TIMELINE
1706 -- First U.S. Presbytery formed (Philadelphia)
Phase 1: Whose Legitimacy?
1720 -- First Great Awakening begins (Frelinghuysen arrives in New Jersey)
1721 -- Debate begins over subscription to Westminster Confession
1726 -- Gilbert Tennent adopts Frelinghuysen's emphasis on experience
1729 -- Adopting Act: Westminster Confession received
1734 -- Jonathan Edwards joins the Great Awakening
1735 -- William Tennent erects "Log College" ministerial training school
1740 -- George Whitefield arrives; Great Awakening spreads
1741 -- Church divides: Old Side/New Side
1746 -- College of New Jersey (Princeton U.) founded
1758 -- Reunion: Old Side/New Side
1775 -- American Revolution begins
1787 -- Two conventions in Philadelphia: Constitution, Presbyterian Church
1788 -- Ratification: U.S. Constitution, revised Westminster Confession
1789 -- Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. formed: Minutes begin
1797 -- Second Great Awakening begins (roots go back to 1787)
1801 -- Plan of Union: Presbyterian and Congregational Churches in West
1808 -- Andover Seminary opens (Congregational)
1812 -- Princeton Seminary opens
1815 -- George Bourne's overture to condemn slavery; fails (1818)
1829 -- Albert Barnes' sermon, "Way of Salvation" (Arminian)
1830 -- Barnes tried for heresy; acquitted by General Assembly (1831)
1835 -- Barnes' notes on the Book of Romans
Barnes' second trial for heresy; acquitted by GA (1836)
1836 -- Union Seminary founded
Charles Finney leaves Presbyterian Church, joins Congregationalists
1837 -- Old School expels four New School synods
1838 -- New School begins new denomination
1846 -- New School condemns slavery, but not as a sin
1857 -- Revival begins in New York City; spreads
1857 -- New School divides
1858 -- New School Southern Church begins (United Synod)
Charles A. Briggs has a revival experience
1859 -- Charles Darwin's Origin of Species
1861 -- Civil War begins
Southern Old School members secede
1863 -- Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation
1864 -- Northern Old School condemns slavery as a sin
Reunion: Southern New School/Old School (PCUS)
1865 -- Civil War ends
1865 -- Republican radicals take over GA's of both schools in North
1866 -- Briggs receives "light" of higher criticism in Germany
1868 -- James McCosh becomes president of Princeton U.
Phase 2: Whose Authority?1869 -- Reunion: Northern Old School/New School (PCUSA)
1871 -- Darwin's Descent of Man
1874 -- Rev. David Swing resigns under fire from Francis Patton
Charles Hodge's What Is Darwinism?
Union Seminary hires Briggs
1876 -- Briggs' first inaugural address
W. Robertson Smith is brought to trial in Scotland
Johns Hopkins University opens
1878 -- Rev. William McCune convicted of heresy (ecclesiology)
1880 -- Presbyterian Review begins publication: joint venture
1881 -- Essays on higher criticism in Presbyterian Review: pro & con
1882 -- General Assembly's Deliverance against higher criticism; no action
1884 -- W. H. Roberts becomes Stated Clerk (to 1920)
1885 -- Briggs' American Presbyterianism
1888 -- Patton becomes president of Princeton U.
B. B. Warfield joins Princeton Seminary's faculty
1889 -- Briggs' Whither?
Debate over Confessional revision
Robert E. Speer and John R. Mott: missions recruiting (students)
1891 -- Briggs' second inaugural address
Speer joins Foreign Missions Board (to 1937)
1892 -- Trial of Briggs begins (New York Presbytery)
Doctrinal Deliverance by General Assembly (Portland, Oregon)
Union Seminary leaves the denomination
1893 -- Henry van Dyke's Plea for Peace and Work manifesto
Briggs convicted of heresy by GA
1894 -- Henry Preserved Smith convicted of heresy by GA
1900 -- A. C. McGiffert leaves Church under fire
1900 -- Ecumenical Conference on Foreign Missions, New York City
Phase 3: Whose Legality?1901 -- Founding conference, National Federation of Churches
1902 -- Woodrow Wilson becomes president of Princeton U.
Patton becomes president of Princeton Seminary
1903 -- Westminster Confession revised (universal love of God)
Establishment of the Committee on Church Cooperation
1906 -- Cumberland Presbyterians arrive (1,100 congregations)
J. Gresham Machen joins Princeton's faculty
Charles Erdman joins Princeton's faculty
1908 -- Federal Council of Churches (FCC) begins; led by Roberts
Presbyterian Church reorganized; Executive Commission begins
1910 -- GA's Doctrinal Deliverance (fundamentalist)
GA's Social Deliverance (social gospel)
Edinburgh conference on world missions
Rockefeller leads the New York City grand jury
Wilson elected Governor of New Jersey
1912 -- Wilson elected President of the United States
1913 -- Patton resigns as president of Princeton Seminary
Van Dyke's challenge: "Initiate a heresy trial against me!"
1914 -- J. Ross Stevenson replaces Patton
Machen becomes Assistant Professor; then is ordained
1918 -- Council on Organic Church Union established by GA
1919 -- Interchurch World Movement (IWM) begins
New Era Movement begins in PCUSA: centralized fund--raising
1920 -- Rockefeller joins IWM
Speer becomes president of Federal Council (to 1924)
Presbyteries vote not to join Church Union
Presbyteries vote not to ordain women elders (129 to 125)
GA votes to pay Presbyterian Church's share of IWM's bills
1921 -- W. H. Griffith Thomas on liberalism in foreign missions
Speer re-structures authority over foreign missionaries
Lewis Mudge becomes Stated Clerk (to 1938)
Phase 4: Whose Sanctions?1922 -- William Jennings Bryan's New York Times attack on Darwinism
Harry E. Fosdick's sermon, "Shall the Fundamentalists Win?"
1923 -- Machen's Christianity and Liberalism published
GA calls for unification of seminaries' boards
GA calls for New York Presbytery's trial of Fosdick
Auburn Affirmation signed by 149 ministers
Van Dyke's attack on Machen's preaching
1924 -- Auburn Affirmation published (over 1,200 eventually sign)
General Council replaces Executive Commission (GA)
Consolidation of Church's boards into four
Fosdick resigns from Presbyterian Church
1925 -- Scopes Trial; Bryan dies five days after it ends
1926 -- Conservatives lose control in GA
Machen nominated for apologetics professorship
1927 -- Speer elected Moderator of GA
Pension plan goes into effect
GA renounces de-frocking of ministers
GA postpones decision on Machen's professorship
1929 -- Princeton Seminary reorganized; four faculty members leave
Westminster Seminary opens
Stock market crashes
1930 -- Women ruling elders approved (158 to 118)
1931 -- New Form of Government proposed by General Council
1932 -- Debate over proposed Form of Government continues
Re--Thinking Missions published
Foreign Missions Board conflict begins
1933 -- Pearl S. Buck vs. Machen
Buck resigns as a Presbyterian missionary
Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions (IBPFM)
Phase 5: Whose Inheritance?1934 -- New Form of Government overwhelmingly approved by presbyteries
1935 -- Trials of dissident nine Presbyterian ministers begin
1936 -- Showdown at Westminster Seminary over IBPFM
Eight ministers de-frocked by GA; one is admonished
Presbyterian Church of America (PCA) formed
Independent Board replaces Machen as president
1937 -- Machen dies (Jan. 1)
McIntire leads secession from PCA
1938 -- Bible Presbyterian Church formed
1939 -- PCA changes name to Orthodox Presbyterian Church