Christian fundamentalism

[Tellyontellyon]

What is a Christian fundamentalist?
How would you define one?
Is being a Christian fundamentalist a good or a bad thing? And why?

 

[Albion]

What is a Christian fundamentalist?
How would you define one?
Is being a Christian fundamentalist a good or a bad thing? And why?

If you check with the fundamentalist forum here on CF, it includes a pretty faithful recent version of the original fundamentalist "manifesto" created a century ago.

 

[tampasteve]

To further what Albion said, here is a copy/paste from the Fundamentalist forum here:

A Fundamentalist Christian is a born again believer in Lord Jesus Christ who:

1. Maintains an immovable allegiance to the inerrant, infallible, and verbally Inspired Bible;
2. Believes whatever the Bible says is so;
3. Judges all things by the Bible, and is judged only by the Bible, aka - "Sola Scriptura";
4. Affirms the foundational truths of the historic Christian Faith:
   a. The doctrine of the Trinity
   b. The incarnation, virgin birth, substitutionary atonement, bodily resurrection, ascension into Heaven, and Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ
   c. The new birth through regeneration of the Holy Spirit
   d. The resurrection of saints to life eternal
   e. The resurrection of the ungodly to final judgment and eternal death
   f. The fellowship of the saints, who are the body of Christ;
5. Practices fidelity to that faith, and endeavors to preach it to every creature;
6. Exposes and separates from all ecclesiastical denial of that Faith, compromise with error, and apostasy from the Truth; and
7. Earnestly contends for the Faith once delivered.
8. Therefore, Fundamentalism is a militant orthodoxy with a soulwinning zeal. While Fundamentalists may differ on certain interpretations of Scripture, we join in unity of heart and common purpose for the defense of the Faith and the preaching of the Gospel, without compromise or division.

Thus a Fundamentalist can be from quite a few Protestant denominations, even nondenominational. Those that defer to a view that sacred tradition is equal to scripture (not sola scriptura) would not. For more information, see Fundamentalism.

 

[Pavel Mosko]

What is a Christian fundamentalist?
How would you define one?
Is being a Christian fundamentalist a good or a bad thing? And why?

The term itself goes back I think to the late 1800s where some Protestant Churches due to modernity were questioning some of the very basic beliefs in Christianity. And fundamentalism was a reaction to that where they spelled out some creedal beliefs that they "the fundamental of Faith". The term often colloquially has negative connotations of a kind of irrational person because some folks use it derogatively for folks who are anti-science etc. but if your are strict to the original definition of the term most traditional non-Protestants could also be considered Fundamentalists technically speaking because they would also check off those basic belief boxes of things like believing in the inspiration of scripture, virgin birth of Christ, His Divinity and so on. But they would probably never use that term since it tends to be a Protestant identity label.

 

[Sketcher]

To further what Albion said, here is a copy/paste from the Fundamentalist forum here:

A Fundamentalist Christian is a born again believer in Lord Jesus Christ who:

1. Maintains an immovable allegiance to the inerrant, infallible, and verbally Inspired Bible;
2. Believes whatever the Bible says is so;
3. Judges all things by the Bible, and is judged only by the Bible, aka - "Sola Scriptura";
4. Affirms the foundational truths of the historic Christian Faith:
   a. The doctrine of the Trinity
   b. The incarnation, virgin birth, substitutionary atonement, bodily resurrection, ascension into Heaven, and Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ
   c. The new birth through regeneration of the Holy Spirit
   d. The resurrection of saints to life eternal
   e. The resurrection of the ungodly to final judgment and eternal death
   f. The fellowship of the saints, who are the body of Christ;
5. Practices fidelity to that faith, and endeavors to preach it to every creature;
6. Exposes and separates from all ecclesiastical denial of that Faith, compromise with error, and apostasy from the Truth; and
7. Earnestly contends for the Faith once delivered.
8. Therefore, Fundamentalism is a militant orthodoxy with a soulwinning zeal. While Fundamentalists may differ on certain interpretations of Scripture, we join in unity of heart and common purpose for the defense of the Faith and the preaching of the Gospel, without compromise or division.

Thus a Fundamentalist can be from quite a few Protestant denominations, even nondenominational. Those that defer to a view that sacred tradition is equal to scripture (not sola scriptura) would not. For more information, see Fundamentalism.

That's the broad definition, but in practice, it's going to mean more than that. I decided that since I'm not a KJV-onlyist, I didn't fit in.

 

[mnorian]

To further what Albion said, here is a copy/paste from the Fundamentalist forum here:

A Fundamentalist Christian is a born again believer in Lord Jesus Christ who:

1. Maintains an immovable allegiance to the inerrant, infallible, and verbally Inspired Bible;
2. Believes whatever the Bible says is so;
3. Judges all things by the Bible, and is judged only by the Bible, aka - "Sola Scriptura";
4. Affirms the foundational truths of the historic Christian Faith:
   a. The doctrine of the Trinity
   b. The incarnation, virgin birth, substitutionary atonement, bodily resurrection, ascension into Heaven, and Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ
   c. The new birth through regeneration of the Holy Spirit
   d. The resurrection of saints to life eternal
   e. The resurrection of the ungodly to final judgment and eternal death
   f. The fellowship of the saints, who are the body of Christ;
5. Practices fidelity to that faith, and endeavors to preach it to every creature;
6. Exposes and separates from all ecclesiastical denial of that Faith, compromise with error, and apostasy from the Truth; and
7. Earnestly contends for the Faith once delivered.
8. Therefore, Fundamentalism is a militant orthodoxy with a soulwinning zeal. While Fundamentalists may differ on certain interpretations of Scripture, we join in unity of heart and common purpose for the defense of the Faith and the preaching of the Gospel, without compromise or division.

Thus a Fundamentalist can be from quite a few Protestant denominations, even nondenominational. Those that defer to a view that sacred tradition is equal to scripture (not sola scriptura) would not. For more information, see Fundamentalism.

That link doesn't work; comes to an error page at Bob Jones Uni.

 

[tampasteve]

That link doesn't work; comes to an error page at Bob Jones Uni.

Then we need to change our SOP, that was a direct copy/paste from the SOP for that forum...

 

[mnorian]

From Wiki:

Fundamentalism usually has a religious connotation that indicates unwavering attachment to a set of irreducible beliefs.[1] However, fundamentalism has come to be applied to a tendency among certain groups – mainly, although not exclusively, in religion – that is characterized by a markedly strict literalism as it is applied to certain specific scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, and a strong sense of the importance of maintaining ingroup and outgroup distinctions,[2][3][4][5] leading to an emphasis on purity and the desire to return to a previous ideal from which advocates believe members have strayed. Rejection of diversity of opinion as applied to these established "fundamentals" and their accepted interpretation within the group often results from this tendency.[6]

Depending upon the context, the label "fundamentalism" can be a pejorative rather than a neutral characterization, similar to the ways that calling political perspectives "right-wing" or "left-wing" can have negative connotations.

Fundamentalism - Wikipedia

 

[Albion]

That's the broad definition, but in practice, it's going to mean more than that. I decided that since I'm not a KJV-onlyist, I didn't fit in.

No, that (or something close to it) IS the definition.

What you are probably referring to is what non-fundamentalists who are unsympathetic to the idea of Fundamentalism or to the history of Fundamentalism SAY about Fundamentalism. It's about the unattractive stereotype that has been created by Fundamentalism's critics.

 

[mnorian]

Then we need to change our SOP, that was a direct copy/paste from the SOP for that forum...

We could add that link to Wiki.

 

[mnorian]

That's the broad definition, but in practice, it's going to mean more than that. I decided that since I'm not a KJV-onlyist, I didn't fit in.

I consider myself to be a Fundamentalist; but don't believe in KJV-only.

 

[Sketcher]

No, that (or something close to it) IS the definition.

What you are probably referring to is what non-fundamentalists who are unsympathetic to the idea of Fundamentalism or to the history of Fundamentalism SAY about Fundamentalism. It's about the unattractive stereotype that has been created by Fundamentalism's critics.

No, I'm referring to my experiences in the Fundamentalist forum here. I got a lot of pushback for calling out the problems with KJV-onlyism specifically.

 

[Sketcher]

I consider myself to be a Fundamentalist; but don't believe in KJV-only.

And that is to your credit.

 

[Albion]

No, I'm referring to my experiences in the Fundamentalist forum here. I got a lot of pushback for calling out the problems with KJV-onlyism specifically.

I don't know anything about that, but I don't disbelieve you. However, the question concerned the meaning of Fundamentalism, not what's wrong with a lot of people who describe themselves as Fundamentalists.

If we are interested in the answer to the first of these, the statement that's found on the Fundamentalist forum here on CF (and which was copied for you by Tampasteve) is an accurate restatement of the movement's original manifesto which is still, with minor modifications, published by various Fundamentalist organizations.

 

[Sketcher]

I don't know anything about that, but I don't disbelieve you. However, the question concerned the meaning of Fundamentalism, not what's wrong with a lot of people who describe themselves as Fundamentalists.

If we are interested in the answer to the first of these, the statement that's found on the Fundamentalist forum here on CF (and which was copied for you by Tampasteve) is an accurate restatement of the movement's original manifesto which is still, with minor modifications, published by various Fundamentalist organizations.

Right, and my point is that there's what a group or school of thought or movement is officially about, and also what it's unofficially about. It's not just the official statements that matter.

 

[Albion]

Right, and my point is that there's what a group or school of thought or movement is officially about, and also what it's unofficially about. It's not just the official statements that matter.

Consider: If we say there's the official meaning and then there's the popular impression that many, but not all, people have of them (whoever or whichever group we might be talking about), the result is that the official meaning gets treated with indifference.

If it were races or nationalities we were discussing, we would be sanctioning racism and bigotry. That's because people have those views and it wouldn't matter if they were wrong since, you know, to be wrong would just be to be in opposition to the "official" or formal meaning. And it would not have any claim to being definitive.

If it were hobbies, we'd be approving of putdowns from people who prefer other pastimes. And so it would certainly go with a thousand other examples.

Surely, this is not what we should be aiming for, and that's to say nothing of the fact that it's not what we were asked about at the start of this discussion.

 

[Sketcher]

Consider: If we say there's the official meaning and then there's the popular impression that many, but not all, people have of them (whoever or whichever group we might be talking about), the result is that the official meaning gets treated with indifference.

But I'm not talking about what the world says about them. I'm talking about my own experiences. There's the official statement, but if the mutual bone of contention isn't in that statement, how relevant is the statement?

 

[Albion]

But I'm not talking about what the world says about them. I'm talking about my own experiences.

Well, okay. And I hope I wasn't too preachy in that post of mine, but every organization, etc. produces or has adherents who are not good examples. If the question is asked about the organization itself, though, we need to avoid describing it in terms of some people we've known rather than assessing the organization or whatever. Or so I feel.

 

[ViaCrucis]

What is a Christian fundamentalist?
How would you define one?
Is being a Christian fundamentalist a good or a bad thing? And why?

Fundamentalism was a religious movement from the early 1900s, based upon a set volume of writings known as The Fundamentals. It was chiefly a response among some Protestants against the Liberal school of thought of the time.

Definitions of modern F/fundamentalism are going to vary depending on who is doing the defining.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Rachel20]

"Fundies" were the most loathed on many of the atheism vs christianity/religion/theism sites I've been on. Always made me feel I was doing something right