Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Historical Theology

Fundamentalism : Historic Christianity :: Hamburger : Filet Mignon

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“Comparing Fundamentalist faith and practice to the faith and practice of historic Christianity is like comparing a hamburger to a filet mignon. The two obviously have something in common, but it would be misleading to say that everything in the steak is also in the hamburger.”

–Kevin Bauder, “Fundamentalism: Whence? Where? Whither? Part 2: Fundamentalism and History”

Kevin Bauder Begins a Series on the History of Fundamentalism

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“Fundamentalism: Whence? Where? Whither? Part 1: Things Have Changed”

Some excerpts:

  • In 1986 [i.e., when “the last sustained history of fundamentalism” was “published by a fundamentalist”], neither Dave Doran nor Tim Jordan held the pastorates that have come to be associated with their names. Dan Davey and Mark Minnick were associate pastors in Virginia Beach and Greenville, respectively. Matt Olson was just a few years into the planting of Tri-City Baptist Church near Denver. John Hartog III was a college student, and Stephen Jones was still in high school.
  • In 1986, clear fissures were already evident within the fundamentalist movement.
  • Things have changed for fundamentalism. Indeed, they still are. Rapidly. For a generation there has been no comprehensive attempt to summarize the changes and directions within fundamentalism, to link them to the past, and to draw out the trajectories along which they may carry fundamentalist churches and institutions in the future.
  • These essays will neither defend nor denounce fundamentalism.
  • I do not intend to try to persuade anyone—least of all young leaders—that they must remain in the fundamentalist movement. I love the idea of fundamentalism, and I would like to persuade people of its beauty and utility. The fundamentalist movement, however, is at best an imperfect embodiment of the idea. Those who can find a better incarnation of the idea ought to pursue it. Ideas ought to command our allegiance, not party or institutional loyalties.
  • One underlying thesis of this series is that the fundamentalist movement no longer exists. The unraveling of the movement began in the 1960s and has continued virtually without interruption. At the present, little coherence remains among self-identified fundamentalists. The result is that no one can choose to be a fundamentalist simpliciter. In order to be a fundamentalist at all, one must choose among fundamentalist influences and institutions. The inevitable result is that all contemporary fundamentalists are modified fundamentalists, in the sense that they all require some modifier or qualifier to be attached to the name.

Note: Central Seminary emails Kevin Bauder‘s essays every Friday afternoon. You can join the mailing list (as well as access the archives) here.

Calvin on the Extent of the Atonement

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Here’s a new book as a PDF that is “available [to the whole world] for a limited time as a free download“:

Paul Hartog. A Word for the World: Calvin on the Extent of the Atonement. Schaumburg, IL: Regular Baptist Press, 2009. 72 pp.

I haven’t read it yet, but I’m sure that it’s worth a careful look.

Paul Hartog is an associate professor at Faith Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary (Ankeny, Iowa). He has earned MA and MDiv degrees in theological studies (Faith), an MA in history (Iowa State University), a ThM in Ethics (St. Andrew’s Theological College), and a PhD in New Testament and Early Christianity (Loyola University, Chicago). He has also ministered as an assistant pastor in Baptist churches in Slater, Iowa, Romeoville, Ill., and Grimes, Iowa.

Feedback welcome.

Two Views on the Duke K. McCall Sesquicentennial Pavilion at Southern Seminary

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This week I enjoyed following the events at the SBC and SBTS from a distance and wish I would have been in Louisville to experience it. I’m encouraged by what I’ve heard. (Cf. summaries by Danny Akin, Tom Ascol, Timmy Brister, Denny Burk, Greg Gilbert, Owen Strachan, and the many articles by Southern Seminary’s news service.)

In the midst of many reasons for rejoicing in the positive advances made in the convention this year, one event stands out as confusing to Protestant fundamentalists: SBTS dedicated a building (cf. audio and video) to former president Duke McCall, a theological moderate who tolerated theological liberalism and opposed the Conservative Resurgence.

Doran’s Objection

Dave Doran (a graduate of TEDS, senior pastor of Inter-City Baptist Church, and president of Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary) reflects on this in these short articles:

  1. “Honor to Whom Dishonor Is Due” (He concludes, “I just don’t get it.”)
  2. “Is This an Application of Loving Your Enemies?“
  3. “We Report, You Decide” (a response to Greg Gilbert’s post)
  4. “Some (Final, I hope) Thoughts on the McCall Pavilion and Objections to My Questioning It” (a response to Mark Rogers’s post)
  5. “Missions, Pavilions, and Wives” (paragraph two responds to Owen Strachan’s post)
  6. “Seeing the Difference between Ideas and Individuals” (an implied response to Gilbert, Rogers, and Strachan)
  7. “Ideas and Individuals (Again)“
  8. “Sticking to the Point . . .“

Reponses to Doran

  1. Greg Gilbert (a graduate of SBTS, former assistant to Al Mohler, and assistant pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Church) respectfully responds to Doran’s first article: “Mohler, McCall, Truth, and History.”
  2. Mark Rogers (a graduate of SBTS, son of a pastor in the SBC, current PhD student in historical theology at TEDS, and D. A. Carson’s administrative assistant) also respectfully responds to Doran’s first article: “Southern Seminary’s Anniversary and a Question of Honor.”
  3. Owen Strachan (a graduate of SBTS, former research assistant to Al Mohler, current PhD student in historical theology at TEDS, and managing director of the Henry Center) also respectfully responds to Doran: “At SBTS, Fidelity Matters: A Friendly Response to Dave Doran.”

D. A. Carson Publications

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dacarson-teds-2006I recently compiled a comprehensive bibliography of D. A. Carson’s publications so that it could be hosted on Carson’s page at The Gospel Coalition’s site.

How the Bibliography Is Organized

The publications are listed chronologically under five categories by the date they were first published:

  1. Books (currently 50 listed)
  2. Articles (currently 237 listed)
  3. Reviews (currently 112 listed)
  4. Lyrics
  5. Edited Series

Some of the books and articles are linked to Amazon.com, and others are linked to PDFs available for free on TGC site. Further, most of the articles and reviews are also linked to PDFs.

Note: (1) The PDFs may not be uploaded to other sites without written permission from the copyright holders. (2) I plan to continue updating the bibliography, so please let me know if you spot any errors such as typos or omissions.

Benefits of the Carson PDFs hosted by TGC

  1. Number: The bibliography of Carson’s publications currently links to about 350 PDFs hosted on TGC site. The vast majority of them have not been available online previously. [Read more…] about D. A. Carson Publications

The “Fundamentalist” Label: An Interview with John Woodbridge

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John D. Woodbridge is research professor of church history and the history of Christian thought at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, where he has taught since 1970. One of his areas of expertise is the history of fundamentalism and evangelicalism. (I benefited from taking a seminar with him on that subject in fall 2007.) His father, Charles Woodbridge, taught at Fuller Seminary (cf. George Marsden, Reforming Fundamentalism: Fuller Seminary and the New Evangelicalism) and later wrote The New Evangelicalism (Greenville, SC: Bob Jones University Press, 1969). So John Woodbridge has had a front-row seat on this issue since childhood.

Trinity Magazine recently published this useful interview:

John D. Woodbridge. “The ‘Fundamentalist’ Label: An Interview with John Woodbridge.” Trinity Magazine (Spring 2009): 7–9, 23.

The subtitle of this evenhanded interview captures its theme: “We regularly hear people from different religious backgrounds referred to as ‘fundamentalist.’ Is this labeling appropriate?” Woodbridge responds to nine questions and statements:

  1. What do you think the word “fundamentalist” means to people today?
  2. Where did this concept of “world fundamentalisms” come from?
  3. Were there any other significant contributing factors?
  4. Is it legitimate to use the word “fundamentalist” for Muslims?
  5. How does this usage misunderstand actual American fundamentalism as well?
  6. I think what happens in the media is that they end up thinking about the kind of people who bomb abortion clinics, then assume that that’s really where this type of Christianity leads.
  7. What can happen because of this popular misusage of “fundamentalism”?
  8. Has anyone challenged the assumptions of Fundamentalisms Comprehended?
  9. There is a challenge in all this for us as evangelical Christians as well.

Read the whole thing.

For a more thorough handling of this issue, see the following:

Timothy George and John D. Woodbridge. “What’s in a Name: Are We All Fundamentalists?” Pages 123–50, 182–83 in The Mark of Jesus: Loving in a Way the World Can See. Chicago: Moody, 2005. 192 pp. This important chapter traces a significant etymological trajectory of the label “fundamentalist” and usefully overviews fundamentalism’s history.