March 2005: Sharper Iron "Wayback Machine"!
Original article: Dead Right: The Failure of Fundamentalism Phil Johnson / Dave Doran interaction (March 2005): Exchange over Johnson’s presentation entitled, “Dead Right: The Failure of Fundamentalism.” Dave Doran reflects and comments: Five years later…
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I capped off this week where we have all spent so many hours and keystrokes pondering fundamentalism by reading the top and bottom articles referenced here. (I would love to read the middle one, but cannot mastermind the computer code or whatever it takes to retrieve it; not sure why it is in lock-down. :~ )
I had not read Johnson’s article previously and found it very enlightening and refreshing.
In many ways, I have long agreed with his premise that fundamentalism was flawed from its beginning. Dr. Terry Mortenson of Answers in Genesis, for instance, has made this point specifically regarding creationism, saying that everything in The Fundamentals pertaining to Genesis and origins was in error.
So where does that leave us now? If we are not careful, I suspect we will be left trying to re-invent a “movement” for which the time is long past, for which the reasons are no longer clear and of which we may duplicate its weaknesses but not its strengths.
All of this pondering left me with a few profound thoughts. I wonder how my life and my views might be different if I had been born and raised in the type of environment Johnson decries rather than in confessional Lutheranism. I wonder where I might be today if I had been initially discipled in some kind of cultic fundamentalist church rather than in an IFCA Bible church.
Perhaps mostly I am grateful for the seminary training I received at FBTS in Ankeny and for my professors there. I believe the school embodies the very best that fundamentalism has to offer and gave me the best possible Biblical education available, by God’s grace.
Personally, I would desperately like to get back to the Biblical traditions which transcend time and see them overtake some of the Fundamentalist traditions which are tied to the early 20th century. Johnson’s article took me back to a lot of different places in my mind and made me homesick for fellowship in the Truth.
So — along those lines — who will join me now in trying to spend more time preparing for Passion Week than we spent on Fundamentalist Week?
I had not read Johnson’s article previously and found it very enlightening and refreshing.
In many ways, I have long agreed with his premise that fundamentalism was flawed from its beginning. Dr. Terry Mortenson of Answers in Genesis, for instance, has made this point specifically regarding creationism, saying that everything in The Fundamentals pertaining to Genesis and origins was in error.
So where does that leave us now? If we are not careful, I suspect we will be left trying to re-invent a “movement” for which the time is long past, for which the reasons are no longer clear and of which we may duplicate its weaknesses but not its strengths.
All of this pondering left me with a few profound thoughts. I wonder how my life and my views might be different if I had been born and raised in the type of environment Johnson decries rather than in confessional Lutheranism. I wonder where I might be today if I had been initially discipled in some kind of cultic fundamentalist church rather than in an IFCA Bible church.
Perhaps mostly I am grateful for the seminary training I received at FBTS in Ankeny and for my professors there. I believe the school embodies the very best that fundamentalism has to offer and gave me the best possible Biblical education available, by God’s grace.
Personally, I would desperately like to get back to the Biblical traditions which transcend time and see them overtake some of the Fundamentalist traditions which are tied to the early 20th century. Johnson’s article took me back to a lot of different places in my mind and made me homesick for fellowship in the Truth.
So — along those lines — who will join me now in trying to spend more time preparing for Passion Week than we spent on Fundamentalist Week?
Church Ministries Representative, serving in the Midwest, for The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry
Discussion