Fundamentalist Christianity

Fundamentalism originated in the 1920s, in the urban North in the United States, in reaction to 19th century secularism and was largely unsuccessful. In the 1930s, Fundamentalism became a separatist movement. During the 1970s and 1980s, Fundamentalism resurfaced through the political efforts of the “Moral Majority.” After successfully overtaking the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), Fundamentalists have revised denominational history to support their dogma and limited women from ministerial leadership.

In the late 19th century, several intellectual ideas challenged American evangelical Protestant Christian hegemony. The Enlightenment advocated individualism, reason, freedom, and progress. Biblical criticism questioned biblical inspiration and historicity. Evolutionary theory doubted Intelligent Design. Liberal theology attempted to reconcile the Enlightenment, biblical criticism, and evolution with Christianity. Rising secularism incited Protestant opposition to liberalism.

California entrepreneurs Lyman and Milton Stewart commissioned 12 pamphlets containing 90 articles on The Fundamentals between 1910 and 1915, to be distributed freely to Christian leaders globally. In 1920, Northern Baptist newspaper editor Curtis Lee Laws authored a column labeling adherents to the fundamentals as “Fundamentalists.”

In the 1920s and 1930s, Fundamentalists, primarily centered in the urban North, lost public battles and failed to dominate any major denomination. The most famous battle was the Scopes trial in 1925, in which Tennessee public school teacher John Scopes was sued for violating an earlier prohibition of teaching evolution. Though defense attorney Clarence Darrow defeated the prosecution, led by William Jennings Bryan, heavy trial press led to increasing public disapproval of Fundamentalism. The second most significant public loss for Fundamentalists occurred in 1933 when Franklin Roosevelt's administration repealed Prohibition.

In the 1930s, Fundamentalist leadership shifted from scholars to Bible teachers and evangelists. Fundamentalists separated themselves from mainstream culture and promoted their beliefs through radio, revivals, Bible colleges and seminaries, and missions. In the 1970s, Fundamentalism resurged into national discourse through the political campaigning of Jerry Falwell and the “Moral Majority” who sought legislation to protect Christian morality in America, namely: conservative social values, increased national defense, and capitalism. Fundamentalism is now primarily associated with the SBC.

Fundamentalism originated without a governing authority; however, most early Fundamentalists subscribed to biblical inerrancy, dispensational premillennialism, and pietism. Biblical inerrancy specifically rejected biblical criticism and claimed inspired authorship and historical accuracy of the Bible. Dispensational premillennialism upheld a specific series of events to happen surrounding the return of Christ and the end of the world, which many Fundamentalists believe is imminent. Pietism, also known as the deeper life, connected D. L. Moody's evangelism campaign with the Bible conference movement, advocating for strict holy living among believers.

The Fundamentals rejected biblical criticism, evolution, and liberal theology and addressed threatened Fundamentalist beliefs. In 1910, the General Assembly of the Northern Presbyterian Church affirmed a list of five elements of fundamentalist doctrine: biblical inerrancy, the virgin birth, substitutionary atonement, Christ's bodily resurrection, and the authenticity of biblical miracles. From the 1920s, “the five fundamentals” referred to this list, though sometimes the premillennial return of Christ appeared instead of the authenticity of miracles, and the deity of Christ was often added as a sixth fundamental.

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