Understanding American Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism

Author: (American) George Marsden / Song Jijie
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: This book is a comprehensive overview of the history of American Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism. It evolved from a series of studies George Marsden conducted in the 1980s to understand the recent rise of these movements. Designed for readers of all levels and backgrounds, it provides both a concise introduction to these topics and in-depth analysis of some key perspectives. The term "Fundamentalism" became a highly distinctive self-designation in the last century—most members of Fundamentalism were separatist Baptist, while Evangelicalism underwent diverse developments and expanded into a broad category composed of numerous subgroups, including Holiness churches, Pentecostals, traditionalist Methodists, Mennonites, and the Christian Church, among others. Despite their significant diversity, these groups shared a remarkably common history. As Marsden clarifies the current understanding of these movements by looking back at the past, certain subsidiary arguments gradually come to the forefront. This book examines two particularly prominent and controversial topics within these traditions: views on science and political perspectives. On both topics, Marsden focuses his analysis on those self-proclaimed evangelicals or fundamentalists who sought to organize these two related movements into a national coalition.