Crossed Fingers

Last night I read the forward, preface, and introduction to Gary North's Crossed Fingers: How the Liberals Captured the Presbyterian Church, available free on-line. Battles in Presbyterianism were often front-page news from 1922-1936, but North seeks to trace the roots and causes well before then.

I doubt that I will read the whole thing, but as far as I know it is the only book of its kind - n0 books trace the liberal triumph over the other mainline denominations. But one key point is that the Machen conservative camp lost because it was stuck playing defense - vocally resisting the seemingly modest and nearly-invisible liberal agenda. The liberal contingent was small (as was the consersative), but the majority of members, non-intellectuals who focused on experiential, pietistic religion, just wanted "peace" and therefore drifted to the liberal side of the battle.

It would be interesting to see if there's a book on how the conservatives re-took the Southern Baptist Convention. Maybe they learned to go on offense and exploit the reality that, deep down, the majority in the middle agreed with them.