The Fundamentals of Fundamentalism - The BAS Library
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The Fundamentals of Fundamentalism

Americans appear to want definitive answers, and the claim of infallibility—either for the pope or for the Bible—seems to suit that need.

By Bruce Chilton

While preparing for a conference on Jewish-Christian relations, I was asked by students to define Fundamentalism. I explained its five main tenets as (1) the inerrancy of the Bible, (2) the virgin birth of Jesus, (3) his performance of miracles, (4) his atonement offered to God by shedding his blood and (5) his bodily resurrection.1 My students’ response was direct and to the point: “But isn’t that what all Christians believe?” Their reaction was telling. It shows how little impact academic theology over the past 200 years has had on popular awareness. That theology understands Christianity as something far […]

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Endnotes

1.

These are the “Five Points,” held to be “essential and necessary” teachings of the Church by the Presbyterian General Assembly in 1910. See Sydney E. Ahlstrom, A Religious History of the American People (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1972).

2.

The best book on Loisy is in French: Raymond de Boyer de Sainte Suzanne, Alfred Loisy, entre la foi et l’incroyance (Paris: Centurion, 1968).

3.

See D.R. Sharpe, Walter Rauschenbusch (New York: Macmillan, 1942).