A Thirst for Souls

Book excerpt: A philosopher son comes to grips with his evangelist father's life and ministry, and his passion for winning lost souls. The author situates Percy Crawford within the fundamentalist movement he encountered in 1923, when he came to Los Angeles to get a college education, and instead got converted at Reuben Torrey's Church of the Open Door. The book identifies Crawford's main contributions to fundamentalism at a critical time in its history --the 1930s and '40s-- when it was languishing and marginalized in American life. Crawford was one of the "young men on fire" who effectively used the new medium of radio (and later television) as vehicles for spreading the gospel. His direct and hard-hitting preaching style, together with a high-quality musical program assembled by his wife and life-long partner in evangelism, Ruth, helped to remake the public image of fundamentalism and rekindle the spirit of revivalism.