John Murdoch MacInnis (1871-1940) was a professor of philosophy and religion at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles from 1921-5 and dean from 1925-8. His career saw the expansion of Biola's classes to cover a wider number of subjects. His work, especially his book Peter the Fisherman Philosopher, became a point of controversy in the late 1920s.

Background and Education

MacInnis was born on Prince Edward Island, Canada, August 6, 1871. He grew up in a poor, Scottish immigrant farming community. His first language was Gaelic, and he probably did not begin speaking English until the age of 12. At around age 10, he left his family's farm to become his uncle's apprentice in nearby Charlottetown, where he learned tailoring. After finishing his apprenticeship, he traveled to Boston and then Chattanooga, Tennessee to practice his trade, but while in Tennessee he became ill with scarlet fever and nearly died. In his early 20s he moved to Chicago and began attending Moody Bible Institute; his time there totaled nearly one full year of education, and he was introduced to the contemporary evangelical culture at Moody through the likes of Reuben Archer Torrey, D.L. Moody, and Cyrus I. Scofield. In 1911, MacInnis received a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Temple University School of Theology, which he had enrolled in via correspondence while pastoring a church in Montrose, Pennsylvania. Draney, D. (1996). When Streams Diverge. Paternoster.

Early Career

Despite having no "formal" Bible training, MacInnis began pastoring and ministering at Presbyterian churches in 1897 and continued through 1921. His career as a minister took him from a small college group in St Paul, MN to a 200-member church in Santa Clara, CA, and eventually to a large metropolitan church in Syracuse, NY. While MacInnis was at a church in Montrose, he began collaborating with Torrey to found a new Bible conference, which eventually became very successful and where he later delivered a series of lectures. Draney, D. 1996. Pp. 35-52.

Career at Biola

As a professor, MacInnis taught a 3-year course that was part of the new curriculum (revised by R.A. Torrey), which dealt with "Philosophy of the Christian Religion," and sought to focus on the development of Greek and Roman philosophy and history, the life of Christ, the origin and history of the church, a philosophical interpretation of Christian history, "Christ as the highest expression of life," modern science, and modern criticism.
As dean of Biola, MacInnis (following the example of Torrey) continued to introduce new courses such as Christian history and philosophy, medical missions, and Greek. While this provoked a lot of questions and controversy over whether MacInnis was attempting to transform Biola into a four-year liberal arts college, the question remains unanswered because he was forced to leave the school in 1928 due to the larger controversy surrounding the book Peter the Fisherman Philosopher, which was published in 1927. Draney, D. 1996. Pp. 85-117.

Peter the Fisherman Philosopher

In 1927, MacInnis published a book titled Peter the Fisherman Philosopher: A Study in Higher Fundamentalism, which caused a considerable amount of controversy. The book received mixed reviews; most negative reviews came from Fundamentalists who disagreed with his non-militant views of church doctrine, while most positive views came from moderate Presbyterians who sympathized with the book's attempts to reconcile Fundamentalism with more mainstream Christian ideas.

In his comprehensive dissertation on this controversy entitled "When Streams Diverge: John Murdoch MacInnis and the Origins of Protestant Fundamentalism in Los Angeles," Daniel Draney comments that MacInnis' views, which were presented in "Peter the Fisherman Philosopher" in 1927, had actually been stated previously in a series of lectures given at the Montrose Bible Conference. Those lectures were later published in The King's Business, Vol. 4 and 5. The King's Business Vol. 4.12, Dec 1914, Pg. 565 [The King's Business] Vol. 5.1, Jan 1914, Pg. 13 http://www2.biola.edu/kingsbusiness/view/5

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