When I Googled the phrase "fundamentalist Christian" 1,300,000 hits came up in .45 seconds. I honestly expected a lot more. The Britannica site, which comes up on the top of the Google page, includes a large picture of Westboro Baptist "church" (really a large, extended, dysfunctional family of hillbillies) protesting at a funeral. Forget reading the definition, the picture seemed to say it all, and I didn't like what it was saying.
So I moved on to another site. From a Bible conference of Conservative Protestants, meeting in Niagara in 1895, I found this statement known as the five points of fundamentalism: "The verbal inerrancy of Scripture, the divinity of Jesus Christ, the virgin birth, a substitutionary theory of the atonement, and the physical resurrection and bodily return of Christ." Is it just me, or do I actually count six points. Nothing really radical here; It's basically a summary of the Apostle's Creed, recited in many churches of many denominations every Sunday.
Of course, any high schooler who has made it through Freshman English should pick up on the complexity of the statement, "the verbal inerrancy of Scripture". The Bible is made up of so many styles of literature: poetry, proverbs, history, epistles, prophecy and more. "Song of Solomon" was likely meant to be sung by a male, female and multi-voice choir; a cantata, of sorts, intended to teach Jewish boys the art of romancing the ladies. With such a variety of writing representing three continents of culture and 1500 years of time, 'inerrant' is not such an easy concept. For example, does Jesus really want us to pluck out our eyes instead of ogling bikini clad women at the beach. I hope it is obvious to all that the answer is, "Duh! I don't think so!"
The concept of inerrancy becomes more complicated in other passages. What about Genesis? The creation story is clearly written in a poetic structure, yet it is referred to as fact by many biblical characters who came after, including Jesus, whose theology I kinda respect quite a bit. Some say that a strict belief in creationism is one of the litmus tests of fundamentalism. It certainly was, more than any other issue, the one that led to the aforementioned "Conference of Conservative Protestants". Yet I know Christians of all bents who believe that God created. Muslims, Jews and groups such as Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons often adhere to this doctrine as well. Interesting, all these aforementioned religions even believe the same basic account of how it occurred. Is this one issue the definition of a fundamentalist? Roger Olson, writing for the website Patheos, doesn't even mention creationism in his article "What is Fundamentalism and Who is a Fundamentalist?" http://www.patheos.com/blogs/rogereolson/2013/02/what-is-fundamentalism-and-who-is-a-fundamentalist/ However, in Sean McAlwee's "Five Things Christian Fundamentalists Just Don't Get" he mentions creationism in his second sentence. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sean-mcelwee/christian-fundamentalists_b_3708416.html If our definition of fundamentalist falls apart in the first chapter of Genesis, no wonder it's easier to use the word than to define it.
TO BE CONTINUED