Center for Biblical Theology and Eschatology

The Death of Fundamentalism

by Pasator Glenn Parkinson

During the first decade of the 20th Century, a group of spiritually faithful and academically sound theologians at Princeton Seminary spoke out against the "liberal" broad church theology which had begun its sweep from Europe into American seminaries. Contrary to the idea that the church could evolve its thinking any way we wished, they argued that there were certain fundamental biblical truths which defined essential Christianity, and which could not be abandoned if one wanted to remain biblically Christian. A series of publications followed to explore this position, called The Fundamentals of the Faith, stressing such doctrines as the divinity of Christ, the atonement, the virgin birth, the inerrancy of Scripture, the resurrection and the second coming. Thus, the origin of the idea of fundamentalism was that Christianity has a specific core definition.

Christians divided over this concept, many seminaries and mainline churches choosing a liberal "social gospel" to define the church more in terms of contemporary human needs, while Bible colleges, independent churches and splinter groups from mainline denominations defined themselves in terms of the church's fundamentals. You still see "the fundamentals" reflected in independent churches and para-church statements of faith.

Beginning with issues of movie censorship and the Scopes Trial in the 1920's, fundamentalism became associated with a narrow and almost anti-intellectual brand of Christianity. In response, by the '50's, a new movement called evangelicalism arose to link social consciousness with biblical authority. Nevertheless, fundamentalism continued to describe the faith of Christians determined to remain faithful to biblical authority. The legacy of fundamentalism is a belief that the Bible is uniquely inspired, teaching absolute truth.

The media, however, took the concept of fundamentalism in a different direction - a downward spiral, actually. For them, fundamentalists were simply religious radicals, fringe believers somehow distanced from the mainstream churches - unthinking followers of outmoded dogma. Then the word was ported over to radical believers of any religion, especially Muslims. Increasingly, angry Islamic terrorists were referred to as fundamentalists, oppressive Islamic governments were called fundamentalist regimes, etc.

September 11 has firmly fixed the idea of fundamentalism as a very great world evil. The "fundamentalist" Taliban government and the Al Qaeda terrorist organization are determined to tear down Western dominance and impose strict Islamic oppression over all people.

My concern - my very deep concern - is that the old and new meanings of fundamentalism have become confused, posing a potentially serious problem for the evangelical American church. During the early coverage of America's war on terrorism, I heard a TV analyst trying to describe the concept of fundamentalism to someone trying to understand the horror of 9/11. He explained that such evil people "believe that they have the truth, and everyone else is wrong". A recent Army recruit told me that she heard the same definition in her initial military briefings.

Apparently, to believe that there are core teachings which define absolute truth is to be grouped with intolerant fanatics who wish to impose their will on others. This is tragic. Christians throughout history have believed in a body of absolute truth, and most of them have held their faith in a spirit of political and civil tolerance. Of course, there are those of many faiths who are politically intolerant and uncivil to those who do not share their convictions, but that has nothing to do with belief in absolute truth.

We are watching our society, from the President on down, assert that fundamentalism is not a viable religious option. What our President seems to be denouncing is terrorism, but when the media explains this as a condemnation of fundamentalism, it comes close to labeling as enemies all those Christians who desire to peacefully practice their faith that Christ is the absolutely unique answer to the world's sin and misery.

We must be prepared to resist this connection of faith in absolutes with political intolerance. Faithful Christians must maintain their confidence that Christ is the only way, while resisting any effort to lump us with those who wish to dominate others by force. We are convinced that love and reasoned discussion is the way to spread our faith, not hatred and violence.

Beyond that, perhaps it is time for American Christians to abandon the once proud description of their faith as fundamentalist, and search for another term that affirms our faith without the unfair hint of anger and aggression.

Pastor Glenn Parkinson has a B.S. University of Maryland in Physics, 1972, with high honors, Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, and M.Div. Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, 1975, and a D. Min. Westminster Theological Seminary, 1983. He was ordained Delmarva Presbytery of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod, November, 1975 and received into the PCA, June, 1982. His ministry experience is as Pastor, Covenant Presbyterian Church, Cherry Hill, N.J. 1975-1981, Associate Pastor, Severna Park Evangelical Presbyterian Church (SPEP), Severna Park, MD, 1981-1986, and Senior Pastor of Severna Park Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Severna Park, MD, 1986.