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
Utgiver
Vendor
Lexington Books
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter