The origins of the fundamentalist penetration of mainstream
Southern religion

William R. Glass

In Strangers in Zion: Fundamentalists in the South, 1900-1950 William R. Glass tells the story of the growth of Protestant fundamentalism in the American South and the subsequent conflicts between different branches of the movement. Glass argues that despite the generally conservative character of Southern society and religion, fundamentalists during 1900-1950 had difficulty making a home for themselves in the South, although they did gain a foothold through building a network of conferences, churches, and schools. These institutions, though, provoked the first sustained reaction by other Southern denominations against the fundamentalist presence in their midst. In these same years, a theologically liberal faction of ministers and administrators within mainstream southern denominations began to take a prominent role. The result was the introduction of fundamentalist controversy among Southern Protestants as fundamentalists fought to lessen liberal influence. These battles, particularly those among Southern Baptists and Southern Presbyterians, fostered the establishment of ongoing factions determined to resist and reverse the penetration of liberal theologies in their churches. In this way, Glass points to the origins of the current crisis among Baptists in the South as being much earlier than anyone else has suggested.

"Strangers in Zion: Fundamentalists in the South, 1900-1950 succeeds in adding to our scholarly appreciation of the variety of fundamentalisms, in this case a richly developed portrait of a regional fundamentalism with much in common with others nationally but still distinctive. It is valuable in uncovering the roots of the contemporary Fundamentalist movement, in which—unlike earlier—the South has played the crucial role. This study will find a ready market among historians of American religion and those interested in understanding contemporary religious patterns."—Charles Reagan Wilson, University of Mississippi

William R. Glass, associate professor of history at Mississippi University for Women, holds a BA from Centre College of Kentucky and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Emory University. He has published articles on American religion in Jewish Social Studies, American Baptist Quarterly, Journal of Social Science, and American Presbyterians, and contributed to American National Biography.

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Southern Religion

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