Fundamentalism and Education in the Scopes Era: God, Darwin, and the Roots of America’s Culture Wars PDF
Preview Fundamentalism and Education in the Scopes Era: God, Darwin, and the Roots of America’s Culture Wars
Fundamentalism and Education in the Scopes Era This page intentionally left blank Fundamentalism and Education in the Scopes Era God, Darwin, and the Roots of America’s Culture Wars Adam Laats fundamentalism and education in the scopes era Copyright © Adam Laats, 2010. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-62372-9 All rights reserved. First published in 2010 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe, and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-38507-2 ISBN 978-0-230-10679-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230106796 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress. A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Scribe Inc. First edition: May 2010 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Transferred to Digital Printing in 2011 Contents Preface vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 Part I: Fundamentalism and Fundamentalists 1 A New Kind of Protestant 11 2 What’s in a Name? 23 Part II: God and School 3 Campus Skirmishes 43 4 Early Legislative Battles 61 5 Of Monkeys and Men 77 Part III: Monkeys and Modernism 6 School Legislation after Scopes 99 7 College Controversies after Scopes 121 8 Fundamentalists, Bibles, and Schooling in the 1920s 139 Part IV: Fundamentalism Transformed 9 Fundamentalists and the New Fundamentalism 159 10 Fundamentalists Outside the New Fundamentalism 175 Conclusion 189 Epilogue: Into the Future 193 Notes 201 Index 247 This page intentionally left blank Preface The research for this book was not motivated by a desire to defend or to attack fundamentalism. I was not raised in a fundamentalist or evangelical church. My family was loosely attached to a number of different liberal Protestant churches and now I attend Catholic services. Nevertheless, as every historian must do, I have tried to develop a sympathy for the goals of fundamentalists and evan- gelicals in order to gain a fuller understanding of their educational campaigns. In the end, however, I take the position of an outside observer. This distance has probably made me slower to pick up some of the nuances of fundamen- talist language than an insider might be. But it has also allowed me to avoid the temptation to gloss over the parts of fundamentalism that do not match my ideals. Of course, no writer can avoid coloring his research with his own perspective. However, this study has been motivated by an academic interest in a complex theological and educational movement, not by a desire to justify or condemn the activism and ideas of fundamentalists in the 1920s. This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments This book would not have been possible without generous assistance from a number of sources. The National Academy of Education and Spencer Foun- dation provided a postdoctoral fellowship that helped me expand, revise, and polish the manuscript. Travel grants from Binghamton University’s Research Foundation and School of Education, from the University of Wisconsin’s Grad- uate School and History Department, and from Marquette University High School in Milwaukee allowed me to include archival material from around the country. Archivists such as Lolana Thompson at Dallas Theological Seminary, Patrick Robbins and Jennifer Sackett at Bob Jones University, Joe Cataio at the Moody Bible Institute, Grace Mullen at Westminster Theological Seminary, and Wayne Weber and Bob Shuster at the Billy Graham Center Archive all extended themselves graciously to help me locate materials. The interlibrary loan staff at Binghamton University’s Bartle Library helped immensely with their ability and willingness to track down obscure state law journals. I was lucky to have not one, but two exemplary mentors throughout the years I have worked on this book. The work was guided from the outset by Ronald Numbers. Ron’s early interest and continuing support and advice have been invaluable. And Bill Reese inspired both the idea for this book and its development. He has gone far beyond his original role as faculty adviser to help shape my ideas and approach. I also need to thank colleagues who read all or part of the manuscript in vari- ous stages and offered helpful comments, ideas, and suggestions. Bill Trollinger, Jim Carpenter, Andy Cavagnetto, David Bernstein, and Eric Pullin all helped improve the work. Carol Mikoda spent many hours helping with the manu- script. Of course, the final responsibility for any errors is mine. Ain and Virginia Laats provided unflagging support, without which I could never have devoted the required time and energy to this project. Most of all, I thank Sandra for encouraging me to write this book when it seemed a remote possibility. Even with the endless hours of talk about fundamentalists, educa- tion, and the 1920s, her energy and enthusiasm never let up.
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