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Sunday Sermon Outline THE
FUNDAMENTALISM TAKES AN IDENTITY During the closing years of the 1800’s
and the beginning of the 1900’s, Voices were being heard calling for
opposition to the rise of religious modernism or liberalism in the larger
denominational universities and seminaries. The anxiety was among a significant
number of serious believers who saw the foundations of the Christian faith being
eroded in small amounts due to the rise of skepticism and doubt about the
fundamentals of the Christian faith. 1) Publication of THE
FUNDAMENTALS-
this was produced between 1910-15 under the editor A.C.Dixon (Baptist) and contained 90 articles dealing with a
host of issues. Contributors
included: W.B.Riley (1st Bapt.of Minneapolis), James Gray (Prot.Episcopal, Pres.of Moody
Bible Institute) G.Campbell Morgan
(Congregational, BIOLA),
A.T.Pierson (Presby.turned Bapt.) J.C.Ryle (Anglican Bishop), Philip Mauro (patent
lawyer), W.H.Griffith Thomas (Anglican, founded Dallas
Sem.)
R.A.Torrey (Presby.
And head of Moody), B.B.Warfield (Presby.professor) The word “fundamentalist” is thought to
be first used by Edward Law (1920) in his Watchman
Examiner publication. This publication would be
re-issued a number of times and flood the country with strong teaching on the accuracy
of the scriptures and soundness of Biblical doctrine. 2) While these men and other capable voices
were crying out against the growth of religious modernism, they were doing it
while remaining in their major denominations. But after the turn of the century
(1900), these men and later leaders of fundamentalism began, over the next 40
years, to leave their denominations and create unions of fundamentalists and
become marked as “separationists”. 1918- World’s Christian
Fundamentalist Association 1923-Baptist Bible Union
General Assoc.of Regular Baptist
Ch.-1932 Presbyterian Churches of
Conservative Bapt. Association- 1947
Amer.Council of Christian
Ch.-1941. Independent Fundamental Churches of
3) The 1920’s saw the highwater mark of
fundamentalism with such figures as: One- T.T.Shields of Jarvis St. Baptist Ch of
Gospel
Witness as voice against liberalism,
Catholicism and organized BBU; was not pre-millenial; died in 1955. Page 2 Two-W.B.Riley, pastured 1st Bapt. of Minneapolis for 45 yr. where he
defended the authority & accuracy of
scripture, calling for a literal method of interpretation. Led in organizing WCFA
and defending creationism.
He started Riley died in
1947. Three-J.Frank Norris, pastor of 1st Bapt. Ft.Worth (1909) and
“door-to-door” visitation. His ministry was unusually controversial
with arrests for arson (1912), murder (1926) and
constant conflict with city officials and denominational leaders. His publication, titled
THE
FUNDAMENTALIST exposed liberalism at Bapt. colleges & universities. In 1919, over 12,000 attended
his Sun.school and 2 services
in one day. He
organized the World Bapt.Fellowship and died in
1952. Four- John R.Straton, pastor of Calvary Bapt.
in controversy. He opposed the vulgarities of Broadway
and debated many on issues of fundamentalism, including the
then well-known liberal, Harry E.Fosdick. Straton died in
1929. Due to opposition to the social gospel
as well as the gospel of “gold” or success, many fundamentalists became
disillusioned with society as sin became more open and older standards of moral
conduct were forgotten. This
encouraged them to accept dispensationalism (with its
negative view of the church age) as presented in the 1909 Scofield Reference Study Bible—with consulting editors
including, Arno Gaebelein,
William Pettingill, William Erdman, William G.Moorehead, and A.T.Pierson.
While fundamentalism did not
start out as dispensational & pre-millennial, by the 1930’s most were,
except for some Presbyterians. |