FUNDAMENTALISM

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FUNDAMENTALISM
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Review Evangelicalism

• Evangel Gospel
• So ALL Christians are evangelical

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Review Evangelical

• IN USA Evangelical often means
• Protestant
• Mission Mind
• Revival as central cult experience

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Review Evangelical Protestantisms long History

• 1750s First Great Awakening
• 1800-30s Second Great Awakening
• 1880s Third G. A. (Dwight Moody)
• 1950s Fourth G. A. (?) Billy Graham

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Fundamentalism is NOT the same thing as
Evangelicalism

• Some fundamentalists are evangelical, some
  arent -
• Some evangelicals are fundamentalists, some
  arent -

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Non-Fundamentalist/Liberal Evangelicals

• The Sojourners ministry
• Led by Jim Wallis
• Is very evangelical
• But not fundamentalist
• Agenda peace, social justice, ecology

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FUNDAMENTALISM Contraction in Religion

• No psychic/social boundaries ? no identity ?
  panic, pain
• Need to set borders
• Dress, behavior, speech, sexuality
• FUNDAMENTALISM SETS STRICT BORDERS

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American Fundamentalism1. 1890s Changing
America

• World Power (after 1898)
• Rapid technological economic change
• Wave of Immigrants
• Huge cities
• Labor Management struggles

New York Citys Lower East Side, c. 1900
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2. Deep unease among some Protestants because of
the growth of

• Catholics
• Orthodox Christians
• New, break-away Protestant groups
  (Pentecostalism Jehovahs Witnesses)
• Jews
• Secularism

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3. ABOVE ALL THE CHALLENGE OF SCIENCE

• The Higher Criticism
• Scientific techniques can be used to study
  Scripture

• Darwin
• 1859, Origin of the Species Evolution by Natural
  Selection

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See 7.18 The Fundamentals (1878)

• So many fallen away
• Scripture is inspired
• God is three persons
• Man fell
• Total Corruption of human nature

A GRANDPARENT OF THE LATER FUNDAMENTALIST
MOVEMENT
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The Fundamentals (1910-1915)

• 12-volume paperback
• Lyman Milton Stewart, California businessmen
  finance the project
• Amzi Claren Dixon (with others) edits the series
• 90 individual articles
• 3,000,000 copies mailed to Protestants across the
  US

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LYMAN STEWART
AMZI DIXON, of Shelby, NC, editor of The
Fundamentals

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The Argument

• Christians must focus on CREED
• True Christianity depends on assent to CREED
• Creedal claims are like facts they cant be
  argued with, theyre simply there
• Jesus is Gods Son
• Virgin Birth is biological fact

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The Argument

• 4. The autograph of Scripture is inerrant
• 5. Science is often an enemy of religion
• 6. True Christians must be pre-millenarian
• 7. And Dispensationalist (were living at the
  end of the Ages)

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The Argument (cont)

• 8. Christians must separate themselves off from
  others
• 9. Christians must follow strict behavior rules,
  especially regarding sexuality
• 10. True Christians are only those who affirm
  these fundamentals

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1910-1925 Fundamentalism in the Ascent

• Fundamentalists become active in all Protestant
  Denominations
• Especially Baptists
• By the 1920s, fundamentalists are extremely
  influential

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BILLY SUNDAY champion of the Fundamentalists
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See 7.16 Sundayisms7.17 The Four Square
Gospel

• Aimee Semple McPherson (1890-1944)
• Pentecostal ? Fundamentalist
• Flamboyant, controversial
• CHURCH OF THE 4-SQUARE GOSPEL

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Many Protestants opposed fundamentalism

• Harry Emerson Fosdick leads the opposition
• He says Fundamentalists
• Are too obsessed with Creed
• Ignore Social Justice
• Are too judgmental
• Too authoritarian anti-democratic

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See 7.20. Shall the Fundamentalists Win? (1922)

• 1920s battle within Protestant Christianity

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See 7.22 The Humanist Manifesto (1933)

• Confronted by the Fundamentalist movement,
• Some people abandon religion altogether
• Manifesto circulated among academics, writers,
  artists

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Many Protestants oppose fundamentalism

• Pentecostals/ Holiness churches reject
  fundamentalist legalism
• No room for the spontaneous work of the Spirit
• What counts is NOT Creed but the Spirit!

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Catholics, Jews, are often the targets of
Fundamentalists

• Fundamentalists argue that Catholics and Jews
  are unsaved

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1925 Fundamentalisms High Tide

• The 1920s campaign against Darwin
• 1925 The Scopes Trial
• Media is largely hostile to the fundamentalists
• Rapid decline in the movement

John Scopes
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Tennessees Butler Act (1925)

• An Act prohibiting the teaching of the Evolution
  Theory in all public schools of Tennessee
• Section 1. Be it enacted That it shall be
  unlawful for any teacher to teach any theory
  that denies the story of the Divine Creation of
  man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead
  that man has descended from a lower order of
  animals.
• Section 2. Be it further enacted, That any
  teacher found guilty of the violation of this Act
  shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon
  conviction, shall be fined not less than One
  Hundred (100.00) Dollars

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Clarence Darrow William Jennings Bryan
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Darrow speaking
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Darrow (standing) questions Bryan (sitting) at
outdoor session
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1980 ? 2000 (?) Rise of Neo-Fundamentalism

• Conservative 1950s
• Billy Graham Evangelicalism

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A curious connection See 9.5 The Power of
Positive Thinking (1952)

• Norman Vincent Peale
• NOT a fundamentalist
• New Thought (Quimby Eddy W. F. Evans, The
  Mental Cure)
• YET echoes of Positive Thinking can be found
  within Fundamentalist Movement believe
  something very strongly and itll come true!

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Neo-Fundamentalism reaction to the turbulence of
the 1960s
IN RESPONSE TO 1960s TURMOIL SOME AMERICANS
HAVE INTENSE NEED FOR STRONGER BOUNDARIES
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Tel-evangelism

• Jimmy Swaggert
• Pat Robertson

• Jim Tammy Bakker

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James Dobson Focus on the Family (1977)
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Jerry Falwell the Moral Majority (1979)
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1980 ? the CHRISTIAN RIGHTFundamentalist
alliance with conservative wing of the Republican
Party
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With John McCain
With President George W. Bushs top advisor, Karl
Rove
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High Tide mid-1980s mid-1990s

• PAT ROBERTSON
• 1960 Christian Broadcasting Network
• 1966 700 Club
• 1988 Runs for President - 2 in Iowa (ahead of
  George Bush, Sr.)

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A Christian-Right/Fundamentalist Agenda

• Social Agenda
• Social Discipline
• Anti-Feminism Gay Rights Abortion
• Christian-Fundamentalist Nation
• 2. Economic Agenda
• Pro-Business
• 3. National International Agenda
• Nationalism Unilateralism
• Military force
• American Empire

Ralph Reed, of the Christian Coalition
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2000 ? Fundamentalism in descent?

• Most Americans/ most Christians, are not
  fundamentalists
• Chronic clergy scandals (Swaggert Bakkers Ted
  Haggard )
• Constricting ties to single political party
• Loss of Youth support
• Swing from fundamentalism to reformist
  evangelicalism?

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Ted Haggard, Pres. of National Association of
Evangelicals
David Kuo, Christian Right activist, argues that
politics has distorted the Christian message
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A New Generation Expresses its Skepticism and
Frustration with Christianityhttp//www.barna.org
/FlexPage.aspx?PageBarnaUpdateNarrowBarnaUpdateI
D280

• 2007 Study by Barna Group
• 16-29 Year olds
• Of young non-Christians, only 16 have
  favorable view of Christianity
• 50 of young Christians say Christianity too
  judgmental, too political

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2005 ? Fundamentalism in descent?

• New Evangelicalism
• Reject fundamentalist label agenda
• Politically Non-Partisan
• Issues beyond sexuality
• Peace Ecology Social Justice

Brian McLaren
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YET CHRISTIAN RIGHT IS FAR FROM DEAD
NOVEMBER 2007 PAT ROBERTSON ENDORES RUDI
GIULIANI