What Evangelicalism And Fundamentalism Means Throughout History Essay

Of the fairly limited amount of books I have read in my lifetime regarding the origins of the country we live in today from a religious standpoint, the vast majority are rife with one scarcely mentioned and not infrequent pitfall of inaccuracy that glares at me as I flip through their pages: they sugarcoat the difficult parts. Any controversy that may mitigate their argument (such as the gruesome altercations between the early colonists and the Native Americans, Benjamin Franklin’s or Thomas Jefferson’s religious stances, or the Americans’ horribly violent recalcitrance against the nation they then considered home) is deceptively changed or mollified in attempt to please readers, or perhaps even more embarrassingly, omitted out of sheer ignorance on the subject. With The Light and the Glory, preacher Peter Marshall and New York publishing house editor David Manuel defy the stereotypes of American Christian authors and unapologetically disregard potential vitriol from their intended audience in the process. After conducting extensive research on the topics they planned to discuss in their book, Marshall and Manuel devised the following thesis for The Light and the Glory: (a) God has, or at least had, a definitive and demanding plan for America, and (b) our continual deviation from this plan is why modern America is so seemingly headed for

Fundamentalism is a strict adherence to a set of ideas or beliefs that are conservative in nature. It is a pejorative term usually associated with religious fanaticism. Usually, this is what comes to mind when there is mention of a fundamentalist. However, in Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist starring the protagonist Changez, a Pakistani Princetonian who is a top-ranked employee at a prestigious New York valuation firm, turns out not to be an Islamic fundamentalist, but a reluctant fundamentalist of US Capitalism. Hamid challenges readers to reevaluate their preconceived notions and prejudices of people different from themselves in post 9/11 America by employing the use of motifs, aphorism, and suspense, to create a conflation

Since, “Religion's initial and primary thrust is conservative”(Pg. 17), as such, the Church today is open to racial reconciliation, but the initial thrust is conservative in nature, thus leading us to take a passive approach. Though admirable, it isn’t taking the necessary and progressive steps needed for a racial reconciliation within itself, let alone society at large, which is why Evangelicalism has fallen short of brining forth change towards this issue.

Between 1820 and 1860, Americans constructed 40,000 new churches compared to the 10,000 they constructed in the 40 years before 1820. At the end of the revival period, ”one-third of all Americans attended church regularly.”(P.400) Many of the early revival preachers embraced Christian evangelicalism, the established groups sought to take advantage of the popular enthusiasm to build their particular denominations. Methodists and the Baptists established themselves as leading American denominations as a result of the Second Great Awakening. The two faiths had a mutual sense of affinity with regard to doctrine, but the Baptists created a radically decentralized hierarchy that empowered local ministers and individual churches.

The word “God” or “Christianity” is often thrown around in the political world today. Candidates often can be seen supporting the invasions of other nations, but then claiming a strong devotion to God only a few moments later. The question is, “how has America become such a broken nation with such distorted views of the role of Christianity?” The emergent idea of America as a Christian nation is an important and relevant issue with many possible consequences. In reality, there are many cultural and religious influences in the nation, but many people have internalized the idea that the Christian religion is not solely an influential aspect of our society, but instead helps to construct the society itself. Personally, before reading

The third impact of democracy on American religion is a sense of grand ambition. The hope and optimism that were so central to democracy often resulted in dreams and aspirations of significant social change and progress. Methodists like Garrettson were particularly noteworthy in their ambition. Though the Methodist system used a hierarchical system of governance, that system was intended to be a force for liberation. We see this grand ambition of liberation clearly in the life of Garrettson. Shortly

When Huck in his ignorance tumbles together a discussion about “faith, and good works, and free grace, and preforeordestination,” he cut to the heart of one of the great doctrinal battles of American Protestantism, the question of human agency in salvation. Methodists by definition believed that grace was universal, that the “saving remnant” could be quite large if people would simply accept grace. But even with this one sect's stretch away from the Westminster Covenant, for all sects the question of justification by faith alone loomed large in doctrinal discussions, much as it had from the inception of Calvinism. As the Great Awakening aged, relatively liberal Christians, primarily from the cultural centers of the east, argued that the book of James, with its admonition that faith without works is a dead faith, had to be at the center of Christian practice. They developed from this basic precept more figurative interpretations of the Bible, seeing the soul's progress not so much as a strict

The religion of Christianity is a practice that has been apart of the American nation since it’s early founding, but what is the United States relationship to Christianity? In this class we have discussed three very different versions of the “Christian Nation” dialogue in the books that we have read throughout the semester. These books include John Fea’s Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?, Matthew Sutton’s American Apocalypse: A History of Evangelicalism, and Kevin Kruse’s One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America. Each book gives a different interpretation of the relationship between the United States and the religion Christianity, and how this relationship shaped the United States to the country that it

This led to a change in all American’s understanding of God and their religion, thus developing Evangelicalism in

This was a ginormous step for the people and the diversity of religious believes exploded thereafter. This is where American Christianity’s roots bagan. Over the years American Christianity’s teachings and characteristics have been molded, creating the trends each individual walking down the street sees today. Wolfmuller examines throughout his book, Has American Christianity Failed, how the false teachings and dangerous practices of American Christianity have become accepted throughout society. After close examination, it is easy to conclude that Wolfullers deductions of American Christianity are correct in pointing to nothing other than

The Explicit Gospel is a true eye opener with life changing implications, a modern day constitution of the Christian faith. This piece of literature adds a valuable Christian perspective with convicting truths that have been overlooked by Christians and many Christian institutions throughout our nation. The principles in this book will compel any American citizen to reevaluate their Christocentric worldview.

Intro: Molly Worthen is an accomplished PhD graduate from Yale University, and novelist of “Apostles of Reason: The Crisis of Authority in American Evangelicalism” and “The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost: The Grand Strategy of Charles Hill.” (Worthen). Spending most of her life studying religion and namely ideology in North American Society.

Church history reveals that a number of serious biblical doctrinal controversies occurred during the late 1800s and early 1900s that gave occasion for the formulation of certain fundamentalist principals to be implemented as a clarification and remedy against unbiblical manifestations. The authority of the Bible was brought into serious question.

Winthrop outlines three detailed reasons to reform in his sermon that include glorifying God, manifesting in the work of the spirit, and providing Christian fellowship and helping others (Winthrop 1). He provides thorough questions and answers to why and how people should live wholesome Christian lives that include lending money and forgiving (Winthrop 2). He provides not only simple ways to live a charitable life of honoring God, but detailed reasons why. This is effective because it is easy to understand for people and encourages them to want to live this lifestyle. In “Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God,” Edwards only talks about God’s wrath, hell, and how all people are “damned from birth” (Edwards 1). These frightening subjects do not promote a Christian lifestyle change, only a rude awakening. Edwards even specifially states that his sermon is intende to be an “awakening for unconverted persons” (Edwards 1). This is less effective than Winthrop’s sermon because it may scare people into the Christian faith, but it gives little detail of living a changed Christian life. Also, Edwards approach is so extreme, it may have an opposite effect on some listeners and scare them out of Christianity due to the harsh way he describes God and his anger. Edwards provides a frightening awakening message that proves less potent than Winthrop’s positive description of becoming a Christian

Fundamentalism and Religion For a vast majority, the term “fundamentalism” evokes images of hostage crises, embassies under siege, hijackings, and suicide bombers. But these images hardly present a comprehensive picture. People in the west associate fundamentalism with Islam, this is indeed a mistaken belief. Fundamentalism is defined as " the affirmation of religious authority as holistic and absolute, admitting of neither criticism nor reduction; it is expressed through the collective demand that specific creedal and ethical dictates derived from scripture be publicly recognized and legally enforced ." (Lawrence)