In today's cultural climate, Christian fundamentalism is almost always viewed as a reference to a form of the Christian faith that is out of touch with anything modern scholarship has to teach about it. As an adjective, fundamentalism means anything that is obscurantist, out of date and out of touch; as hard evidence, e.g., many point to their insistence that the King James Version is the most accurate translation still available. In non-Christian literature, the term is now most often associated creationists who insist on the creation of the cosmos in six literal days in the recent past (i.e., six to ten thousand years ago).
There was, however, a time when the noun denoted something positive, as affirming the authority of Scripture in all spheres of life. The term was coined soon after WWI in response to the corroding tide of liberal theology, and was easily synonymous with "evangelicalism." The name evolved from the publication in north America, beginning 1909, of a number of tracts entitled The Fundamentals which were devoted to the exposition and defence of the evangelical faith in opposition to liberal theology which was seen as having departed from the fundamentals of historic Christian tenets. In the ensuing decades of debate over the issues, the term has, however, been so abused to death that the original meaning of the term as intended by those who espoused it now seems irretrievable and the word as used in the original sense is now only of interest from a historical perspective.
Further Reading:
G. M. Marsden, Fundamentalism and American Culture: the Shaping of Twentieth-Century Evangelicalism.
J. I. Packer, Fundamentalism and the Word of God. London: Inter-Varsity Fellowship, 1958. Last reprinted, 1970.
Mike Holderness, "Enemy at the Gates," New Scientist (8 October 2005) 47-49. The "enemy at the gates" in this article, e.g., refers to proponents of "intelligent design, viewing their explanations as essentially a "fundamentalist" attempt to undermine the modern "evolutionary" enterprise.
Print Resources:
David L. Burggraff, "The Role of Higher Education in Fundamentalism," Calvary Baptist Theological Journal 9.1 (Spring 1993): 13-28.
David L. Burggraff, "Fundamentalism at the End of the Twentieth Century," Calvary Baptist Theological Journal 11.1 (Spring 1995): 3-31.
Eryl Davies, "'Fundamentalism'," Foundations 2 (May 1979): 1-10.
John Goldingay, "James Barr on Fundamentalism," The Churchman 91.4 (Oct 1977): 295-308.
I. Howard Marshall, "Are Evangelicals Fundamentalists? (The Laing Lecture for 1991)," Vox Evangelica 22 (1992): 7-24.
Rolland D. McCune, "The Self-Identity of Fundamentalism," Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal 1.1 (Spring 1996): 9-34.
Rolland D. McCune, "Doctrinal Non-Issues in Historic Fundamentalism," Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal 1.2 (Fall 1996): 171-185.
Gerald L. Priest, "A. C. Dixon, Chicago Liberals, and The Fundamentals," Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal 1.1 (Spring 1996): 113-134.
Gerald L. Priest, "William Jennings Bryan and the Scopes Trial: A Fundamentalist Perspective," Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal 4 (Fall 1999): 51-83.
Gerald L. Priest, "Early Fundamentalism's Legacy: What Is It and Will It Endure Through the 21st Century?" Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal 9 (Fall 2004): 303-343.
Mark A. Snoeberger, "Weakness Or Wisdom? Fundamentalists and Romans 14.1-15.13," Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal 12 (Fall 2007): 29-49.
Jeffrey P. Straub, "The Emerging Church: A Fundamentalist Assessment," Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal 13 (Fall 2008): 69-91.
Jeffrey P. Straub, "Fundamentalism and the King James Version: How a Venerable English Translation Became a Litmus Test for Orthodoxy," Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal 16 (Fall 2011): 41-64.
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