In the last few blogs I was warming up to say that although I believe there are problems in Evangelicalism and many more in Fundamentalism, they have often been unfairly slandered.
I will critique "Stealing Jesus, How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity" by Bruce Bawer, friend of The Right Reverend John Spong author of "Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism." The Bible needs to be rescued from the likes of Bawer and the Right Reverend Spong!
The worst you can say about select groups of Fundamentalists is that (mostly in the South) they have at certain times condoned racism; as a generality, they have tended toward being anti-science, anti-intellectual, separatist, legalistic, sometimes unskilled in Biblical hermeneutics--going beyond the Bible, and unskilled with language, misunderstanding the word "literal," for instance. I am not minimizing those problems, which are serious. I'm just saying, "Let's be honest."
The Fundamentals that Define Fundamentalists (among other things):
Inerrancy of the Scriptures. I agree, but this does not mean fundamentalists must inflate what is to be taken “literally” (to use a fundamentalist buzzword).
The virgin birth and the deity of Jesus (Isaiah 7:14) I agree. Why don’t we use the Apostle’s Creed anymore, except, ironically, at Episcopal churches in America that have given up their basis for reading it?
The doctrine of substitutionary atonement by God's grace and through human faith (Hebrews 9)This is essential for salvation.•
The bodily resurrection of Jesus (Matthew 28)Yes--this is essential.
The authenticity of Christ's miracles e.g. healing,[6] deliverance,[7] and second coming[8]I agree.
(I hope to back all this up in subsequent posts, not wanting to spout unfounded opinions like a know-it-all; and I hope if you think I am mistaken, you'll investigate further and decide for yourself.)These five fundamentals define a fundamentalist. I don’t have any problem with them but fundamentalists tend to go way beyond them.[5]
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Agreed. But--yikes-- I'm scared to be called a "fundamentalist" anymore, as that tends to be more synonymous with Pharisaical attitudes than a grace-focused Relationship.
There's nothing wrong with fundamentalism (quite the contrary) until someone goes beyond the fundamentals to arbitrarily cast judgment with unbiblical "standards."
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