[5] Instead, Woodrow took a position at Columbia Theological Seminary in 1861, becoming the first Perkins Professor of Natural Science.

He restarted the Southern Presbyterian Review, which had been begun in 1846, but had its final publication in 1864, until the circumstances brought about by the Civil War put an end the magazine.

[6] Woodrow served as its owner, publisher and chief editor, and, among other things, engaged in a literary debate about geology with fellow PCUS churchman R.L.

In 1859, Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species was published, causing theological controversy in religious circles.

[7] In 1879, a Columbia Seminary board member named J.B. Mack urged Woodrow to publish his views to quell the rumors, but he replied that his only peculiar teaching on the matter was his rejection that the world was created in 6 literal days.

Woodrow, in no position to refuse, revealed his views at a meeting of Columbia Seminary's Alumni Association in the spring in 1884.

He also stated that, while he believed the Bible to be true, he had no duty to try and harmonize the probable truths of evolution with Scripture.

In September 1884, the Seminary published a statement saying that while they disagreed with Woodrow's theory as to how Adam was created, they found none of his views to be incompatible with Christianity.