The U.S. South and Europe: Transatlantic Relations in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

9. Transatlantic Fundamentalism: Southern Preachers in London's Pulpits during World War I

165 9 Transatlantic Fundamentalism Southern Preachers in London’s Pulpits during World War I William R. Glass In 1911, Rev. A. C. Dixon left the famous pulpit of the Moody Church in Chicago, founded by the late nineteenth-century evangelist Dwight L. Moody and in some ways the Vatican of American nondenominational evangelicalism, and moved his ministry to an equally esteemed, conservative platform in London: the Metropolitan Tabernacle, a church led for nearly forty years by Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Two years later, another American preacher assumed the pastorate of Christ Church, a congregation that combined evangelical preaching from the pulpit with a variety of social programs intended to meet the needs of its community. In his first sermon, Leonard G. Broughton acknowledged this heritage and outlined an ambitious program to revitalize and expand these programs. Both of the churches were in London’s Southwark district, within a mile of each other. Both men were from North Carolina, one was born before the Civil War, the other just after it ended, and both were Baptists. Though not obvious, the selection of southerners as pastors represented a minor example of the healing of nineteenth-century divisions from the American Civil War as both churches had connections to the abolitionism of the 1850s. More important, though, both Dixon and Broughton contributed to the development of American Protestant fundamentalism, and their moves to London represented one small part of a web of connections involving people and ideas that contributed to a fruitful exchange between conservative Protestants in Great Britain and the United States. In short, they were 166 William R. Glass representatives of the transatlantic nature of the emerging fundamentalist movement.1 A. C. Dixon was the older and more noted of the two.2 Born in 1854 in Shelby, North Carolina, and converted at age twelve, Dixon graduated from Wake Forest College in 1874 and had a year of theology school before serving churches in Chapel Hill and Asheville. On leaving North Carolina in 1883 for Baltimore’s Immanuel Baptist Church, he began a steady ascent to larger, more prestigious, and more conservative congregations and to a national reputation as an effective evangelist, Bible teacher, and controversialist . After seven years in Baltimore (1883–90), he moved to Hanson Street Baptist in Brooklyn for ten years (1890–1900), then to Boston’s Ruggles Street Church for five (1901–6), with his last U.S. pastorate before London being the nondenominational Moody Church in Chicago (1906–11). While pastoring these churches, he spoke at Bible conferences, conducted evangelistic services in secular auditoriums, and published newspaper columns denouncing modern thought and affirming traditional interpretations of Christian doctrine. These experiences paved the way for him to play a pivotal role in shaping the emergence of American fundamentalism through editing the first five volumes of The Fundamentals.3 Published in 1910–15, this series of twelve pamphlets not only contributed to naming this conservative movement in American Protestantism but also defined its agenda. With these credentials, Dixon seemed a natural fit for London’s Metropolitan Tabernacle. This church was known throughout the world due to the ministry of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, one of the great preachers of the nineteenth century .4 Not only blessed with great oratorical skills, Spurgeon was renowned for his conservative exposition of the Bible in his sermons. His fame was such that Dixon applied to Spurgeon’s pastor’s college when he was considering options for theology school. Spurgeon gently rejected the application, suggesting that Dixon take his training in the country where he would be ministering.5 Moreover, Spurgeon and the Tabernacle were no strangers to controversy, political or theological. For example, Spurgeon’s account of the Tabernacle’s history did not mention any tradition of antislavery activity,6 but in February 1860, in response to charges that he edited out abolitionist content for American editions of his sermons, he wrote a letter denying the accusation. He noted that his congregation had no slave owners, so he “would be beating the air” if he attacked slavery in his Sunday sermons, “for this is the very last crime” the Tabernacle’s members “would commit.” But Transatlantic Fundamentalism 167 he was unequivocal: “I do from my inmost soul detest slavery anywhere and everywhere, and although I commune at the Lord’s table with men of all creeds, yet with a slaveholder I have no fellowship of any sort.” As a parting shot, he...