Fundamentalists

I know from experience when people don't like certain Bible arguments, they label those they deal with fundamentalists, to dismiss thier position. I know when I have argued in defense of the Orthodox Christian faith, by saying nothing different than Martin Luther would I have been labeled a "Fundamentalist". At Luther Seminary, you can here people speak about how great hinduism is, but watch out for those "Fundamentalists". I better address this issue?

What does Fundamentalist mean? Well it was first defined by the Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of America in 1910. As those who believe in the following 5 points

*Inerrancy of Scripture
*Virgin Birth and Deity of Jesus
*Doctrine of Atonement
*Resurrection of Jesus
*Literal Miracles of Jesus

-So men like Augustine, Martin Luther, Philip Melancthon, Martin Chemnitz,Hans Nielsen Hauge, and John Calvin would be considered Fundamentalists for thier beliefs, or anyone that upholds the Lutheran Confessions.


-What consistutues modern fundamentalism is harder to define. It could be defined by those who reject Modernism, by Eschatology, by Political Ideology, or by Scientific world view?

-Fundamentalists were defined by a prof of mine as those who hold sepratisic views from other Christians. By this I mean those who break-off fellowship from those that they are in any sort of disagreement with. So groups like the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, or Bob Jones university would apply by this definition.

I have heard at Seminary professors say those who make the Bible an article of faith instead of Christ are fundamentalists? I see what they are saying here salvation does come from Christ and not from the Bible. But the Bible is what reveals Christ and in its words through the Holy Spirit produces faith.

I have often heard professors at Luther Seminary accusing "Fundamentalists of viewing every verse of scripture as equally important. So they might accuse fundamentalists of placing the same importance on I Timothy 5:23 as John 3:16. Where as these profesors at Luther Seminary, say we view all scripture through Christ, which I agree with. But Christ is also revealed throughout all of scripture. I commented on the authority of scripture here

http://emerti.blogspot.com/2005/07/authority-of-bible.html. A Fundamentalist as people at Luther Seminary would define them, would say all scripture is equally inspired, not equally important. To say all scripture is equally inspired means to state that all scripture is in the canon for a reason. When people say one verse of scripture is less inspired than another you go down a slippery slope as evidenced here http://emerti.blogspot.com/2005/09/generic-gospel.html and http://emerti.blogspot.com/2005/09/more-generic-gospel.html.

The reason I have begun seeking to define what Fundamentalism means is that it is often used in the form of Name-Calling when one is engaging in Theological debate. Name-Calling is often substuited when substantive argument is gone. It has never bothered me to be called a fundamentalist. Because people that use that term towards me it is often because I have a Biblically-Based argument against thier rationalistic argument. The fact that the media has seems to define all Orthodox Christians as the same ,also made me intrested in writing on this topic.