January 1, 1937 – Gresham Machen

As church liberalism began to grow at Princeton University in the 1920s the Presbyterian general assembly and the faculty saw a huge split over ideas such as the historical reliability of the Bible. Founded on the principles of a conservative Presbyterianism, a New Testament professor named Gresham Machen unsuccessfully argued that Princeton must remain true to its founding but his ideas were voted down by the Presbyterian Assembly which today is known as the PCUSA. Before he died on January 1, 1937, Machen would form Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia and write one of the classic books on church doctrine called Christianity and Liberalism.