[Discussion] sufism and fundamentalism

[Paksoy, Hb]

From: "K. Tom Wong" <ktwong@ece.uwaterloo.ca> 
Subject: H-ASIA: Re: Sufism and Fundamentalism 

(1) 
Michael Penn's characterization of the origin of the term 
"fundamentalism" is not entirely accurate. 

The label "fundamentalism" derived from 12 pamphlets series 
called "The Fundamentals", consisting of 90 articles by 64 
authors, published and distributed free between 1910 and 
1915 by the two Dispensationalist Presbyterian brothers 
Lyman and Milton Stewart, chief stockholders of the Union Oil 
Company in Los Angeles. Fundamentalism arose from a 
convergence of dispensationalism and the Princeton Theology 
through the Summer Bible-Conference Circuit, when people 
gathered for an extended Bible Study vacations. Many of 
the Princeton theologians and the dispensationalists met 
and worked out a common theology in such Summer Bible 
Conferences. The 1910 Presbyterian General Assembly 
summed up these fundamentals in five fundamentals--- 
Christ's deity, the inerrancy of Scripture, 
substitutional atonement, the virgin birth of Christ, 
the miracle-working power of Christ, and the physical 
resurrection of Christ. 



(2) 
"Scriptural inerrancy" does not, strictly speaking, require 
nor imply literal interpretation. It is, however, true 
that most people who subscribe to Scriptural Inerrancy 
tend to interpret the Bible more literally. 

(3) 
Also, "ascribing divine authority to its [the Bible's] 
every word" needs not imply literal interpretation. 
Divine inspiration of the Scriptures can easily accommodate 
non-literal literary interpretations. 

(4) 
"what is really important to most Christians is that 
 they have faith in the divinity of Jesus and strive to 
 follow His moral teachings." 

It is perhaps risky to characterize anything as "really 
important" to "most Christians", since "Christians" 
(by whatever definition) often have incompatible definitions 
of the term "Christian" itself. 

For many Christian groups, especially the fast-growing and 
numerically strong evangelical groups, they may prefer the 
wording "personal faith in Jesus" over "faith in the 
divinity of Jesus", and prefer "spiritual teaching" 
over "moral teaching". That is, it is more focussed on an 
existential spiritual commitment than primarily a 
morality or an intellectual assent. 

_____________________________________ 
Kainam Thomas WONG, Ph.D. 

Assistant Professor, 
Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering, 
University of Waterloo, 
Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1 
Canada 

fax: +1-519-746-3077 
http://ece.uwaterloo.ca/~www_info/people/faculty/wong.html 
ktwong@ieee.org