The fundamentalist–modernist controversy is a major schism that originated in the 1920s and 1930s within the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. At issue were foundational disputes about the role of Christianity; the authority of the Bible; and the death, resurrection, and atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
At first, the schism was limited to Reformed churches and centered around the Princeton Theological Seminary, whose fundamentalist faculty members founded Westminster Theological Seminary when Princeton went in a liberal direction. However, it soon spread, affecting nearly every Protestant denomination in the United States. Denominations that were not initially affected, such as the Lutheran churches, eventually were embroiled in the controversy, leading to a schism in the United States.
By the end of the 1930s, proponents of theological liberalism had, at the time, effectively won the debate,[2] with the modernists in control of all mainline Protestant seminaries, publishing houses, and denominational hierarchies in the United States.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamentalist%E2%80%93modernist_controversy