Early-twentieth-century American Protestant movement defending the historic fundamentals of the Christian faith against liberal Protestantism. Named after The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth, a twelve-volume series of essays (90 articles by 64 authors) published 1910-1915 and funded by Lyman and Milton Stewart; the series defended biblical inerrancy, the virgin birth, the substitutionary atonement, the bodily resurrection, and the personal second coming of Christ against the rising tide of higher criticism, evolution, and theological liberalism. Principal early figures: James Orr (Scotland), B. B. Warfield, J. Gresham Machen, William Bell Riley, John Roach Straton. The movement's defining controversies were the Scopes Trial (1925), the Presbyterian Modernist Controversy (which produced Machen's withdrawal from Princeton in 1929 and founding of Westminster Theological Seminary), and the Northern Baptist and Southern Baptist conflicts of the 1920s and 1930s. After the 1940s, the movement split between continuing fundamentalists (more separatist, more politically and culturally withdrawn, more dispensationalist in many cases) and neo-evangelicals (Carl F. H. Henry, Billy Graham, the National Association of Evangelicals founded 1942, Fuller Seminary founded 1947), who sought to maintain the doctrinal fundamentals while engaging more constructively with mainstream culture. The Reformed-confessional engagement with fundamentalism is positive on the doctrinal-defense substance (the Reformed-confessional position shares all five of the named fundamentals against liberal denial), critical on some of the cultural-political tendencies (especially in the dispensationalist and KJV-only branches), and complex on the question of separation from compromising bodies. The patriarchal-Reformed reader values the historic-fundamentalist doctrinal courage while distinguishing himself from the cultural-pessimistic withdrawal tendencies of some fundamentalist streams.
Early 20th-c. American Protestant movement defending historic fundamentals against liberalism; named after The Fundamentals (1910-1915); five fundamentals (inerrancy, virgin birth, atonement, resurrection, second coming); split with neo-evangelicalism in 1940s.
FUNDAMENTALISM (MODERN), n. (contemporary ecclesial-theological movement; early 20th c.) American Protestant movement defending historic fundamentals against liberal Protestantism. Named after The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth, 12-volume series (90 articles, 64 authors) published 1910-1915; defended biblical inerrancy, virgin birth, substitutionary atonement, bodily resurrection, personal second coming. Early figures: James Orr, B. B. Warfield, J. Gresham Machen, William Bell Riley, John Roach Straton. Defining controversies: Scopes Trial 1925; Presbyterian Modernist Controversy (Machen's withdrawal from Princeton 1929; founding of Westminster Seminary); Northern and Southern Baptist conflicts. Post-1940s split with neo-evangelicalism (Henry, Graham, NAE 1942, Fuller Seminary 1947). Reformed-confessional engagement positive on doctrinal substance, critical on some cultural-political tendencies.
Jude 1:3 — "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints."
2 Timothy 1:13-14 — "Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us."
Galatians 1:8-9 — "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed."
Titus 1:9 — "Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers."
No major postmodern redefinition by historic fundamentalism. The contemporary cultural caricature of fundamentalism as anti-intellectual extremism is historically inaccurate; the principal recovery is the doctrinal courage of the early-20th-c. movement.
Fundamentalism as a theological movement does not undergo lexical corruption from within; the principal contemporary mishandling is the cultural caricature from outside. The dominant late-twentieth-century media-and-academic depiction of fundamentalism as anti-intellectual, anti-scientific, culturally regressive extremism is historically inaccurate. The early fundamentalists included some of the most rigorous biblical scholars and theologians of their generation: James Orr was one of Scotland's leading academic theologians; B. B. Warfield was the foremost Old-Princeton theologian; J. Gresham Machen was a world-class NT scholar trained at Princeton, Marburg, and Göttingen. The Fundamentals series was substantive theological-apologetic work by serious scholars defending the historic Christian faith against liberal Protestantism's higher-critical assault.
The patriarchal-Reformed reader recognizes the historic fundamentalist movement as the doctrinal-defense ancestor of the contemporary Reformed-confessional and conservative-evangelical world. The five fundamentals (inerrancy of Scripture, virgin birth, substitutionary atonement, bodily resurrection, personal second coming) are not Reformed distinctives but ecumenical orthodox commitments shared with confessional Lutherans, traditional Anglicans, Eastern Orthodox, and Roman Catholics. The fundamentalists' courage in defending these against liberal Protestantism preserved the orthodox witness through a generation when much of mainstream Protestantism abandoned it. The patriarchal-Reformed reader appreciates this doctrinal courage while distinguishing himself from the cultural-pessimistic withdrawal tendencies of some later fundamentalist streams (the more isolationist KJV-only, dispensationalist-separatist branches that emerged in the post-1940 period).
The Fundamentals 1910-1915; five fundamentals; early-20th-c. doctrinal defense against liberalism; 1940s split with neo-evangelicalism.
['English', '—', 'fundamentalism', 'from The Fundamentals series']
['English', '—', 'five fundamentals', 'inerrancy, virgin birth, atonement, resurrection, second coming']
['English', '—', 'modernism', 'the liberal Protestant movement fundamentalism formed against']
"Fundamentalism: early 20th-c. American Protestant doctrinal-defense movement."
"The Fundamentals (1910-1915); five fundamentals."
"1940s split with neo-evangelicalism; ancestor of contemporary Reformed-confessional conservative-evangelical world."