Page 435 - Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible Christianity. Based on the King James Bible

NEW EVANGELICAL

Simply to be found by ‘the letter’ is ‘Pharisaic legalism’, When many Bible believers reacted strongly in
and when evangelicals attribute to Scripture the opposition to the March 1994 “Evangelicals and
authority which belongs only to God they are guilty of Catholics Together” document (ECT), J.I. Packer, a
‘bibliolatry’” (Murray, Evangelicalism Divided, p. 182). signer of the document, spewed out his anti-
The Tyndale Fellowship in England was founded as fundamentalist rhetoric. “I was surprised at the violence
an association of Evangelicals committed to the of initial negative Protestant reaction. ... fear clouds the
infallible Scriptures. The group still claims the term mind and generates defensive responses that drive
“evangelical” but it has lost its original meaning and has wisdom out of the window. ... I ought to have
expanded to include theological liberalism. “In the early anticipated that some Protestants would say bleak,
days of the Tyndale Fellowship, the lines seemed fairly skewed, fearful, and fear-driven things about this
clearly drawn between those who might be regarded as document” (“Why I Signed It,” Christianity Today, Dec.
evangelicals and those who might not. ... A survey of the 12, 1994). There was no violence, of course, against
contemporary situation shows that matters have for Packer or the other signers of ECT; and Packer had no
some time stood otherwise. ... Members of the Tyndale evidence that those who spoke out against ECT were
Fellowship will in fact divide over many, perhaps all, of driven by fear. He could not see into their hearts, so it
the issues which were once regarded as touchstones of was not possible to make such a judgment. It is more
orthodoxy. Evangelical theological colleges, too, likely that they were concerned for the truth and
embrace the same diversity” (R.T. France, Evangelical motivated by their love for God and His Word and
Anglicans, p. 38). cause.
The pride of intellect is a very dangerous trap. Francis Schaeffer spoke of “the unattractiveness of
7. New Evangelicalism is characterized by an attitude ‘cold fundamentalism” (Letters of Francis Schaeffer,
of anti-fundamentalism. In practice, it focuses more on the 1985, p. 72).
alleged problems of fundamentalism than the errors of Monroe Parker gave the following testimony about
modernism and Romanism and ecumenism. Dr. John Walvoord and Dallas Seminary. “Some years
While the New Evangelical speaks of the error of ago a friend of mine told me that he had gone up to Dr.
theological Modernists and Romanists in gentle terms, Walvoord, the president of Dallas Seminary, after a
he can get truly agitated when the subject turns to meeting where Walvoord had spoken. He asked, ‘Where
Fundamentalism. For the Fundamentalist he reserves does Dallas Seminary stand in the warfare between the
choice terms such as legalist, Pharisee, obscurantist, Fundamentalists and the New Evangelicals?’ According
mean-spirited hatemonger, ignoramus, and extremist. to my friend, Dr. Walvoord’s reply was, ‘We are
Edward Carnell, the second president of Fuller definitely in the conservative camp at Dallas, but we are
not Fighting Fundamentalists” (Parker, Through
Theological Seminary, wrote in defense of the inerrancy Sunshine and Shadows, 1987, p. 108).
of Scripture and other cardinal doctrines of the
Christian faith, but he aimed his biggest guns not at the Consider a few quotes from the letters and e-mails I
Modernists who denied these doctrines but at the have received because of my fundamentalist preaching:
Fundamentalists who called for separation from them. “You are like the hypocrites that Jesus said he would
He wrote articles for the liberal Christian Century vomit out of his mouth because you take comfort in
magazine entitled “Beyond Fundamentalist Theology” hate instead of love, negativism instead of positive
and “Orthodoxy: Cultic vs. Classical.” It was commentary, fascism instead of freedom.”
Fundamentalism rather than Modernism that was “Fundamentalist are the most vindictive and
labeled cultic. judgmental and nasty people in the world ... to people
of my belief! AND YOU KNOW IT!!!”
When Billy Graham looked back on the founding of “YOU need to repent and change your ways buddy. You
Christianity Today, he said, “We were convinced that the should try reading the WORD sometime. It will change
magazine would be useless if it had the old, extreme your life. Your website is full of arrogance and
fundamentalist stamp on it” (“In the Beginning: Billy ignorance.”
Graham Recounts the Origins of Christianity Today,” “The ‘fundamentalist’ movement is slowly dying largely
Christianity Today, July 17, 1981). because of asinine ideas such as this. [He is referring to
John Stott pulls no punches when he defines a warning about the strong Roman Catholic element at
fundamentalism as follows: “...anti-intellectualism; a Regent University.] ... Another reason ‘fundamentalism’
naïve, almost superstitious reverence for the KJV; a is dying is because of anti-intellectualism.”
cultural imprisonment; racial prejudice; extreme right “How about you stop criticising and pull the log out of
wing political concerns” (Stott, Essentials: A Liberal- your own eye before you try and find the speck in
Evangelical Dialogue, 1988, pp. 90-91). someone elses. Division is the devil’s biggest tool and
he would be happy you are fueling his mission.”

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