Christian History Home > Issue 55 > The Monkey Trial & the Rise of Fundamentalism: A Gallery of Militants, Moderates, & Millionaires
The Monkey Trial & the Rise of Fundamentalism: A Gallery of Militants, Moderates, & Millionaires
It's pretty hard to stereotype early fundamentalist leaders.
Kelvin Crow | posted 7/01/1997 12:00AM
John Franklyn Norris
(1877-1952)
Pistol-packing pastor
The son of a drunken sharecropper and a devout mother, Frank Norris became one of the most controversial clerics of the 1920s, and the basis for much of today's unflattering caricature of fundamentalists. His flamboyant preaching converted thousands, but the Atlanta Constitution charged, "The Rev. J. Frank Norris … is one, good, sound, reason why there are 50,000,000 Americans who do not belong to any church at all."
At 15 he was shot by horse thieves, and his mother tutored him in the faith during the difficult recovery. After completing Southern Baptist Theological Seminary training in two years, he pastored a church of 13 members, which grew to 1,000 in three years. In 1909 he moved to the First Baptist Church of Fort Worth. There he founded his own newspaper and pioneered radio preaching. Membership increased tenfold.
When Norris preached, he roamed the platform shouting and weeping, with a Bible in one hand and a newspaper the other. ... To view this item, you must be a member of ChristianHistory.net.
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