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Evangelical Christians are the same as Fundamentalist Christians.
I have been surprised at how many people who are ignorant of Christianity and Christians in general used the terms evangelical and fundamentalist as synonymous. Growing up in church and seeing the contrast between churches and even in my church between fundamentalist and evangelicals. From a very early age, I grew to almost loathe the religion of fundamentalism and vowed never to let my faith resemble that which I saw.
Evangelical Outpost has a post about the meaning of the term evangelical. It also includes some about how today's evangelical has grown from a reaction to the anti-intellectual faith of fundamentalist. Then we were dubbed "neo-evangelicals."
The term fundamentalist carries many negative connotations that most evangelicals want to distance themselves from. To many evangelicals the term fundamentalist is even considered a slur.
Some key differences that can help those on the outside differentiate between the two are:
Fundamentalist view methodology as almost as sacred as the message. Most fundamentalist churches pride themselves on their "traditional services." You are not going to find a drum set or hear the latest praise and worship song at a fundamentalist church. Where as most evangelicals are open to changing the methods of preaching the Gospel as long as the message is not diluted. Many evangelical churches have "contemporary services" where worshipers may wear jeans and a t-shirt and hear live bands and contemporary songs.
Fundamentalist (in general) are not as missions-oriented as evangelicals. Many fundamentalists say, "We need to take care of our own first." That may be those in our town, region, state or nation. There zeal for helping others rarely reaches beyond the border of America, if it goes past their own neighborhood. Many evangelicals have a passion for global missions. They view winning a soul in Africa or Asia as being just as important as winning the person down the street.
As was mentioned above, many fundamentalist have an anti-intellectual streak. They see no purpose in apologetics or advanced degrees. But evangelicals place an emphasis on knowing how to defend your faith and obtaining knowledge.
When I personally see fundamentalist in my church (which is basically a hybrid, we have some who are fundamentalist and some who are evangelical), they are usually characterized by a me-first attitude. "I don't want to sing this song because I don't know it." "No, we can't change the order of service because it has always been that way." "These lessons were good enough for my daddy and there are good enough for me." "Why are we wasting money over there when we have got needs right here?" "I don't need to learn all that junk. It doesn't affect me."
This is not to say that all fundamentalists are bad and all evangelicals are good. This is just meant to use the generalities to illustrate the differences.
Evangelical myth posts:
Myth #2 - Evangelical Christians are the same as Fundamentalist Christians.
Myth #1 - Evangelicals came up with the whole "born again thing."
Monday, January 17, 2005
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11 comments:
Hi,
Great idea for a series! I am looking forward to reading more :)
I think you make a good point about the general confusion between fundamentalists and evangelicals, but I am not sure whether I agree with some of the characterisations. I know plenty of people who I would consider fundamentalists, but that is more due to their theology rather than due to their practices. Many of them attend churches where contemporary music is used, with a fairly modern usage of technology. I would have picked their world view and intepretation of the Bible as more indicative of their fundamentalism.
The other main tendency I have seen is that evangelicals seem a lot keener to engage with, and change the world (as you pointed out), while many fundamentalists seem to have written off the world as irretrievably corrupted and are more concerned with building a Christian world, seperate and distinct.
Of course, we evangelicals are often guilty of a air of superiority towards fundamentalists and we have to be careful that we don't sit in judgment of them, but instead attend to our shortcomings and worry about how we are approaching our faith.
Anyway, great concept and sorry for babbling. I just wanted to share the thoughts it provoked in me.
Thanks,
Dave
It is unfortunate that fundamentalist culture has been so closely associated with fundamentalist theology.
http://bevets.com/fundamentals.htm
Generalities indeed.
Fundamentalist (in general) are not as missions-oriented as evangelicals.Is this true? Our church would sell its building before even cutting back on a promise of support to a missionary.
They see no purpose in apologetics or advanced degrees. But evangelicals place an emphasis on knowing how to defend your faith and obtaining knowledge.This statement equates advanced degrees with knowing how to defend your faith and obtaining knowledge. They're not the same thing.
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I initially started to put a quick comment here, but it took on a life of its own and grew into a full length article. You can find it here:
Fundamentalism vs. Evangelistic? Not!The short version: Fundamentalist and Evangelistic are not mutually exclusive.
The press and those who don't like Evangelical Christianity don't seem to care about the differences. Bishop Spong would call anyone who is more conservative than him a fundamentalist, be that Ron Sider or Jerry Falwell. Bush Ragers think any who voted for him is a "fundamentalist," just like the people who attacked on 9/11.
This is a great idea for a series. However, I think the differences between fundamentalism and Evangelicalism are a bit different. Fundamentalists send missionaries out constantly...big-time fundies like Bob Jones Univeristy have an Office of Missions. Evangelicals have elevated methodology to message to the point it's embarassing (Purpose Driven Churches, Kissing Dating Goodbye, Alter Calls, CCM/P&W music). Fundamentalists like apologetics (see YE Creationsts like Kent "Dr. Dino" Hovind for an example).
I guess where I see the biggest difference is in how holiness is defined. Fundamentalism seems to think holiness equals separation. Separation from Rock Music, scientific theories they preceive as wrong, people they view as worldly, the wrong type of theology, the wrong versions of the Bible, the wrong political party, etc..
A great book to recommend is "Scandal of the Evangelical Mind" by Mark Noll. It traces Evangelical's roots to the fundamentalist movements of the early 19th century and explores how it still presents problems for Evangelicalism.
Excellent discussion...
I note your comment about fundamentalists being "anti-intellectual." While I will admit to knowing a few who have opined strongly against anything that doesn't appear between the covers of their KJV, there haven't been many who would read nothing at all that might build their spiritual understanding. I'd rather think that many in the fundamentalist/evangelical spectrum (with all its wonderful shades) are "non-intellectuals," just too absorbed in normal daily life to care much about anything more challenging than a bit of note-taking in church on Sunday morning.
It seems more a matter of distraction than calculated antogonism.
Zoomie
Thanks for all the great thoughts. It was not meant to be a sweeping statement that covered all fundamentalist or evangelicals. It only comes from my personal experiences, as I said, growing up and attending a "hybrid" church.
I do not equate knowing how to defend ones faith with having higher degrees. Those are two symptoms of one problem, but not the same thing. I only have a bachelor degree (in Mass Communications), so I could not say that you have to have a doctorate to defend your faith. One can with study of Scripture and other books learn how to defend one's faith without a high school diploma.
I do not see as much doctrinal differences between fundamentalist and evangelicals. Perhaps Biblical translations - many fundamentalist will only read a KJV.
I also agree that one can be both a fundamentalist and evangelical, especially when talking about fundamentalist doctrine with evangelical aspirations in missions.
I also agree that many evangelicals have started to elevate methods over message as well. Many will not attend a traditional service because it "does not speak" to them. It can run both ways, but as a general view I have seen more fundamentalist who would not go into a contemporary church than vise versa.
Perhaps I see more of the dark side of fundamentalism than others. I know men in my church that will not do anything to grow in their faith. They will not take part in studies. They don't care about learning how anything outside their own little world works.
Justin may have been on to something when he said it has more to do with how holiness is defined. "Be in it but not of it" and which side you place the emphasis on.
Thanks for all the comments, I may have to return to this topic.
I think Justin nailed it. I grew up in a fundamentalist church, Seventh-Day Adventists, that had elements of evangelicalism such as a strong international mission and some forms of worship exhibited the more progressive style. The fundamentalist elements are certainly around the idea of seperation from the world and obsessive focus on the methodology such as right/wrong ways to observe the 'Sabbath', Saturday as the Sabbath, Catholics as very threatening, etc. The methodology was to intense and took away from the larger message in my opinion. I do favor the more traditional sacred services and am trying to get used to the contemporary services. I'd prefer a little less bass and drums and a bit more Bach and Handel. I still think dress is an important affermation of respect and I will always dress nicer for church than for everyday life.
I think Justin nailed it. I grew up in a fundamentalist church, Seventh-Day Adventists, that had elements of evangelicalism such as a strong international mission and some forms of worship exhibited the more progressive style. The fundamentalist elements are certainly around the idea of seperation from the world and obsessive focus on the methodology such as right/wrong ways to observe the 'Sabbath', Saturday as the Sabbath, Catholics as very threatening, etc. The methodology was to intense and took away from the larger message in my opinion. I do favor the more traditional sacred services and am trying to get used to the contemporary services. I'd prefer a little less bass and drums and a bit more Bach and Handel. I still think dress is an important affermation of respect and I will always dress nicer for church than for everyday life.
If you are going to espouse yourselves as intelligent, worthwhile sources of information, you need to write correctly. You have simple grammatical mistakes, like the wrong "there". Not a good first impression!
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