Christian fundamentalist thinking owns much of its origins as an reaction of some conservative Christians against the insecurity that they felt when Biblical scholars declared that there exist errors in the Bible in the areas of history, cosmology and geography and that there exist contradictory views within the Bible itself. They felt that they where placed in a precarious position of having to decide by human subjectivity what is error and what is not. Instead they laid particular stress on the Bible as the divinely-revealed infallible Word of God. Literalism is at the heart of fundamentalist thinking. Other forms of interpretation such as an combination of literalistic and metaphorical modes is viewed with suspicion. If the stories of Adam and Eve are regarded as metaphorical why not the Resurrection of Jesus or the Virgin Birth?, they would ask. Because they interpret passages literally it logically leads them to beliefs such as for example the belief that the second coming of Christ is due at any moment and that Revelation 20 refer to a literal, 1000 year reign of Christ on earth.
It is not surprising that many people who turn to fundamentalism feel insecure in making real decisions, many of them are people who are disillusioned with the morality and ethics of the modern world that tends to overturn traditions and cultural values in the name of progress. The inability of many of them to deal with the storms and stresses of modern society and to act decisively is evident in the countless testimonies of fundamentalists who confess that they where the victims of addiction or substance abuse or involved in criminal or anti-social behaviour during their “fallen state”. They thus discard all self responsibility and turn unquestionably to ‘Biblical authority’. When that Bible is challenged, or relativesed it often result in anger or anxiety, as the Bible, they believe, is the very basis of their belief. The biblical scholarship of the last two hundred years has simply not been made available to the average man or woman so most Christians allow preachers to manipulate their audiences, most times to their own financial gain, by making the most absurd biblical claims without their being called to accountability in the name of truth. Those who do not wish to turn the Bible into an idol abandon the church all together and often live a life without any real religious convictions and remain for all purposes biblically illiterate. Since the fundamentalist are so literal minded, the major function of their religion is to justify thoughts, visions and ideals on the authority of an inerrant Bible that can be readily quoted to buttress a point of view. They believe that their convictions are God-given and biblically based but the selective use of text is common place.
The truth is that the beliefs of most fundamentalist churches have its roots in the theology of the eighteen-century Methodist John Wesley, who in turn was heavily influenced by mystical German pietism. Pietism itself is the result of Spener’s movement for revival of piety in the Lutheran Church during the 17th century that led to an exaggerated and affected display of pious sentiment and a hypocritically virtuous and dutiful devotion to a religious lifestyle. Wesley’s theology was strongly Arminian, that is to say it is based on the doctrines of the sixteenth century Dutch theologian Arminius, who opposed the views of Calvin especially on the issue of predestination. There is a strong emphasis on grace in Arminius’s theology, typical Arminian statements for example is “God’s grace is free for all, but men are free to accept or reject it” or “ the Justified sinner must seek the goal of perfection by wilfully rejecting sin”. To this last statement Wesley also added the notion of an “experience of sanctification “ or Christian perfection. The early Methodists was also influenced by Puritan values like chastity and moderation to which they added an prohibition on alcohol. In 1844 when the church devided on the issue of slavery it was the largest Protestant denomination. There was great revival meetings during the 1840’s to 1850’s that saw many examples of religious extravagance, including dancing, jerking, and faith healing and emotional catharsis that accompanied the experience of ‘sanctification’. Later Methodism became more respectable as the leadership became increasingly alarmed at such vulgar excesses and began suppressing them. In the resulting schisms the so called Holiness enthusiasts left to form their own churches, accentuating their charismatic practises. The early charismatics known as the Holiness churches remained small independent sects and where perfectionists that where censorious of the wordiness of others. They eventually solidified into two main groups one the more sedate Church of the Nazarene, and the more radical Assemblies of God. It was at this time that fundamentalism took root in America.
We owe the word ‘fundamentalism’ indirectly to two Los Angeles businessmen, Lyman and Milton Steward who in 1910 created a $250,000 fund with which they in a period of three years produced three million copies of ‘The Fundamentals” containing some ninety articles in twelve separate booklets. This they distributed for, what they believed to be, advancing the cause of true religion. The word “Fundamentalist’ first appeared in 1919. This rebellion against worldliness by Christian conservatives laid particular stress on the Bible as the divinely revealed, infallible Word of God that has “ God for its author ... and truth without any mixture of error for its matter.” interpreting the text literally, giving each word “the same meaning at would have in normal usage, whether employed in writing, speech or thinking”. But their major theological flaw lie in the fact that the scriptures in themselves are seen as more than inspirational so that in effect they would invoke God much the same way an practitioner of the occult would by repeating the words of a spell to invoke a spirit. In response the this fundamentalist thinking I quote John 5: 39 You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These Scriptures testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
More coming soon!