tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19048409.post5445217776381143569..comments2024-03-15T02:54:48.797-05:00Comments on The Mercied: More on FundamentalismBeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10616004201609056452noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19048409.post-28138913429007949252007-12-13T13:38:00.000-05:002007-12-13T13:38:00.000-05:00Could it be too that separating is something the t...Could it be too that separating is something the the CHURCH is supposed to do, and not individuals, and they forgot that? The passages I can find supporting separation seem to be directed at the communal Body. Individuals aren't supposed to do this without getting a consensus on it first.Beccahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10616004201609056452noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19048409.post-82036551496564062782007-12-09T22:19:00.000-05:002007-12-09T22:19:00.000-05:00I'm pretty much with Ryan on this one. Small "f" f...I'm pretty much with Ryan on this one. Small "f" fundamentalism did the Church a service in the early part of this century by standing up against many of the evils aready mentioned. Big "F" Fundamentalism, at least among those who claim the label today, has always been myopic at best. However, many of its current evils were not as pronouced until the 1920s and beyond. <BR/><BR/>"F"undamentalsim adds one thing: Separation. Bauder talks about some doctrines being essential to the Gospel. The difference is that "F"undamentalism has departed from the historical church my making separation one such doctrine, and separating from anyone who is not separated enough.The Bardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17632203680055445177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19048409.post-91143262972175765842007-12-08T11:39:00.000-05:002007-12-08T11:39:00.000-05:00Yeah, I guess that's what I was trying to get at: ...Yeah, I guess that's what I was trying to get at: I don't see what Fundamentalism adds that is positive. Fundamentals? Check. Christianity already had that. Maybe it had forgotten in places. Remind them. Refusing to call heterodoxy truth? Check. The Church has been good at that in the past and maybe needed to brush up on it again. So say that. But inventing a new -ism? Why? All it seems to do is create pockets of people defining their own fundamentals in increasing detail and separating from each other with increasing alacrity. The Catholics have a valid criticism--at least they have only one Pope; we have as many popes as we have pastors. <BR/><BR/>The ability to define fundamentals oneself raises another troubling feature of Fundamentalism--the radical individualism that goes with it. More than anything it seems to be a treatise against authority. Matt. 16:18-19 may not mean with the Catholics think it means (that's another discussion), but it certainly has to mean <I>something</I>. The Church is not just a loose collection of believers. It is a <I>body</I>, an organism. To interpret the Bible in such a way as to declare independence from it makes one wonder if one is looking too hard for independence. This is why I'm also really uncomfortable with replacements like the "emerging church." <BR/><BR/>I'm not suggesting that we toss Fundamentalism and replace it with something new; I'm suggesting we toss it and go back to something older.Beccahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10616004201609056452noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19048409.post-65478585299930206792007-12-08T10:17:00.000-05:002007-12-08T10:17:00.000-05:00Is it worth suggesting that maybe Fundamentalism i...Is it worth suggesting that maybe Fundamentalism is in crisis because it was never a good idea to begin with? Small "f" fundamentalism was alright as it was merely a restatement of basic Christian doctrine, rejecting "higher criticism" as a legitimate Biblical hermeneutic, creeping Darwinism in liberal pulpits, and the idea that the Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons are part of the church. <BR/><BR/>You don't have to be a large "f" Fundamentalist to believe any of those things, because large "f" Fundamentalism doesn't actually have all that much to do with them. It isn't really a theological movement. It's a cultural movement motivated by the worst sort of pull-the-ladder-up conservatism. The sooner Fundamentalists realize that hey, there really are people who take the Bible seriously and don't reach conclusions that are nearly so crazy, the better.ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04903321532761509528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19048409.post-32662041840656811652007-12-06T08:59:00.000-05:002007-12-06T08:59:00.000-05:00I would counter that the lines truly essential to ...I would counter that the lines truly essential to the argument follow: <BR/><BR/>[Separatism is the major and perhaps the only demarcator between fundamentalism and other forms of evangelicalism. It is what sets fundamentalism apart. It provides the differentia in the very definition of fundamentalism. If we do not get separatism right, then we do not have fundamentalism.]<BR/><BR/>He could not be more right. Absent the Categorial Imperative of Separation, there is nothing that sets the Fundys apart. They would merely be the most conservative members of a broader Christian community. <BR/><BR/>Most of his other comments are welcome but unremarkable. He attempts to define fundamentalism as defending basic doctrines and rejecting unbelief disguising itself as belief. Good, but my most evangelicals say the same. He wants to curb the excesses in fundamentalism and chastise those in the movement who build their empires on pettiness and spite. Likewise, he talks about a need for learning. Once again, this welcome, but nothing remarkable. <BR/>I'm glad he admits that the broader christian community doesn't think of the fundys at all, except for BJU's lingering racism and dabbling with politics. Progress again. <BR/><BR/>I could pick with some other points of logic or scriptural interpretation (on music, or sanctification) but even there, most disagreements will go back to separation. He seems to admit this at the end, but never gives a defense of separation.The Bardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17632203680055445177noreply@blogger.com