The Scopes humiliation drove evangelicals into a self-imposed cultural retreat.
Evidence
In the course of the 1920s and 1930s, American evangelicals doubled down on their rejection of the larger culture. Having already embraced premillennialism, the doctrine that Jesus would return to earth at any moment to rain judgment on the unrighteous, evangelicals set about to construct the evangelical subculture, an interlocking network of congregations, denominations, Bible camps, Bible institutes, colleges, seminaries, missionary societies, and publishing houses. The broader culture was both corrupt and corrupting, they argued, and the subculture provided a safe space, a refuge from the dangers of an increasingly secular society. — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith, 69
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Evangelicals built a self-contained subculture after ridicule at the Scopes trial — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the…, 68; Evangelical fundraising depended on a cultivated sense of persecution — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne: How White…, 314; Political defeats deepened evangelicals’ resentment rather than moderating their worldview. (+2 more)
Related
- Evangelicals built a self-contained subculture after ridicule at the Scopes trial (similarity 0.91)
- Evangelical institutions built in the 1930s later powered their 1970s political reentry. (similarity 0.80)
Broader Connections
- Evangelicals built a self-contained subculture after ridicule at the Scopes trial
#corroborates(1.00) — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith, 68 - Institutions built for withdrawal later enabled evangelical political reentry
#expands(0.85) - Civil War defeat drove southern evangelicals from postmillennialism to premillennialism
#corroborates(0.75) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 264 - Political defeats deepened evangelicals’ resentment rather than moderating their worldview.
#expands(0.72) - Evangelical fundraising depended on a cultivated sense of persecution
#expands(0.70) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 314