Abstract
The Brethren belief system is easily the most important element of their culture. It is organized in three levels, the root belief being that the Bible is God’s Word to the believer. At the second level are other beliefs about the Bible: that it is sufficient, inerrant, and universal in its application. As the Word of God, it expresses His nature in these respects. At the third level is a whole range of beliefs which follow from its premodern origins. It attributes events to supernatural causes, it treats history as predetermined, it has a three-level cosmology, and it considers truth to be absolute and given by revelation. From this system of beliefs, a wide range of implications follows for practice. Most important is withdrawal from the modern world as a means of separation from evil. In a binary world view, everything of human origin is evil.
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Notes
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- 2.
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- 4.
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St John ch17 vs17.
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Browne, M. Fundamentalism and the message of the Gospel (3). The Believer’s Magazine, August 2008.
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Lawrence, Bruce (1989) Defenders of God: The Fundamentalist Revolt Against the Modern Age, p. 115. Columbia SC: University of South Carolina Press.
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Herriot, P. (2018). The Authority of the Bible. In: The Open Brethren: A Christian Sect in the Modern World. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03219-7_10
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