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

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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