Know your enemy?????????????
Patient Zero
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from Christian fundamentalist)
Part of the series on
Christianity
History of Christianity
Apostles
Ecumenical councils
Great Schism
Reformation
Christian theology
The Trinity:
God the Father
Christ the Son
The Holy Spirit
Salvation · Grace
Christian worship
The Bible:
Old Testament
New Testament
Apocrypha
The Gospels
Ten Commandments
Sermon on the Mount
Christian Church:
Catholicism
Orthodox Christianity
Protestantism
Christian denominations
Christian movements
Fundamentalist Christianity, or Christian Fundamentalism, in the scope of
this particular article, refers to the movement within American
Protestantism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by conservative
evangelical Christians, who, in a reaction to modernism, actively affirmed a
core set of Christian beliefs: namely, the inerrancy of the Bible, the
virgin birth of Christ, the doctrine of substitutionary atonement, the
bodily resurrection of Jesus, and the authenticity of his miracles. This
core set of beliefs was the "line in the sand" drawn by conservative
Christians as they battled against the rise of rationalism, higher biblical
criticism, and liberalism within Protestant denominations.
The nature of the Christian fundamentalist movement, while originally a
united effort within conservative evangelicalism, evolved during the
early-to-mid 1900's to become more separatist in nature and more
characteristically dispensational in its theology.
The secular world's perception of fundamentalism today is colored by a shift
in meaning that arose during the 1980s, when the term was used as a generic
for all religions so deemed by liberal Lutheran theologian Martin E. Marty.
Recent studies have show that this is not validated by social science
research [1]. During the holding of a number of Americans hostage in Lebanon
some members of the press began referring to the Islamic Hezbollah captors
as "fundamentalists" and the term has increasingly come to have pejorative
connotations of extremism, even terrorism.
Contents
[hide]
a.. 1 Brief history
b.. 2 Doctrine
c.. 3 Other beliefs
d.. 4 See also
e.. 5 Footnotes
f.. 6 References
g.. 7 External links
[edit]
Brief history
A number of evangelicals in the 19th century prepared the way for the
movement, these included Dwight L. Moody (died 1899) and John Nelson Darby
(died 1882) amongst others, these men propounded ideas and themes carried
into fundamentalist Christianity.
The term fundamentalist, in the context of this article, derives from a
series of (originally) twelve volumes entitled The Fundamentals: A Testimony
To The Truth. This publication outlined historic Christian theology in an
attempt to stem the rising tide of theological liberalism in mainline
denominations of the day. It was a compilation of essays written by 64
British and American conservative Protestant theologians between 1910 and
1915.
Thanks to a $250,000 grant from Lyman Stewart, the head of the Union Oil
Company of California, about three million sets of these books were
distributed to ministers across the United States.
Important early Christian fundamentalists included, William Jennings Bryan,
R.A. Torrey, James M. Gray, Cyrus I. Scofield, Lewis Sperry Chafer, B. B.
Warfield, Carl McIntyre, and J. Gresham Machen.
Originally the term fundamentalist referred to all protestants who held to
biblical inerrancy. However, as the movement developed, dispensationalism
and separatism began to overwhelmingly characterize the most popular
leaders, which also had an effect on the way that evangelicals as a whole
were perceived by outside observers. Some evangelicals, pentecostals, and
charismatics also began to adopt dispensationalism. Dispensationalism became
so predominate in the movement that Fundamentalism has practically become
identified with its theology, even though many of the first and most
influential fundamentalists, like B. B. Warfield and J. Gresham Machen, were
strongly opposed to dispensationalism.
Perhaps the modern dispensationalist with the greatest name familiarity
(though not a fundamentalist) is Tim LaHaye, co-author of the popular Left
Behind series, and author of several non-fiction books about apocalyptic
prophecy.
[edit]
Doctrine
The original formulation of American fundamentalist beliefs can be traced to
the Niagara Bible Conference (1878-1897) and in 1910, to the General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church which distilled these into what became
known as the "five fundamentals"[2]:
a.. Inerrancy of the Scriptures
b.. The virgin birth (or, alternatively, the deity) of Jesus
c.. The doctrine of substitutionary atonement through God's grace and
human faith
d.. The bodily resurrection of Jesus
e.. The authenticity of Christ's miracles (or, alternatively, his
premillenial second coming)[3]
In particular, fundamentalists reject the documentary hypothesis-the theory
held by higher biblical criticism that the Pentateuch was composed and
shaped by many people over centuries. Fundamentalists continue to assert
that Moses was the primary author of the first five books of the Old
Testament. Some fundamentalists, on the other hand, may be willing to
consider alternative authorship only where the Biblical text does not
specify an author, insisting that books in which the author is identified
must have been written by that author.
Fundamentalists differ from Pentecostals in their strong insistence upon
"correct" doctrine and separatism (which often also divides fundamentalists
from each other) as opposed to the experiential emphasis of Pentecostals.
Fundamentalists also criticize evangelicals for a lack of concern for
doctrinal purity and for a lack of discernment in ecumenical endeavors in
working co-operatively with other Christians of differing doctrinal views.
Evangelist Billy Graham came from a Fundamentalist background, but many
Christian fundamentalists repudiate him today because of his choice, early
in his ministry, to co-operate with other Christians. He represents a
movement that arose within Fundamentalism, but has increasingly become
distinct from it, which fundamentalists refer to, derisively, as
Neo-evangelicalism.
[edit]
Other beliefs
Fundamentalists usually subscribe to young earth creationism and universal
flood geology. Some fundamentalists view all modern versions of the Bible as
corrupted and are thus referred to as the King-James-Only Movement.
Additionally, most fundamentalists oppose human cloning, abortion, same-sex
marriages, homosexuality, physician-assisted suicide, and embryonic stem
cell research.
[edit]
See also
a.. Christian right
b.. Christian Zionism
c.. Evangelicalism
d.. Judeo-Christian
e.. Neo-evangelicalism
f.. Protestantism
[edit]
Footnotes
1.. ^ R. Kenneth Godwin, Jennifer W. Godwin, and Valerie Martinez-Ebers,
"Civic Socialization in Public and Fundamentalist Schools," Social Science
Quarterly 85 [2004]: 1097-1111 Online source This study compares citizenship
qualities of 10th and 12th grade students in schools operated by
fundamentalist churches. While 10th grade students exhibited a lack of good
citizenship skills, by the 12th grade the students had surpassed public
school students on many desirable qualities, except for lack of tolerance of
non-traditional lifestyles.
2.. ^ Origin of "five fundamentals" documented at Presbyterian conference
of 1910
3.. ^ Alternative interpretations of "five fundamentals" in online
history by First Presbyterian Church of New York City
[edit]
References
a.. Armstrong, Karen (2001). The Battle for God. New York: Ballantine
Books. ISBN 0345391691.
b.. Bebbington, David W. (1990). "Baptists and Fundamentalists in
Inter-War Britain." In Keith Robbins, ed. Protestant Evangelicalism:
Britain, Ireland, Germany and America c.1750-c.1950. Studies in Church
History subsidia 7, 297-326. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
c.. Bebbington, David W. (1993). "Martyrs for the Truth: Fundamentalists
in Britain." In Diana Wood, ed. Martyrs and Martyrologies, Studies in Church
History Vol. 30, 417-451. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
d.. Barr, James (1977). Fundamentalism. London: SCM Press. ISBN
0334005035.
e.. Carpenter, Joel A. (1999). Revive Us Again: The Reawakening of
American Fundamentalism. Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195129075.
f.. Elliott, David R. (1993). "Knowing No Borders: Canadian Contributions
to Fundamentalism." In George A. Rawlyk and Mark A. Noll, eds. Amazing
Grace: Evangelicalism in Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States.
Grand Rapids: Baker. 349-374.
g.. Dollar, George W. (1973). A History of Fundamentalism in America.
Greenville: Bob Jones University Press.
h.. Harris, Harriet A. (1998). Fundamentalism and Evangelicals. Oxford:
Oxford University. ISBN 0198269609.
i.. Hart, D. G. (1998). "The Tie that Divides: Presbyterian Ecumenism,
Fundamentalism and the History of Twentieth-Century American Protestantism."
Westminster Theological Journal 60, 85-107.
j.. Longfield, Bradley J. (1991). The Presbyterian Controversy. New York:
Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195086740.
k.. Marsden, George M. (1995). "Fundamentalism as an American Phenomenon."
In D. G. Hart, ed. Reckoning with the Past, 303-321. Grand Rapids: Baker.
l.. Marsden, George M. (1980). Fundamentalism and American Culture.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
m.. Marsden, George M. (1991). Understanding Fundamentalism and
Evangelicalism. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN
0802805396.
n.. Noll, Mark (1992). A History of Christianity in the United States and
Canada.. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. 311-389. ISBN
0802806511.
o.. Russell, C. Allyn (1976). Voices of American Fundamentalism: Seven
Biographical Studies (Subscription required). Philadelphia: Westminster
Press.
p.. Rennie, Ian S. (1994). "Fundamentalism and the Varieties of North
Atlantic Evangelicalism." In Mark A. Noll, David W. Bebbington and George A.
Rawlyk eds. Evangelicalism: Comparative Studies of Popular Protestantism in
North America, the British Isles and Beyond, 1700-1990. New York: Oxford
University Press. 333-364.
q.. Rolland D. McCune (1998). "The Formation of New Evangelicalism (Part
One): Historical and Theological Antecedents." Detroit Baptist Seminary
Journal, 3.
r.. John Shelby Spong, Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism: A Bishop
Rethinks the Meaning of Scripture by Harper San Francisco; ISBN 0060675187,
1992
[edit]
External links
a.. Fundamentalism Profile
b.. Online version of "The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth"
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamentalist_Christianity"
Categories: Protestantism | Christian theology
--
Jabroni Inc. Bringing you the CRAP since 1995!!!
