Fundamentalism

Abstract

Fundamentalism is an embattled term. It arose in the United States in about 1920 as a term of self-reference adopted by a A. group of Protestant Christians who rallied behind a series of pamphlets called The Fundamentals (1910–1915).These writings deplored the evils of modernism—especially scientific naturalism, an “uncritical” use of higher criticism of the Bible, and perceived lapses in moral values. They favored returning to “the fundamentals” of Christian belief and practice, eternal pillars of an idealized past. In time, liberal Christians and mod- ernists of a more secular hue began to use the term “fundamentalist” in a rather broader sense, to designate groups they saw as naive enough to be- lieve they could reverse the course of history in favor of a mythic, dog- matically and socially homogeneous Christian past.²