I Learned it from Fundamentalists

What follows should not be seen as any kind of “answer” to the essay by Dr. Kevin Bauder we posted here last week (what minor points I differed with him on are already expressed in the comments there).

But it is a reaction of sorts.

Many have been announcing the death of the “Fundamentalist Movement” for some time. And these death knells are coming increasingly from those still inside whatever Fundamentalism now is. I don’t care to argue the question of the movement’s deceased status one way or the other here. But even contemplating its passing stirs me, because Fundamentalism (both the “movement” and the “idea”) has been a source of great blessing to me as God has used it my life.

1. Fundamentalism taught me expository preaching.

From early childhood, I was exposed to a broad spectrum of Fundamentalist preaching. At school, I heard the preaching of passionate evangelists who knew how to penetrate the apathy of hardened Christian school kids’ hearts and move us to walk aisles by the dozens. Sometimes (only God knows how often) the Holy Spirit was at work in these efforts as well and produced His fruit in lives.

But being “in” Fundamentalism also exposed me to well trained pastors who—even when I was too young to understand—began training my “preaching ear” in the cadences of exposition. At age five I couldn’t have told you what the difference was, but I sensed that my pastor was doing something different in the pulpit from what many of the visiting evangelists were doing. As I grew older, the frequent sound of congregants turning pages in their Bibles became one noticeable difference. The impulse to bring an ink pen and mark up my Bible became another—as when “Pastor Aseltine” (to me, his first name will always “Pastor”) walked us through Ephesians, verse by verse.

Later, when our Fundamental Christian high school began requiring us all to take notes during all the sermons we heard in chapel and in our churches, the differences between one style of preaching and the other became even more pronounced. No one told me then that the most persuasive and enduringly powerful preaching I was hearing—and had grown to love—was called “exposition” or “expository preaching.” The Fundamentalist college I attended next taught me that this kind of preaching had a name as well as a long and glorious tradition.

Could a young man learn expository preaching outside of Fundamentalism at the time? Absolutely. But I learned it from Fundamentalists.

2. Fundamentalism taught me to appreciate the original languages.

Within “the movement” as a youth, I did not often hear encouragement to use other translations of the Bible. All of the preachers I heard used the KJV as their English text. But we often heard references to Greek and Hebrew terms and grammatical concepts. Words like parakletos, agape, phileo, pneuma and ecclesia were familiar. The idea of a Greek tense being a factor in the interpretation of a verse was something I discovered under the tutelage of Fundamentalists.

And I’m pretty sure that the whole concept of using another translation as a Bible study tool came from the same expositional preachers who served as my pastors in those days. I acquired my first copy of a “modern translation” from a Fundamentalist bookstore (I did have to dig a little to find it).

Could I have discovered the value of digging down to the original languages from non-Fundamentalist evangelicals? Definitely. But as it turns out, I learned it from Fundamentalists.

3. Fundamentalists taught me to be mindful of doctrine.

I can still hear one of my elementary school Bible teachers raving (so it seemed at the time) that “the Bible is not a book of cunningly devised fables, but was given by inspiration of God!!!” My parents were stunned once to see me doing an imitation of this teacher, complete with bulging eyes, bellowing voice, and shaking fist. I had absolutely no idea what any of those words meant.

I wouldn’t recommend this method of indoctrination to anyone, but in my own case it was an important beginning. What I learned was that there were really big ideas with really big words that were of extreme importance to our faith—and that I should get used to wrestling with heavy concepts in my Christian life.

I learned about propitiation, reconciliation, adoption, sanctification, illumination and a host of other “tions”—all from Fundamentalists.

So when I went to college, long complicated outlines of Bible doctrines were not all that new to me. Nor was I surprised—when I went to seminary—to encounter even longer and still more complicated outlines of Bible doctrines. I would have been shocked if it were otherwise.

The attitude that doctrine is extremely important and that believers should expect to put their thinking caps on and wade through it somewhat regularly was an attitude I caught from Fundamentalists.

4. Fundamentalists taught me critical thinking.

The lessons in critical thinking may have been accidental from the point of view of those involved. Their goal was not to teach critical thinking but to argue from Scripture that “Idea A, which you have heard, is not the best way to understand the Scriptures or the issues involved.” The thing is, I had just heard a really compelling case for Idea A in chapel the day before, or in my home, or in a book that was required reading. And often an Idea B that one teacher or pastor held up as a better way to understand the Bible was dismantled pretty effectively some time later by someone making a case for Idea C.

Some might say this kind of conflicting teaching is recipe for confusion, and for some it seems to have turned out that way. But most of the competing views I was hearing on one issue or another were delivered thoughtfully, with serious attention to the relevant Scriptures and without much malice toward those who saw the issues differently.

By behaving this way, the Fundamentalists in my life taught me to expect godly men to disagree and to expect that I would have to do some sorting out of things on my own. They also, in every case, pointed to Scripture as their authority (though with widely varying credibility on that point). The effect was to encourage me not to be critical, but to listen critically and look for the answers in the Book.

5. Fundamentalists taught me to read and write.

The seemingly rules-obsessed, rigidly disciplinarian elementary school teachers at John R. Rice Baptist Academy had us diagramming long, complex sentences in fourth grade. Somehow, they had most of us loving it. I can remember rubbing my hands together with glee at the prospect of digging into another sentence that was longer and more complicated than any I’d diagrammed before. If memory serves, they had given us extremely large pieces of paper so we could fit the whole thing on one sheet.

The same school utterly failed to teach me math! But I thank God for the foundation in readin’ and writin’. These were Fundamentalists who understood well the value of the written word and the importance writing skills would have in our futures. That attitude continued throughout my education.

In high school and college, Fundamentalists encouraged me to read broadly. In seminary, Fundamentalists taught me to read deeply.

I still stink as a reader. But I owe it to Fundamentalists that I’m even aware of that!

6. Fundamentalists taught me the gospel.

Best of all, Fundamentalists taught me the pure, biblical gospel of grace through faith in Jesus Christ. They taught it early, and often, and clearly. Yes, there were some silly songs, some inept illustrations, some less-than-ideal wording—all that. The fact remains that I learned the true gospel, and learned it well, from Fundamentalists.

So, to me, they still have beautiful feet (Rom. 10:15).

Fundamentalists gave me the gospel in its simplicity, but also later taught me its complexity. Fundamentalists taught me what total depravity meant, what imputation meant, what regeneration meant, even what election meant.

7. Fundamentalists taught me to hate legalism.

Some believe I am a “legalist.” After all, I believe rules are very helpful things and that they are often even instrumental in sanctification. But I learned from Fundamentalists that you can keep all the rules and not love God—that you can look the look, and say the words, and have no personal convictions. Fundamentalist preaching taught me to despise the Pharisees with their proud looks and self-righteousness.

Some might consider it a small miracle, but all the same, the people who taught me that we must glorify God in all we do, believe and desire were Fundamentalists.

Conclusion

I don’t know what all this “goes to show,” if anything. I don’t know how common my experience in Fundamentalism is. It feels completely ordinary and “normal” to me. What I do know is that though I could have learned all these things from Conservative Evangelicals (and a few from not-so-conservative ones), I didn’t. In my life, this is not evangelicalism’s legacy; it’s Fundamentalism’s legacy.


Aaron Blumer, SI’s site publisher, is a native of lower Michigan and a graduate of Bob Jones University (Greenville, SC) and Central Baptist Theological Seminary (Plymouth, MN). He, his wife, and their two children live in a small town in western Wisconsin, where he has pastored Grace Baptist Church (Boyceville, WI) since 2000. Prior to serving as a pastor, Aaron taught school in Stone Mountain, Georgia, and served in customer service and technical support for Unisys Corporation (Eagan, MN). He enjoys science fiction, music, and dabbling in software development.

Discussion

Aaron, an excellent piece.

I am sure you may get some bitter nay-sayers who want to hold up to scorn the negative legacy of Fundamentalism, but I would have to say that for the most part I share your legacy.

I say for the most part because I was first a product of new evangelicalism. My church was the most conservative of the evangelical churches in my town. There were no fundamentalist churches. I was taught the gospel (at home and at church) and I remember the impact of spiritually minded college young people who led our teen camps and motivated some hunger for spiritual growth.

I also remember not much in the way of expository preaching or much real solid preaching of any kind. I remember a lot of compromise with the world, even among the more spiritual young leaders, so that there was a mass of confusion about how one was to live the Christian life.

When I visited BJU in 1975, I experienced a whole new level of spiritual life in the dorms than I had ever seen before (in spite of flaws that also existed there). I spent the next 10 years of my life in Greenville and the influence of BJU fundamentalism shaped my thinking and philosophy along the lines you mention in your article.

Could I have learned those things outside of Fundamentalism? Maybe. But I doubt it. I wasn’t taught it in my conservative evangelical church growing up. I didn’t observe it in the relatively conservative evangelical churches I ran across in later years. Perhaps some pockets of sober-minded Christianity existed in evangelical circles, but for the most part even the most conservative of them reflected serious compromise with worldliness in some way. (Of course, my experience is certainly not universal!)

My point is, the purest form of biblical spirituality I have ever seen was taught to me by word and deed by fundamentalists. I see it in stark contrast to the weakness I was taught in conservative evangelicalism. That is why I am so loyal to fundamentalist philosophies and practices.

Thanks for the article, I appreciate it.

Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

Thanks, Don.

I don’t usually publish something without knowing for sure what I’m trying to say and why. But that’s the case here. Maybe it’s just that I often feel a disjunction between the fundamentalism many are criticizing and the fundamentalism that—for all practical purposes—built me. I don’t deny the other exists. Saw plenty of that, too. But “my fundamentalism” exists as well and is every bit as authentically “movement fundamentalism” as the other.

That the movement is now fragmented almost beyond all recogition, I also accept.

I guess I’d agree, too, that the experience I describe in the article is not unique to fundamentalism now (and probably wasn’t then). But I tend to think your odds of finding what I experienced are still far better “in” it than “outside of” it.

I left out alot of fundamentalist ugliness. But I really think that’s mostly human ugliness and it just takes different shapes and flavors outside the movement. The quantity and seriousness of flaws and weaknesses may well be pretty much a constant. So maybe my lack of enthusiasm for the CEs (though I’m not much of a critic of them certainly) is just cynicism.

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.

Aaron,

Your observations hit the nail on the head with me, too.

I think I had a “Eureka” moment when you said this in your response to Don.
[Aaron Blumer] I left out alot of fundamentalist ugliness. But I really think that’s mostly human ugliness and it just takes different shapes and flavors outside the movement. The quantity and seriousness of flaws and weaknesses may well be pretty much a constant.
The ugliness is not fundamentalism’s fault. It’s human sinfulness (pride mostly) that is at fault…it justs manifests itself in some particular ways within the fundamentalist context. I hope that people who are thinking of leaving the fundamentalist ranks because of the “ugliness” don’t get so enamored with leaving that that aren’t able to see the same sins manifesting themselves in whatever other context to which they are attracted—CE, NE, Liberal, Catholic or whatever. Then I hope they, like you (and me with the gentle nudging of your article) renew a thankfulness to God for all the benefits they have received within fundamentalism.

Thanks again for a great heartfelt (can we as fundamentalists do that?:) ) piece. Made my day.

Shawn Haynie

Aaron, that was exceptional! I was raised Roman Catholic and came to the Lord and began attending a truly Bible-oriented fundamental church at age 17. I had many of the same blessings: expository preaching, an emphasis on the importance of language, etc. Our church was particularly blessed; annually, the following would visit and speak: John Walvoord, Henry Morris, John Miles, Bill Currie (the former pastor), and, on one time basises, other major guns: Lloyd Perry, The Feinberg brothers, Irvine Robertson, Fred Dickason, John Whitcomb, and a host of others. These guys were no dummies! The pastor at the time of my conversion was Clinton Foraker, and he was a good man.

With some other branches of fundamentalism being more of a “bundled” package of beliefs and values not necessarily derived from he Bible, and not making great use of the mind, I thought myself blessed to be reached by such a branch of fundamentalism. Not that some rules (which I considered and still consider “silly”) were added — they were; but not as harshly as in other groups.

So I too, along with Aaron, have to say that I am EXTREMELY THANKFUL to have this sort of fundamentalist foundation.

"The Midrash Detective"

“I spent the next 10 years of my life in Greenville and the influence of BJU fundamentalism shaped my thinking and philosophy along the lines you mention in your article.”

Shouldn’t the Bible do that for you? Instead of some flavor of Chrisitianity? The Bible is what should shape our thinking and philosophy. Nonetheless, Fundamentalism has had a great impact on my life. Appreciated the article.

[Aaron Blumer]

I guess I’d agree, too, that the experience I describe in the article is not unique to fundamentalism now (and probably wasn’t then). But I tend to think your odds of finding what I experienced are still far better “in” it than “outside of” it.
Aaron, this statement absolutely floored me. It strikes me that most of the things you listed are either exceptions to the rule in Fundamentalism or were imported from outside Fundamentalism. Now, I’m not comparing Fundamentalism vs. Everybody Else, but Fundamentalism vs. specific groups.

1. Expository Preaching

There are vast swaths of Fundamentalism that don’t practice this at all, or mean by it only that the sermons come from consecutive parts of the Bible. This is something that mostly came from outside Fundamentalism and that Fundamentalists picked up late in the game. For example, who writes the preaching textbooks they use at BJU/Sem.? Also, at BJU, I noticed that the faculty were generally expository but that the visiting preachers, especially the older ones, tended not to be. In any case, I’m sure you would find much more consistent expository practice and method if you were in Dallas Seminary, Lutheran, or Reformed circles.

2. Original Languages

What Fundamentalist, other than Randy Leedy, is doing any substantive work in original languages? Maybe there is somebody, and I’d love to know that. But even if we’re talking about the average pastor, I think it highly unlikely that Fundamentalism outshines other groups in original language priority or proficiency. Remember, there are some Fundamentalists who believe that the KJV corrects the original languages, and a bunch more that believe the KJV renders them somewhat redundant. Even outside that segment, there are anti-intellectual strains that view learning Hebrew as a distraction to soul-winning or real pastoral work. I don’t think Fundamentalist pastors would compare well with my denomination, the PCA. Just to be licensed to preach, not ordained, you have to pass basic proficiency exams in both Greek and Hebrew.

3. Doctrine

I’ll grant you that Fundamentalism teaches you to watch what you believe, and especially what you say, but won’t agree that it teaches very well how to constructively articulate doctrine. Where are the Fundamentalist systematic theologies (complete ones, not McCune’s)? Is there even one Fundamentalist theology work that is widely recognized outside Fundamentalism? I would say that most Fundamentalist families have a thorough training in English Bible content and even verse memory, but I don’t know if that transfers to doctrinal understanding.

4. Critical Thinking

I simply can’t see how this would be better in Fundamentalism than other places. Many non-Fundamentalist schools actually require courses in formal logic and history of philosophy. Do any Fundamentalist schools even have a major in philosophy?

5. Read and Write

That’s a private school thing, not a Fundamentalist thing.

6. The Gospel

I can’t even comment on this without losing my temper.

7. Legalism

There are lots of Fundamentalists who aren’t legalists, but I have a hard time believing that Fundamentalism encourages hatred of legalism more than other conservative Christian groups. In fact, I think the suggestion is bizarre.

So, I guess I disagree with you entirely. I agree that sin is everywhere, and so are systemic problems. But I think life outside of movement Fundamentalism is much, much better.

My Blog: http://dearreaderblog.com

Cor meum tibi offero Domine prompte et sincere. ~ John Calvin

[MichaelC] “I spent the next 10 years of my life in Greenville and the influence of BJU fundamentalism shaped my thinking and philosophy along the lines you mention in your article.”

Shouldn’t the Bible do that for you? Instead of some flavor of Chrisitianity? The Bible is what should shape our thinking and philosophy. Nonetheless, Fundamentalism has had a great impact on my life. Appreciated the article.
Are you acquainted with the notion of discipleship?

What do you think the point of Eph 4.11-17 is?

Why try to make a cheap point out of a testimony of thankfulness to God’s grace in my life?

Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

I note this not at all to discredit Aaron’s experience. Would that mine had been so rich. Still, I thank God for one overarching lesson I learned from the fundamentalists who raised me: a high view of Scripture. While I did not grow up with expository preaching, an appreciation for the original languages, a particularly coherent and studied doctrine, critical thinking (until college), the (full) gospel, or a hatred of (practical) legalism, the high view of Scripture with which they imbued me prepared me for these and many other lessons further down the road.

FWIW, fundamentalists also (indirectly) taught me another important lesson. Almost a decade ago, John Hannah was teaching a church history seminar at the church to which I then belonged. After his description of a view of church history held by some fundamentalists, I sought him out and said “I can’t believe some people believe that, they are … .” To his credit, and my shame, he cut me off and finished my sentence “dear brothers and sisters in Christ.” So that lesson on the unity of the body of Christ and the preciousness of those bought with His blood fittingly came to me courtesy of both fundamentalists and conservative evangelicals.

I appreciate your essay, Aaron. I did not come into Fundamentalism until my teen years, the points you bring out were indicative of those years. Your point of the “ugliness” of Fundamentalism is well noted. For indeed it is the sinful nature of us all that has so marred us as humans created in the image of God. Far too many, I beileve, forget that every Christian, whether Fundamentalist or CE or whatever, still has that sinful nature residing within us and at any given moment will seek to find prominence.

Thank you.

[Don Johnson]
[MichaelC] “I spent the next 10 years of my life in Greenville and the influence of BJU fundamentalism shaped my thinking and philosophy along the lines you mention in your article.”

Shouldn’t the Bible do that for you? Instead of some flavor of Chrisitianity? The Bible is what should shape our thinking and philosophy. Nonetheless, Fundamentalism has had a great impact on my life. Appreciated the article.
Are you acquainted with the notion of discipleship?

What do you think the point of Eph 4.11-17 is?

Why try to make a cheap point out of a testimony of thankfulness to God’s grace in my life?
I understand what you are trying to say with Eph 4:11-17, I was not trying to make a cheap point. I guess I would have said, ” The Bible helped shape my thinking and philosophy through what I learned at BJU. I just what to make sure people are not placing a place over The Word. I hope no offense was taken.

I agree with the thrust of Charlie’s post, and I’d like to note that a lot of the books and resources that Fundies are using to teach aren’t Fundy resources…they’re Evangelical ones. Other that DBTS’s excellent book(s), has anyone even attempted to put out a book on Systematic Theology? Most Fundy books are on one of two topics - separation or Christian Living. Sure, BJ Press also does a lot more, but almost every single textbook that I’ve needed, esp. in Seminary at Bob Jones, came from the CE camp [MacArthur in particular].

Joseph knocks Fundamentalism often for it’s poor scholarship. While I don’t think that it’s the be-all end-all of what a Fundy does, it certainly would seem that Fundamentalists need to improve in that regard.

"Our task today is to tell people — who no longer know what sin is...no longer see themselves as sinners, and no longer have room for these categories — that Christ died for sins of which they do not think they’re guilty." - David Wells

Bravo! I found your article most refreshing and encouraging. While I certainly share the concerns of many others, I— like you—have been richly blessed by the best of fundamentalism. My (perhaps naive) desire is that we can improve the segment of fundamentalism which best represents biblical Christianity by standing on the shoulders of those who have gone before.

JCV

Jeremy Van Delinder Church Planter, Pastor North Hills Baptist Church Round Rock (Austin), TX

I’m interested in these responses to Aaron’s fine article—especially from the readers who ask why fundamentalist scholars have not written more books that are well regarded outside the fundy camp.

1. In the past ten years many fundamentalist professors have been published in academic journals, have presented at mainstream academic conferences, and have contributed to anthologies, encyclopedias, and dictionaries. Too numerous to mention, really.

2. I’m not sure I’d use “published books” as a gold standard to evaluate fundamentalist scholarship. But if the complaint is that fundys have not produced book-length theological works published by Famous Academic Publishers, hang on for a bit before nailing that coffin shut.

3. The best fundy scholars have devoted their lives to reproducing themselves via their classroom teaching ministry. Not writing. The best way to sample fundy scholarship is to sit under the classroom teaching of Myron Houghton, Kevin Bauder, Paul Hartog, John Hartog, Larry Pettegrew, Mike Grisanti, Rolland McCune, et al. And perhaps one could observe that their ministries have been devoted to producing pastors, missionaries, and church planters—not scholars who are well regarded by the academy.

Having said that, do we need more books that make a credible defense of our core values—books that are aimed at seminary students and scholars, rather than the Sunday School class?

Yes, we do.

Aaron:

I appreciate the post very, very much. It reflects much of my experience too. We often criticize what we are most familiar with but we have to remind ourselves that God sovereignly uses all things to grow us spiritually and work out His good in our lives. For most of us here that has been largely in Fundamentalism. My father long ago pointed me to Hebrews 11:16 which tells us: “But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.” We all need this balance and I thank you again for providing it this week

Jon Bell Bucksport, ME "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and

[KevinM] I’m interested in these responses to Aaron’s fine article—especially from the readers who ask why fundamentalist scholars have not written more books that are well regarded outside the fundy camp.

1. In the past ten years many fundamentalist professors have been published in academic journals, have presented at mainstream academic conferences, and have contributed to anthologies, encyclopedias, and dictionaries. Too numerous to mention, really.

2. I’m not sure I’d use “published books” as a gold standard to evaluate fundamentalist scholarship. But if the complaint is that fundys have not produced book-length theological works published by Famous Academic Publishers, hang on for a bit before nailing that coffin shut.

3. The best fundy scholars have devoted their lives to reproducing themselves via their classroom teaching ministry. Not writing. The best way to sample fundy scholarship is to sit under the classroom teaching of Myron Houghton, Kevin Bauder, Paul Hartog, John Hartog, Larry Pettegrew, Mike Grisanti, Rolland McCune, et al. And perhaps one could observe that their ministries have been devoted to producing pastors, missionaries, and church planters—not scholars who are well regarded by the academy.

Having said that, do we need more books that make a credible defense of our core values—books that are aimed at seminary students and scholars, rather than the Sunday School class?

Yes, we do.
Hi KevinM-

Please don’t get me wrong - I’m thankful for (some of) what I’ve taken away from Fundies. Like Aaron said, some of it is what you get and in what circles your Fundy experience is. Hyles Fundyism isn’t the same as BJ Fundamentalism, for example. I’ve touched both spheres myself.

My problem is that a lot of the ‘heavy lifting’ for Fundamentalist thought and discussion, at least in my point of view, comes from the works of Cons. Evangelicals. That’s a big problem, esp. if CE’s really are to be avoided and marked as false teachers [which is a point of view that I happily reject]. If Fundy learning and teaching is so critical to the movement, then why are we farming out the important work of developing pedagogical materials, esp. on the college and seminary levels? And why are we screaming that Evangelicals are the ‘enemy’? Bauder is [AFAIK] the only real Fundy leader that is trying to do anything like this, and yet some are ready to disfellowship him for it. Frankly, we need more Bauders!

Do you see the Gordian knot here?

"Our task today is to tell people — who no longer know what sin is...no longer see themselves as sinners, and no longer have room for these categories — that Christ died for sins of which they do not think they’re guilty." - David Wells