Fundamentalism

Definition and Meaning

Fundamentalism (Korean geunbonjuui) is both a conservative theological movement and the position it represents. It seeks to defend the "fundamentals" of the Christian faith, that is, its foundational core doctrines. It arose in early twentieth-century American Protestantism in opposition to liberal theology. Five doctrines are commonly cited as its core:

• Biblical inerrancy: the belief that Scripture is without error
• The virgin birth
• Substitutionary atonement: the understanding that Christ bore punishment in the place of sinners
• The bodily resurrection
• The historicity of miracles

Today the term is also used broadly for hard-line factions in other religions, so its meaning varies with context.

Historical Background

• In 1910 the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (the northern Presbyterian church) affirmed the five doctrines above as essential. From that year through 1915, a series of booklets titled The Fundamentals was published, and the movement took its name from this series.
• In the 1920s the so-called Fundamentalist–Modernist Controversy unfolded within American denominations. The 1925 Scopes Trial, which centered on the teaching of evolution, is its best-known episode (see Creation and Evolution).
• Fundamentalism was often combined with dispensationalist eschatology. From the 1940s onward, an evangelical current that emphasized social engagement and dialogue parted ways with fundamentalist separatism (the practice of breaking ties with churches that hold different doctrines). Since then the two terms have been distinguished.

In the Korean Church

Many of the early missionaries to Korea held conservative theological views, and Korean Presbyterianism emphasized biblical inerrancy from early on. From the 1930s onward, Park Hyung-nong defended fundamentalism as the safeguarding of orthodox faith, whereas Kim Chai-choon accepted the historical-critical study of the Bible. This conflict was a major cause of the 1953 breakaway of the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea. The issue was also entangled in the WCC controversy surrounding the 1959 split between the Tonghap and Hapdong factions (see Schisms in Korean Presbyterianism).

Denominations differ in how they regard the term.

• Conservative Presbyterian denominations such as the Presbyterian Church in Korea (Hapdong), the Presbyterian Church in Korea (Kosin), and the Presbyterian Church in Korea (Hapshin) emphasize biblical inerrancy and the core doctrines. They generally describe themselves, however, as "Reformed" or as holding a "conservative faith" rather than as "fundamentalist."
• Within member denominations of the National Council of Churches in Korea, such as the Presbyterian Church of Korea (Tonghap), the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea, and the Korean Methodist Church, criticism of fundamentalism as biblical literalism or exclusivism is comparatively more common.

In Korea, "fundamentalism" is frequently a label applied by critics and is rarely adopted as a self-designation by those it describes. Supporters regard it as an attitude that preserves the purity of the faith, while critics point to anti-intellectualism and exclusivism toward other denominations and other religions.