Skip to main content

Fundamentalism and Biblical Literalism

Viewing a Sacred Book 2023
by Geoffrey W. Sutton & Bing AI

 

Are Conservative and Progressive Christians Trading Insults?

I'm in the process of writing about the assessment of spirituality, which I hope to complete by the end of the year. I've come across articles and research measures attempting to clarify the related concepts of fundamentalism and biblical literalism. And so, I have a question about the meaning of these terms and wonder if there is a way to delineate different approaches that recognizes differences but does not appear to denigrate the perspective of people with different views.

Here's a summary of what I've found.

Researchers have examined differences within religious traditions in the way subgroups of people communicate about their beliefs and live out their faith. Writing in Christianity Today (2023) Tim Pietz begins his essay on fundamentalism by noting the negative connotation of two of the terms (bold added for emphasis): “Fundamentalist” is often wielded as an insult to conservative evangelical Christians….” Two paragraphs later, he adds the concept of literalism taken from the Merriam-Webster dictionary: “a movement in 20th century Protestantism emphasizing the literally interpreted Bible as fundamental to Christian life and teaching…). 

The assessment of fundamentalism has varied form a widely used measure, which referenced such Christian concepts (e.g., God, Satan) as in the Religious Fundamentalism Scale (RFS; Altemeyer & Hunsberger, 1992) to a focus on the authoritative communication of God in a group’s sacred text, which includes items applicable to other faiths (e.g., Intratextual Fundamentalism Scale, IFS; Williamson et al., 2010). However, two features of fundamentalism (literalism, conservatism) continue to draw attention in the 21st century (e.g., Biblical Conservatism Measure, Weyand et al., 2013; Biblical Literalism Scale, Village, 2005). 

Selective Literalism

What might be missing is the concept of selective literalism, which recognizes that conservative Christians do not read all biblical texts from a literal perspective. They understand nonliteral portions of texts that include metaphors and parables but may differentially reject metaphorical or nonliteral interpretations of other texts informed by their group’s doctrines such as text-informed beliefs about creation, heaven, hell, or Jesus’ virgin birth.

Perhaps we need a measure that allows for a range of possible interpretations of major textual differences from a literal interpretation to a selection of less literal options, which might allow us to measure selective literalism. Surely no one believes Jesus is a door or a vine. But, I had the impression as a child that some clergy genuinely believed there was some sort of eternal flame in hell that tormented people forever.

If you know of any other measures or have suggestions, please add a comment. 


Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 See Geoffrey Sutton’s books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE

Follow on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

   TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton    


You can read many published articles at no charge:

  Academia   Geoff W Sutton     ResearchGate   Geoffrey W Sutton 

References

Altemeyer, B., & Hunsberger, B. (1992). Authoritarianism, religious fundamentalism, quest, and prejudice. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 2(2), 113-133. doi: 10.1207/s15327582ijpr0202


Hogge, J.H., & Friedman, S.T. (1967). The scriptural literalism scale: A preliminary report. Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary & Applied, 66, 275-279.


Pietz, T. (2023, April 20). What is Christian fundamentalism? History and meaning. Retrieved August 18, 2023 from https://www.christianity.com/wiki/christian-terms/what-fundamentalist-history-meaning.html


Village, A. (2005) Factors shaping biblical literalism: a study among Anglican laity. Journal of Beliefs & Values, 26:1, 29-38, DOI: 10.1080/13617670500047566

Weyand, C., O'Laughlin, L., & Bennett, P. (2013). Dimensions of religiousness that influence parenting. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 5(3), 182-191. 

Williamson, W. P., Hood, R. W. Jr., Ahmad, A., Sadiq, M., Hill, P. C. (2010). The Intratextual Fundamentalism Scale: Cross-cultural application, validity evidence, and relationship with religious orientation and the big 5 factor markers. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 13, 721-747. doi:10.1080/13674670802643047


Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

EASTER: VARIATIONS IN BELIEF

Differences in Religious & Spiritual Beliefs Relevant to the Easter Story By Geoffrey W. Sutton, Ph.D. at suttong.com Like most Christians, my wife and I attend an Easter Service. And, a s usual, the media rise to the Spring occasion with Bible stories, comments from various religious leaders and a few atheists—just to keep things balanced. Other religions are on the back burner until Monday. So many statements of beliefs come from the Easter events.  For now, here’s a sample of some core beliefs from various sources. God: 51% believe in God as in the Bible Statista (May, 2023) reported US belief "in God as described in holy scriptures" at 51%. Another 22% reported a belief in a higher power or spirit. Pew researchers from 2021 find 58% believe in God as described in the Bible and another 32% believe in a God or Higher Power.  Belief in God is obviously a core belief. U.S. belief has declined to 58% having no doubt God exists and another 17% have do...
Post a Comment
Read more

9 Beliefs of Christian Counselors

Updated 26 Feb 2018 What Christian Counselors Believe, Value, and Practice Part I: Beliefs I once asked a conservative evangelical Christian Chaplain how he handled counseling when he was pretty sure a dying patient was not a Christian and, according to his tradition, would soon spend eternity in hell. He sincerely said he would have to think about that question. A female health care provider told me she switched jobs so she could work with children rather than seniors, because she believed that, unlike the elderly, children would go to heaven if they died. In this case, her Christian beliefs appeared to have a cause -effect influence on her career. Counselors normally focus on the needs of clients and help clients find solutions in a supportive setting. Theoretically, rapport ought to be enhanced when counselors and clients share common values and beliefs.  Why ask what Christian Counselors Believe? The primary reason ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Doom and Gloom and Bad Actors

  Sculpture at Terazin  2024 “Those Who Do Not Learn History Are Doomed To Repeat It.” George Santayana ***** A great quantity of information in the form of text, photographs, statues, films, drawings, and paintings portray and honour the lives of those who were victims of the Nazi’s murderous plan. The concentration camps do concentrate one’s focus on a particular era of terror. The evidence from the past 80 years suggests Santayana was right and wrong. In a sense, his statement was too general to be contradicted. For example, the specific conditions that generated and maintained the Nazi system of mass murder are unlikely to be replicated; however, some timeless characteristics of human nature persist. ***** I’m a psychologist and not a historian yet, I come away from recent visits to several Nazi terror sites with some impressions. 1. Religion supports dictators. Horrible leaders often have an amiable relationship with the larger religious groups who fail to dissuade th...
Post a Comment
Read more