Liberal and conservative Protestants were facing off against each other on many related issues in the early 1900s. The heresy trial of Episcopal priest Algernon S. Crapsey in New York in 1906 illustrated how several theological questions functioned simultaneously in the growing debate. The church court that tried Crapsey found him guilty of contradicting avowals he had made at his ordination, including his affirmation that the Bible is the word of God and his pledge to uphold the doctrines expressed in the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. Crapsey was dismissed from his post for not adhering to biblical literalism and for adopting a scientific mentality that questioned creedal statements about the resurrection of Jesus and the virgin birth as well as for challenging the Episcopal Church's unique statement of theologicaltruth. Crapsey's lawyer, Edward Shepard, saw in the...