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J. Pentecostalism, and Biola has maintained the same position taken by the Board in 1925 with respect to the movement and its doctrine. _____,,.,.--=....------ -- --- THE MACINNIS CONTROVERSY By far the most difficult problem Biola has ever had to deal with was what became well known as the "Macinnis Controversy," which also involved the charge of liberalism or modernism, as it was called at that time. The roots of this controversy go back to late 1924, when Dr. R. A. Torrey resigned as Dean of Biola. After considering a number of possible candidates for the position, the Board appointed Dr. John Murdoch Macinnis, who had been a mem- ber of the faculty for two years. Dr • .Macinnis seemed imminently qualified · for the position, having graduated from Moody Bible Institute, Syracuse Uni- versity, and the Divinity School of Philadelphia. He was an ordained Presby- terian minister and had pastored at least six churches, one of which was in Montrose, Pennsylvania, where he first became associated with Dr. Torrey, who had established the Montrose Bible Conference there. It was through the influence of Dr. Torrey that Macinnis came to Biola as a member of the fac~lty The Board officially appointed him to the position of Dean in March, 1925, and he assumed his duties immediately. Dr. Macinnis' tenure as Dean was fraught with problems from its outset. Although he held the position only thirty-one months, never in the history of Biola has it experienced such difficulties, both internally and externally. The Controversy almost wrecked- the School, doing great damage to its reputation as a fundamental school and destroying much of its financial base. Unfortun- ately, it came at a most inopportune time, just before the Stock Market Crash of 1929, which was followed by the Great Depression, both of which intensi- fied Biola's financial problems brought on by the Controversy. There were three basic issues which produced the Macinnis Controversy • .They were some statements made by Macinnis at the time of his inauguration,
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