Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-01-08
Doctrinal Duel Between
Dr.. Eliet and ''Billy' Sunday
Harvards exPresden Opens Concerted Unitarian Effort to
Combat Evangelist; of Nationwide Importance
by The Religious RambIer.)

The most dramatic religious contro-
versy that this continent has seen for
more than generation is that between
the Rev. DIR. Charles W. Eliot, presi-
dent emeritus of Harvard University
and the Rev. BILLY" Sunday. the eX-
baseball star, who is. now the world $
most famous revivalist. The discus
sion centers about the theme which has
engaged theologians for nineteen CEN
turies, the nature and mission of Jesus
DR.. Eliot unsparingly araigns the
orthodox conception of Jesus. while
BILLY" Sunday defends the diety, the
yicarious atonement, and the reSurrec-
ton and the divine sovereignty of the
Nazarene.
This controversy is vastly more sig
nificant than most Philadelphians. who
are nearest to it. have as yet perceiV-
ed. Unless all portents fail. 1t means
a nationwide revival of doctrinal de-
bate, The battle which the Unitarian
leaders have set in array in William
Penn's city of religious tolerance may
easily become a worldwide religious
war.
How the Fracas Started
Lest any reader should think this a
mere chance clash of opinion, the story
needs to be retold of how the situation
developed; and of how formal and of
fetal it all is, at least on the side of the
Unitarians.
BILLY" Sunday. be it known. is as theo-
logically orthodox" as Jonathan Ed
wards He not only breaches hell-fire.
but he does not hesitate to say that
hell is the destination of certain per-
sons, the Unitarians chief among them.
Report says that in times past he has
even consigned the DISTINGUISHED presi-
dent emeritus of Harvard by. name to
this destination Never in all the CEN
turies of bitter debate over the nature
of Jesus, has anybody used such pic
turesque. excoriating. sizzling, slangy
speech in defense of the diety of Jesus
as Billy Sunday employs.
Hitherto. InitaffanS nave received
this in silence, and. it is said, their
churches have even benefited by the
from the BILLY" Sunday teaching. When.
however. the preparations for the evan
gelist's Philadelphia campaign. which
opened last Sunday, began to attract
widespread attention. Unitarian leaders
got together and. decided upon an Or
ganiZed, systematic counter campaign
Their method was fourfold. They in
vited President Eliot to speak in Phila-
delphia under their auspices few
evenings prior to Sundays advent. They
opened a Unitarian bookstore near the
big Sunday tabernacle. They planned
a series of nightly meetings in one of
the three Philadelphia churches, to be
addressed by leading Unitarian minis
ters, to begin the middle of this month,
and to run concurrently with the sun
day campaign. And they have begun
a publicity campaign in the daily news
news columns. A strong local commit
tee was formed to have charge Of this
formal conflict with orthodoXy's most
spectacular and uncompromising cham
pion.
The Spread of thc Debate
The battle thus joined has not been
fully reported In the daily press. A
glimpse of some of the sensational con-
sequences already achieved may be had
from the statement of University of
Pennsylvania official that President
Eliot's address is costing the American
Society for the Advancement of Science
moro than thousand members. This
is because DR. Eliot's speech was de-
1ivered during the Philadelphia con-
vention of the scientists, to which he
was a delegate.
On the other hand. one member of the
"Billy" Sunday campaign committee
said. while it is a hilarious spectacle
to see Dr. Eliot riding on the coat-tails