Old-Time Religion Embracing Modernist Culture focuses on the founding
generation of American fundamentalism in the 1920s and 1930s and their
interactions with modernity. While there were culture wars, there was
also an embrace. Through a book culture, fostered by liberal
Protestants, and thriving periodicals, they strengthened their place
in American culture and their adaptation helps explain their
resilience in the decades to come.
The most significant adaptation to modernist culture was the embrace
of the modern, secular university as a model for evangelical higher
education. After political battles along sectarian lines in the
twenties, fundamentalists learned to compete in a pluralist society.
By the thirties they were among the strongest supporters of Jews and
began working with Catholics to fight communism. In politics and
higher education they encountered issues of race, gender, and class.
While opposing higher critics of the Bible, their approaches to texts
were in some cases similar: a focus on the original languages,
commitment to scholarship, ambiguities about both the role of reason
and the interpretation of key doctrines. Several had graduate
training, some even in European universities. With their views of end
times, they continued innovative approaches to prophetic texts from
nineteenth-century dispensationalists. In response to evolution and
prophetic texts, in a time-conscious age, they also had innovative
ideas about biblical time.
Fundamentalists engaged in debate with Freud and, while rejecting his
ideas, absorbed elements of psychology. Some understood William
James’ effort to accommodate religion and modern ideas. Although
rejecting John Dewey’s pragmatism, fundamentalists found value in
studying modern philosophy. They tapped a secular, Enlightenment
philosophy to defend their supernatural Christianity. Between the wars
they even participated in the interest in Nietzsche.
Usually dismissed as fractious, they rose above core differences and
cooperated among themselves across denominational lines in building
organizations. In doing so, they reflected both the ecumenism of the
liberal Protestants and the organizational impulse in modern urban,
industrial society.
This study, the first to focus on the founding generation, also covers
a broad spectrum of fundamentalists, from the Northeast, Midwest, the
South, and the West Coast, including some often overlooked by other
historians
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American Fundamentalism between the Wars
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781498545068
Publisert
2017
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Bloomsbury USA
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter