Christian Fundamentalism is a conservative movement within the broader context of Christianity that primarily arose in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among British and American Protestants. The movement is characterized by a strict belief in the inerrancy of the Bible, the literal interpretation of its texts, and the assertion of traditional Christian beliefs against the perceived threats posed by modernism.
The term "fundamentalism" was coined in the United States, and it has its roots in the Niagara Bible Conference (1878–1897), which defined those tenets it considered fundamental to Christian belief. This conference was followed by the publication of a 12-volume set of essays titled "The Fundamentals" between 1910 and 1915, which aimed to defend 'the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith' against modernist criticism. These essays were distributed to every Protestant pastor in the United States, and they played a significant role in shaping the ideas of the emerging fundamentalist movement.
Christian Fundamentalism gained significant momentum in the 1920s and 1930s as a reaction against the theological liberalism that had become popular in many Protestant churches, which sought to reconcile traditional Christian beliefs with new developments in the natural and social sciences, especially the theory of biological evolution. This period saw the famous Scopes Trial, where a high school teacher was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act, which made it unlawful to teach human evolution in any state-funded school.
In the mid-20th century, Christian Fundamentalism was divided by issues of separatism and ecclesiastical politics, with different groups arguing over the degree to which believers should engage with, or withdraw from, mainstream culture. By the late 20th century, a variety of evangelical Protestant groups, self-identified as fundamentalist, had become increasingly active in the political arena and had exerted considerable influence on national politics in the United States.
Christian Fundamentalism, while primarily a phenomenon within Protestantism, has influenced certain branches of Catholicism and other religious traditions. It continues to be a significant, if controversial, movement within global Christianity. Its emphasis on the authority of the Bible, personal conversion, Christ's death on the cross as a substitutionary atonement, the literal resurrection of Christ, and the imminent return of Christ to earth, remain central in many Protestant churches today.
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