Fundamentalism

by Fisher Humphreys, Philip Wise

“What makes Fundamentalism different from other expressions of Christianity?” In Fundamentalism , authors Fisher Humphreys and Philip Wise seek to answer such questions for non-Fundamentalists curious about this strain of American Christianity. The authors define Fundamentalism in the scope of Christian religion, including both its impulses as well as the movement as a whole, while drawing on the commonality among fundamentalists of all religions. Although they disagree with Fundamentalism, the authors hope to provide critical insight for those considering joining the movement, as well as to foster a healthy relationship with Fundamentalists in families, churches, and communities. While acknowledging many common beliefs and practices with Fundamentalism, even some of the most important, the authors argue that there are more faithful ways to follow Christ than Fundamentalism will allow. Fisher Humphreys is Professor of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School, Samford University. He is a graduate of Mississippi College (BA), Loyola University (MA), Oxford University (MLitt), and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (BD, ThD). He is also the author of The Way We Were . He and his wife Caroline have two children and two grandchildren.

Philip Wise is the Pastor of Second Baptist Church, Lubbock, Texas. He is a graduate of Samford University (BA) and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (MDiv, ThD). He has also completed post-graduate work at Oxford University. He and his wife Cynthia have three children.

126 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2004

Reviews

[Don Incognito · Rating 2 out of 5]

The difficulty in objectively defining "Fundamentalism" is that there are three separate meanings of the word. Two of these meanings may be go together and often do, and one is irrelevant and has nothing to do with the other two. The first meaning of fundamentalism is separatism--possibly separatism from the world, but possibly only separatism from a parent denomination which the "fundamentalist" group believes has fallen into apostasy. By this definition, my current Christian church and its affiliation are quite separatist, because they broke off from a parent denomination around ninety years ago over its theological liberalism; but on the other hand not particularly separatist, because we engage with the non-Christian community and share the Gospel with it. In other words, it's more evangelistic than fundamentalist in its attitude toward the world.

The second meaning of fundamentalism is defensiveness and insularity toward the secular world; the authors cite Bob Jones University as an example. Hostility. Does anyone at my "fundamentalist" church display these characteristics? Not that I've ever seen, certainly not the pastor.

The third one, which I call an irrelevancy, is a mere insult, e.g., calling some Christian group "fundamentalist" because it teaches the Bible. The authors of this book don't waste any space discussing that, and why should they have.

The problem with this book is the authors believe that the above are not separate meanings, but characteristics of the same type of Christian or church. They seem to believe there is one type of "fundamentalist" who will display all these characteristics to some extent.

So, I found the book interesting at times but mainly shallow in its understanding of fundamentalism. Which fundamentalism? They try to tie the behaviors together into one type, and I disagree that they should have. I read it and then returned the interlibrary loan book to the library, not interested enough to reread it again even though I had time (it's quite short at probably 125 pages).

[Johnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

While searching for a particular theological work by Fisher Humphreys, I was encouraged to find a book that he co-wrote with Philip Wise called Fundamentalism. Fundamentalism is an intriguing work because it addresses the current pejorative understanding of fundamentalists in several religions, the historical nature of the Fundamentalist movement in protestant Christianity, the current state of Fundamentalism in Christianity, the effect on the Southern Baptist convention, problems with some Fundamentalist assumptions and attitudes, and suggestions for Progressive Baptists for engaging in dialogue and, when allowed, cooperation with Fundamentalist Baptists.

This reviewer was Southern Baptist-trained and ordained. I experienced rejection as a professor due to Fundamentalist Baptists who felt that I was a dangerous influence upon young ministerial students. But even with my background, I learned much in reading this short little book. For one thing, I didn’t realize that the original twelve tracts called The Fundamentals were not “creationist” in the sense that this word would mean today. A writer in The Fundamentals actually took a “theistic evolutionist” stance: “’Evolution,’ in short, is coming to be recognized as but a new name for ‘creation,’ only that the creative power now works from within, instead of, as in the old conception, in an external, plastic fashion. It is, however, creation none the less.” (p. 41)

I had also assumed that the earliest Fundamentalist Christians were against biblical criticism and premillenialists. This was not, apparently, true until the 1930s in the U.S. Indeed, the article concerning criticism in The Fundamentals was quite balanced in supporting both lower criticism (basically, textual criticism) and the portions of higher criticism identified with legitimately considering authorship, date, and circumstances (Sitz im Leben or “setting in life”/context). What this tract did oppose was: “…critics who did not do their work in order to help believers to understand and appreciate the Bible or to confirm the reliability of the Scriptures ‘but to discredit in most cases their genuineness, to discover discrepancies, and throw doubt upon their authority.’” (p. 39)

What I appreciated most from this little book was the ability of the two authors to point out the weaknesses of Fundamentalism without taking a superior attitude. Instead, they indicated what they believe and why—all the while urging their audience to engage in dialogue with Fundamentalist Christians and recognize that they are right on many things compared to the more modernist attitude. For example, while affirming the Virgin Birth and the Deity of Christ, the authors warned about not taking the Incarnation and its implications for the Humanity of Christ seriously. Perhaps, most helpful, was a synthesis of theological truths that the authors hold to be fundamental to the Christian faith: monotheism, creation by God, the reality that humanity has fallen into sin, the mysterious power of the Trinity, the significance of the Incarnation, and a few others which are probably worded somewhat differently than some traditionalists would label them. Yet, this list (p. 96) is incredibly useful for all Christians.

Fundamentalism is an extremely useful resource for understanding why certain groups of Christians have certain affirmations and attitudes. It treats Fundamentalists as sincere believers and simply delineates differences between “Progressives” and “Fundamentalists” without attempting to denigrate either loose coalition of believers. It reads quickly and offers thought-provoking suggestions. It would be useful reading for anyone who wants to understand the controversy which changed the leadership and institutions of the United States’ second-largest Christian denomination.