Do you know it when you see it? There’s been a helluva lot of serious work done on fundamentalism over the past decade, and I’m not talking about anti-cultists. The best definition I’ve found so far come from religoius scholar and former nun Karen Armstrong. To be fundamentalism, it should meet all seven criteria; otherwise, it’s just something you don’t like.
Karen Armstrong’s deep description of fundamentalism:
- Fears annihilation by modernity
- Fortifies identity with a selective retrieval of their religious tradition
- Avoids contamination by modernity
- Withdraws from mainstream society
- Absorbed the pragmatic rationality of modernity
- Creates an action-centered ideology
- Seeks to re-sacralize the outside, skeptical world
It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.
“Fundamentalist” is a label that brands, seemingly, to differentiate one person from others, whether self-identified or imposed by someone else. Categorically, I dislike labels.
I am an old man, raised in the Deep South with all of the privileges and responsibilities of being white, educated, Protestant, and Democrat. The issue of being abused by fundamentalism has only been raised in my thinking in the past 10 or 15 years. At no previous time did I want to be labeled a “modernist” or “liberal,” though some of the common attitudes that pervaded my part of the world would have certainly fit my interpretations of things spiritual and Biblical. Being known as one who had a “fundamental” interpretation of Biblical truth and life-style practice was not a handicap. In my mind, I was in a middle-of-the-road people who populated our Southern Baptist churches.
It wasn’t until a few disgruntled preachers decided that they needed to pull the Southern Baptist Convention into a common mindset that seemed to be quite a bit different from mine that I began to take notice. Today, I can assure you that the priciples and goals that I had for a life-long commitement to God and His service in church work do not fit those being foisted by the new, younger people who have “captured” control of the Southern Baptist Convention.
In my mind, there is a great difference in being convinced of the truth and validity of the overall teaching of the Biblical revelation of God and His purposes throughout eternity and the militant, raging, and politically motivated (my impression) quest by the people now elected to “control” of the Southern Baptist Convention. The demands they impose on each of us as believers in Christ are beyond my understanding, for they demand that we must believe only as they, dress as they, behave as they, and use the language their way. Such conformity defies my life-long understanding of what is taught in the Bible.
I am a Biblicist, but I do not believe the Bible, as we have it today, is explicit to every “jot” or “tittle.” I believe there are a large number of passages that, studied by men and women much smarter than I, cannot be stated in finality because we no longer can know precisely what the original languages meant. I believe that many of these difficult passages do not change the overall principle teachings of the Bible. Because I believe that the flawed manuscripts that provided us the King James Authorized Version of the Bible, as well described in the Preface to the Revised Standard Version as published by Thomas Nelson & Sons of New York, ca. 1952, I tend to side with my brothers and sisters in Christ who reject the newly approved Southern Baptist Convention “Baptist Faith and Message” as a proof-text statement to separate a great multitude of people who cannot conscienciously align with these “fundamentalist” leaders.
At best this is a throwback to the American pioneering frontier days when Landmarkism spread across the land, whereby we needed to gather our Christian people into congregations where Scripture was interpreted homogeniously, and the daily practice life styles were, likewise, homogenious.
My more-mature observations of 70 years have been hammered on the anvil of a life-long experience. These “fundamentalists” do not hurt me now, for I have chosen to live above them, but they admittedly are willing to label me as “not one of us.” This leaves me in an awkward position of service in my local church, among many who are openly fundamentalist in their theological stance and life-style practices. Their expectations do not always fit what I believe God would have me do in my life-style practices day by day. While I continue to fulfill what I believe God has set for me every day, the suspicion that rises in this atmosphere is not, collectively, as productive as it could be. There is a coolness to our fellowship.
My question is, “What is the purpose of this Fundamentalist Recovery movement?” I have not been devasted by the Fundamentalists, though admittedly they goad me with self-centered zeal, but have left me with an awesome wonder about how handicapped we are now and how will God work through this with us in real time.
If I were a young man, the new Fundamentalists might be heroes, …role models for my furture life-long daily practice, for they are highly visible. Fear not for me, personally, but our children and grandchildren are fighting the battles “in the trenches.” My prayer now is, “God, grant me wisdom as we think through the differences between Biblical truth and contemporary life-style practices.” When the Bible states quite plainly that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, that which changes is how we interpret what he has said and how we apply His truth to our daily life-styles and practice.
Thanks for hearing my heart-felt convictions, and I look forward to your responses.
Appreciatively,
F. Richard Burt
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