The Encyclopedia of World Religions

162 S fundamentalism, Christian

( see SCRIPTURES , H EBREW ). In addition, historians seemed to show that the Bible was in error about crucial points. For example, Matthew and Luke seem to differ by at least ten years on the date of J ESUS ’ birth. Both cannot be right. Furthermore, in showing how various doctrines ( see DOGMA AND DOCTRINE ) developed over time, critical scholars raised questions about fundamental Christian beliefs, such as the VIRGIN BIRTH , divinity, and RES URRECTION of Jesus. Some theologians, who eventually became known as liberals, tried to develop a kind of C HRIS TIANITY that was compatible with these develop ments. Their inspiration came from a German theologian named Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768– 1834). Schleiermacher rejected the literal truth of many traditional Christian teachings. At the same time, he taught that religion was not about beliefs or about morals but about a feeling, which he described at different times as a feeling of being a part of the universe or as a consciousness of God. For him what made Jesus special was not that Jesus was God but that Jesus had the strongest consciousness of God possible. THE FUNDAMENTALIST RESPONSE Developments such as those given above, includ ing the development of liberal theology, alarmed many people. In European Protestantism church leaders tried to keep liberals from spreading their views in churches. In R OMAN C ATHOLICISM the Vati can directly and forcefully rejected modernism. Among a large number of American Protestants the response took the form of FUNDAMENTALISM . The name fundamentalism came from a Bible conference held in 1895 in Niagara, New York. Par ticipants adopted what they called five fundamen tal beliefs that they thought all Christians should hold. These are that the Bible is verbally inspired by God and without error, that Jesus is divine, that Jesus’ mother M ARY was a virgin when he was born, that Jesus rose from the dead physically and will return at the end of time, and that his death brought about what is known as a “substitutionary atonement.” This view, first expressed by A NSELM ( c. 1033–1109), bishop of C ANTERBURY , in the Mid

date. For example, they have been very willing to use modern inventions, such as television and the Internet, to promote their causes.

fundamentalism, Christian Historically, a movement in American P ROTESTANTISM that insisted that true Christians must hold certain fundamen tal beliefs. One of them is the belief that every word of the B IBLE is verbally inspired by G OD and literally true. Christian fundamentalists still hold to the fundamental beliefs. In the last part of the 20th and early part of the 21st centuries, they also came to be associated with a broader range of moral and political positions, such as opposi tion to abortion and unions between homosexu als and support for the Republican Party in the United States. THE CHALLENGE OF MODERNISM Developments in Europe during the 19th century presented many challenges to traditional Christian belief. Perhaps the most famous challenge came in 1859. In that year Charles Darwin published his views on natural selection and evolution. His theory explained the origin of the forms of plant, animal, and human life without referring to any divine purpose or guiding hand. Many thought that science had overthrown the traditional Chris tian account of the creation of the world. The 19th century presented many other chal lenges to traditional belief. With the advance of the natural sciences, people began to doubt claims about MIRACLES . Indeed, the Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711–76), had already argued per suasively in the 18th century for a position that made it almost impossible to accept any claims that miracles had occurred. That included claims that someone had risen from the dead. Scholars who studied the Bible added other challenges. They treated the books of the Bible like any other human writing and in doing so explained many of their odd characteristics. A good example is the theory that T ORAH , the first five books of the Bible, was not written by M OSES but emerged from combining four sources, known as J, E, P, and D