Harry Emerson Fosdick

Harry Emerson Fosdick
Born	May 24, 1878 Buffalo, New York United States
Died	October 5, 1969 Bronxville, New York
Education	BA, Colgate University, 1900 studied at Colgate Seminary, 1900–01 BD, Union Theological Seminary, 1904 MA, Columbia University, 1908
Occupation	Protestant Christian minister
Spouse(s)	Florence Allen Whitney
Children	Elinor Fosdick Downs, Dorothy Fosdick
Parent(s)	Frank Sheldon Fosdick, Amy Inez Fosdick
Church	Baptist
Ordained	November 18, 1903
Congregations served	First Baptist Church, Montclair, NJ, 1904–15 First Presbyterian Church ("Old First" of Manhattan), New York City, NY, 1918–25 Park Avenue Baptist Church/Riverside Church, New York City, NY, 1925–30/1930–46
Offices held	pastor, associate pastor

Harry Emerson Fosdick (May 24, 1878 – October 5, 1969) was an American pastor. Fosdick became a central figure in the "Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy" within American Protestantism in the 1920s and 1930s and was one of the most prominent liberal ministers of the early 20th Century. Although a Baptist, he was called to serve as pastor, in New York City, at First Presbyterian Church in Manhattan's West Village, and then at the historic, inter-denominational Riverside Church in Morningside Heights, Manhattan.

Born in Buffalo, New York, Fosdick graduated from Colgate University in 1900 and from Union Theological Seminary in 1904. While attending Colgate University he joined the Delta Upsilon Fraternity. He was ordained a Baptist minister in 1903 at Madison Avenue Baptist Church at 31st Street, Manhattan.

He was called as minister to First Baptist Church, Montclair, New Jersey, in 1904, serving until 1915. He supported US participation in the First World War (later describing himself as a "gullible fool" in doing so), and in 1917 volunteered as an Army chaplain, serving in France.

In 1918 he was called to First Presbyterian Church, and on May 21, 1922, he delivered his famous sermon Shall the Fundamentalists Win?, in which he defended the modernist position. In that sermon he presented the Bible as a record of the unfolding of God's will, not as the literal "Word of God". He saw the history of Christianity as one of development, progress, and gradual change. Fundamentalists regarded this as rank apostasy, and the battle-lines were drawn.