Conflict of Ages

This is a dangerous book, dangerous because it deals with perhaps the most serious conflict in history, and I commend it with some trepidation. That conflict began in Genesis and has continued unabated through history. Beecher's book was originally published when America was deeply conflicted over the Great Awakenings and the New School/Old School controversies that set the stage for the American Civil War.

Beecher wrote, "...soon after the opening of the Reformation, the power of that system was so far broken, and consistent and free thought had so much more scope, that the whole system was so modified as better to accord with the fundamental principles of the Pelagian theory of human nature. The same was true in the case of Dr. John Taylor. The doctrine of the Trinity was dropped in each case. Yet, at first, the whole system was not reduced to its natural and consistent level. Socinus still retained the worship of Christ, and persecuted Davides for dissenting from his views. Dr. J. Taylor approximated as near to the Trinity as the Arianism of Dr. S. Clarke would allow. He also did not remove from his doctrine all the language which belonged to the orthodox doctrine of the atonement. It was not until the close of the last and the beginning of the present century that the principles of the Pelagian theory were fully and consistently developed in modern Unitarianism" (p. 272).

The world and the Christian churches had turned toward Pelagianism and away from the Trinity, and Beecher sought a solution to this problem. Many people today have come to realize that something very fundamental or basic has gone awry in Christendom and in the world. There are calls for reformation and revival coming from nearly every corner of the church and the world today.

Ross calls for Beecher's work to be reevaluated afresh and works to correct Beecher's infatuation with preexistence by sug-gesting a Trinitarian solution to the problem Beecher presented.

Edward Beecher (1803-1895), a noted theologian, the son of Lyman Beecher and brother to Harriet Beecher Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher, was senior editor of The Congregationalist (1849-1855), and an associate editor of the Christian Union from 1870.