Varieties of Fundamentalism

117 Pages·2017·0.35 MB·English

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Religious Studies Honors Theses Department of Religious Studies
1-4-2007
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Rebecca M. De Sousa
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/rs_hontheses
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De Sousa, Rebecca M., "Varieties of Fundamentalism." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2007.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/1062088
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VARIETIES OF FUNDAMENTALISM

by

REBECCA M. DE SOUSA

Under the Direction of Timothy M. Renick

ABSTRACT

The term “Fundamentalism” used as a comparative category within the academic
study of religion has become problematic. Fundamentalism, is not one comprehensive
movement but is, in fact, a phenomenon which encompasses a variety of beliefs,
practices, and expectations. This thesis will explore the diversity of several different and
distinct fundamentalist movements. I will discuss the natures of four Christian
movements that have been labeled “fundamentalist” – Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian
Reconstructionists, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson – on several key points, eschatology,
political philosophy, as well as level of social involvement. I will then turn to
fundamentalism as it is used as a category to describe a global phenomenon. I will
discuss three different scholarly approaches by turning to the work of Bruce Lawrence,
Mark Juergensmeyer, and Bruce Lincoln on the Islamic “fundamentalist” group al-
Qaeda. Finally I will argue that the category “fundamentalism” can be best understood in
terms of a family resemblance.

INDEX WORDS: Fundamentalism, Religion, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian
Reconstructionists, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Osama Bin
Laden, al-Qaeda, Family resemblance
VARIETIES OF FUNDAMENTALISM

by

REBECCA M. DE SOUSA

An Honors Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements for Graduation with Undergraduate Research Honors

in the College of Arts and Sciences

Georgia State University

2006
VARIETIES OF FUNDAMENTALISM

by

REBECCA M. DE SOUSA

Honors Thesis Director: Timothy M. Renick
Honors Program Director: Robert Sattelmeyer

Electronic Version Approved:

Honors Program
College of Arts and Sciences
Georgia State University
December 2005
Copyright by
Rebecca Margaret De Sousa
2006
iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank the Religious Studies Department. It has been a rewarding
experience to learn from and work with such a challenging faculty.
I would like to express my gratitude to Kenny Smith and Dr. Timothy Renick. I
am grateful for the encouragement, and guidance of Kenny Smith, for his prompting
made this project possible. Likewise, I am grateful for Dr. Renick’s direction, and for
agreeing to work with me on this project during his own research semester.
Of course I would like to thank my family for their love and encouragement;
Nathan for his uplifting cheer and support; and my boss, Mr. Carragher, for his patience
and flexibility.
Lastly, I would like to thank Pat Robertson and the 700 Club for providing hours
of television enjoyment and inspiration.
v

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……………………………………………………… v
LIST OF TABLES ……………………………………………………………….. vii
CHAPTER
1 Introduction …………………………………………………………… 1
2 Jehovah’s Witnesses …………………………………………………... 7
3 Christian Reconstructionists …………………………………………... 29
4 Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson ……………………………………… 40
4.1 Jerry Falwell ...……………………………………………………. 40
4.2 Pat Robertson …………………………………………………….. 51
5 Comparisons of Four Christian Fundamentalist Movements .………… 64
6 Global Fundamentalism ..……………………………………………... 73
6.1 Osama bin Laden and the Rise of al-Qaeda ....…………………… 73
6.2 The Question of Global Fundamentalism ………………………... 82
7 Conclusion ...…..………………………………………………………. 96
WORKS CITED …………….……………………………………………………. 103
vi

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Family Traits of Fundamentalism Present in Five Fundamentalist
Movements ……………………………………………………………… 98
1
1. Introduction
The term “Fundamentalism” used as a comparative category within the academic
study of religion has become problematic. In trying to understand fundamentalism, the
term has been defined, redefined, repositioned, and discarded only to be applied once
again. The history of the term fundamentalism begins in the early twentieth century in
America. The Fundamentals, a publication widely circulated between 1910-1915,
written by a panel of conservative Protestant evangelicals at Princeton, ushered in the
fundamentalist movement. The contributors to The Fundamentals, including James M.
Gray, James Orr, and Benjamin B. Warfield, “viewed themselves as affirming genuine
historical and biblical Christianity.”1 They wrote in reaction to and against the popular
liberal theology of the time and against Darwinism. In their defense of the true
“historical and biblical Christianity” they formulated a list of five basic truths of
Christianity they labeled the fundamentals. These five fundamentals are: i) the
infallibility of Scripture, meaning that the Bible is the inerrant word of God: “God-
breathed and thus possessing the quality of being free from error in all of its statements
and affirmations;”2 ii) the Deity of Christ, including the Virgin birth of Christ, meaning
that Christ Himself is God, He claimed Himself to be God, He was looked upon as being
God,3 and He was conceived without sin; iii) the substitutionary atonement of

1 Ed Dobson, Jerry Falwell, and Edward E. Hindson, The Fundamentalist Phenomenon : The Resurgence of
Conservative Christianity, 1st ed. (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1981), 4.
2 Ibid., 8.
3 Ibid., 9.