Journal: Journal for Baptist Theology & Ministry
Volume: JBTM 22:1 (Spring 2025)
Article: Between A Rock And A Hard Place: G. Campbell Morgan Among The Fundamentalists
Author: Justin L. McLendon

Between A Rock And A Hard Place: G. Campbell Morgan Among The Fundamentalists

Justin L. McLendon

Justin McLendon serves as Professor of Theology at Grand Canyon University and Grand Canyon Theological Seminary in Phoenix, Arizona.

Introduction

Continued work proves necessary in our efforts to understand the contexts and personalities of early twentieth-century British and American evangelical leaders. Lingering questions remain for those personalities whose ministries spanned academic and ecclesiastical spheres, and there is much to learn from those whose popularity and influence transcended some of the more common areas of evangelical tension. One such leader is the English Bible preacher and teacher, G. Campbell Morgan (1863–1945). Throughout his ministry, which spanned over sixty years, Morgan crossed the Atlantic fifty-four times, preached over twenty-three thousand sermons, and published over seventy books.1 Numerous pastors and interested scholars own or have perused his collected sermons in the multi-volume series, The Westminster Pulpit.

In what follows I will offer a brief overview of Morgan’s overall ministry before exploring his movements within the ecclesiastical, institutional, and itinerant work he led in London and America. For our purposes, the main import of this ministerial overview will be to establish his early credentials within the international movements of Fundamentalism. Morgan’s name recognition, international popularity, and alliances with leading Fundamentalists allowed him to lead or be at the forefront of the brutish rhetoric of those fundamentalists whose actions spurred even greater division. Additionally, observing this English preacher on the battlefield

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of American Fundamentalism provides a window into the different attitudes and expectations between British and American Fundamentalists.

In our quest to situate Morgan’s ministry among his peers, we must consider the importance of three specific relationships, all demonstrating his allegiances within the Fundamentalist/Modernist controversy. First, we will consider Morgan’s early relationship with D. L. Moody, who created numerous connections for Morgan alongside other significant leaders in the Fundamentalist camp in America (particularly R. A. Torrey). Second, we will consider Morgan’s appointment to Biola University in 1927 and his subsequent resignation the following year due to his steadfast defense of his friend, John Murdoch MacInnis, Dean of Biola. Third, we will consider Morgan’s departure from Los Angeles, where he accepted preaching opportunities in Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches before securing his only pastorate in the United St...