratio of Republicans to Democrats than in the South (which was solidly Democratic). Therefore, almost from its founding year, BJU had a larger portion of Republicans than the surrounding community. After South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond switched his allegiance to the Republican Party in 1964, BJU faculty members became increasingly influential in the new state Republican party. BJU alumni were elected to local political and party offices. In 1976, candidates supported by BJU faculty and alumni captured

17420-695: Was heavily associated with the Social Gospel , and with the Progressive movement more broadly. The Council's Social Creed of the Churches was adopted by the Presbyterian Church in 1910, but conservatives in General Assembly were able to resist endorsing most of the Council's specific proposals, except for those calling for Prohibition and sabbath laws . In response to World War I , the FCC established

17554-755: Was the Old School–New School controversy , which occurred in the wake of the Second Great Awakening and which saw the Presbyterian Church split into two denominations starting in 1836–1838. In 1857, the New School Presbyterians divided over slavery , with the southern New School Presbyterians forming the United Synod of the Presbyterian Church. In 1861, the Old School Presbyterians split, with

17688-409: Was the first salvo of higher criticism within American Presbyterianism. Briggs was active in founding The Presbyterian Review in 1880, with Archibald Alexander Hodge , president of Princeton Theological Seminary, initially serving as Briggs' co-editor. In 1881, Briggs published an article in defense of William Robertson Smith which led to a series of responses and counter-responses between Briggs and

17822-503: Was tried by New York Presbytery, which condemned certain portions of his book A History of Christianity in the Apostolic Age , but declined to apply sanctions. This decision was appealed to General Assembly, but McGiffert quietly resigned from the denomination and the charges were withdrawn. Henry van Dyke , a modernist who had been a major supporter of Briggs in 1893, now headed a movement of modernists and New Schoolers to revise

17956-550: Was true even among prominent Old Schoolers at Princeton Theological Seminary such as Charles Hodge's successors A. A. Hodge and B. B. Warfield who came to endorse the ideas now described as theistic evolution. William Jennings Bryan , a former lawyer who had been brought up in the Arminian Cumberland Presbyterian Church (part of which would merge with the PC-USA in 1906) and who was also

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