Ever since I announced publicly that I was writing a book on my spiritual journey from fundamentalism to grace I have received numerous suggestions on books to read and websites to visit. I have gladly accepted the input and checked out the books and websites offered.
What I found was both interesting and disturbing; enlightening and troublesome. For the most part, my recollections of my life as a fundamentalist were confirmed. I was not remembering wrongly. That was reassuring because I don't want to misrepresent my past.. But other information, mostly on the internet and blog sites, was difficult to read and showed me a new fundamentalism I found virulent, militant, and angry. I am happy to say that this book, Fundamentalism, by Fisher Humphreys and Philip Wise is a member of the former group. For anyone wanting to understand Christian Fundamentalism intellectually, this is an excellent book and should be in your library. It is well worth the money.
I appreciate that the authors try to define Fundamentalism and acknowledge that it is much more than religious in nature. They accurately identify the "attitudes" of fundamentalism and link them with "family characteristics" that are common to all forms of fundamentalism. Unfortunately they limit their discussion to religious fundamentalism, and Christian fundamentalism specifically. It appears to be written as a sort of study book for progressive Baptists wanting to better understand the influence Fundamentalism is having on the Southern Baptist Convention. From this standpoint the book is very successful.
I see only two flaws in this book. The first is a general assumption that fundamentalism is basically benign and although it uses military language and imagery, it is, fundamentally, lacking substantial power. Second, the authors appear to believe that fundamentalism is primarily countered with sound and rational thinking. Both flaws leave the reader of the book falsely secure in a general understanding of fundamentalism but lacking a grasp of its power and influence. How does one argue rationally with a person who is willing to blow themselves up in order to kill you? How does one engage in dialogue with someone who is seeking to kill an abortionist because to do so would "rescue" hundreds if not thousands of unborn children? Rational and sound thought has been left behind a long time ago. Emotion rules the day in fundamentalism. I don't think it was the author's intent o ignore the power of fundamentalism, but they do. Still, it remains an excellent read.
Reading all these books and articles has taught me one thing, and I think this is very important - the fundamentalism of my childhood may share "attitudes" and "beliefs" with modern expressions of fundamentalism, but they are not the same thing. The fundamentalism I grew up with was severed from the fundamentalism most Americans associate with that word when Billy Graham embarked on ecumenical evangelist crusades in the 1950's and Jerry Falwell created the Moral Majority in the 1970's. For us they were at best neo-fundamentalists and at worst, liberal evangelicals. Either way, fundamentalist belief in strict separation kept us aloof and apart from these developments in Christian fundamentalism. We denounced them as "apostate".
The original Christian fundamentalists were Calvinists, Presbyterians, and Northern Baptists. After only a decade they became Baptist and Arminian and pre-millennial dispensationalists. Free-will Baptists, Regular Baptists, Bible Baptists, and Independent Baptists took up the banner of fundamentalism incorporating a strong sense of separation of church and state into their general view of pious separation. Jerry Falwell, Billy Graham and others became a new breed of fundamentalists. That fundamentalism, politically active and advocates of a church-state model, are now taking over fundamentalism and returning to their roots - Calvinism.
The traits of fundamentalism as described by Humphreys and Wise which have an inherent bend toward confrontation and separation are intensified by Calvinism giving rise to a new "totalitarian" fundamentalism that does not work toward peaceful co-existence but toward control of not just religious beliefs, but society as a whole. Modern fundamentalism is coupling this totalitarian view toward society with a powerful "save " and "restore " America message spouted not only by preachers but politicians like Newt Gringrich. It is a strange marriage of religion and politics, at least to this ex-fundamentalist.
The authors of "Fundamentalism" underestimate the power of this new fundamentalism. It is not easily reasoned with, and it is not rational. It is emotional and powerful, tapping deep wells within people that long for stability, leadership, and power. It is the same well that drove the Israelite people to demand a King instead of being led by God. The new fundamentalists don't just want Christians to return to a more pure, Bible based faith. They want to return us to a church-state where the two are indistinguishable. And they are willing to fight for it!
An update of this book in light of these recent developments would be most helpful.
