Why I’m Still Here

Excerpt:

“I’m not a fundamentalist because I think we’re the only ones who really believe the fundamentals. As for defending and promoting those fundamentals, I’d say we’re actually quite far behind some other Christian groups—the groups whose books and articles I read every day in the absence of much serious written output from my own tribe. This absence is one of the negatives I’ve experienced in fundamentalism. Empirically speaking, we are not the dynamic source of Christian books, articles, podcasts, magazines, journals, and websites that our brothers and sisters in Christ at, say, Crossway Books are. I’m sorry, but FrontLine is a misnomer for us right now: we’re not fighting any wars except the civil kind. We have a weak Internet voice that almost never reaches escape velocity from our own echo chamber.”

Kudos though to Frontline for publishing something unflattering like this.

Thanks, Mark, for that article. I feel like I’m basically where you are and why, although I’d probably add guarding the gospel or separation as a fifth value. I guess I’m not all that young anymore and outside the demographic of concern but I am certainly thankful for the sliver of fundamentalism that I view as my heritage.

This is a good article. Many thanks!

….for the same reason, really. That is, there are times where I cannot honor “fathers and mothers” in the church—forefathers in the fundamental movement—simultaneously while honoring Scripture. To use a picture the author used, I cannot exclude modern music forms from church services to “honor fathers and mothers” without simultaneously ignoring the clear implications of Psalms 149 and 150. I’m no CCM fan, but if there were percussive instruments and dancing in Temple festivities, maybe that’s God’s hint that we need to loosen up a bit, get a crowbar, and pull the nails that are holding our feet to the floor.

And in another way, he stumbles around a huge issue in our circles, and to another way in broader evangelicalism; when we talk of “standards” without clearly invoking Scripture, noting the “consequences” of not doing so, we really fall into the same errors as the church based on the Tiber. For my part, I am glad that the principles of Sola Scriptura (the real first fundamental in my book, it’s the same as inerrancy of Scripture) give us the tools to honor our forefathers in the faith by refusing to repeat their mistakes.

I’ve read this repeatedly and it makes me hopeful. The section cited by Larry Nelson above made me spit my coffee.

Excerpt:

“I’m not a fundamentalist because I think we’re the only ones who really believe the fundamentals. As for defending and promoting those fundamentals, I’d say we’re actually quite far behind some other Christian groups—the groups whose books and articles I read every day in the absence of much serious written output from my own tribe. This absence is one of the negatives I’ve experienced in fundamentalism. Empirically speaking, we are not the dynamic source of Christian books, articles, podcasts, magazines, journals, and websites that our brothers and sisters in Christ at, say, Crossway Books are. I’m sorry, but FrontLine is a misnomer for us right now: we’re not fighting any wars except the civil kind. We have a weak Internet voice that almost never reaches escape velocity from our own echo chamber.”

It was truthful and bold. I really pray that it won’t be ignored. (BTW, if Mark disappears in the near future we need to start an investigation. : )

Ron, I agree with your assessment. There are several reasons that, “Empirically speaking, [fundamentalists] are not the dynamic source of Christian books, articles, podcasts, magazines, journals, and websites that our brothers and sisters in Christ at, say, Crossway Books are.”

1. (Most?) fundamentalists are dispensationalists. Dispensationalists don’t get air time.
2. (Most?) fundamentalists don’t attend evangelical seminaries and pursue advanced theological degrees from non-fundamentalist seminaries (we’ll leave the reason this occurs alone for now). Even Naselli had to get another Ph.D. from TEDS to get any respect from evangelicals.
3. (Many?) fundamentalists are still fighting about Steve Green, beverage alcohol, and the KJV. The broader conservative evangelical community doesn’t want to touch these people with a 10-foot pole let alone publish their books.
4. When fundamentalists are published in conservative evangelical sources, they are often accused of compromise or violating various levels of separation.

I graduated from the seminary at BJU. I was blessed to have sat under men who had advanced degrees from places like Union Theological Seminary and other non-fundamental but academically rigorous institutions. Many of them shared the challenges they faced in such atmospheres as they emerged equipped and unscathed. I know there are people who attended liberal schools and walked away from their professions but my theology inclines me to think that their faith was not genuine to begin with.

Ron Bean wrote:

It was truthful and bold. I really pray that it won’t be ignored. (BTW, if Mark disappears in the near future we need to start an investigation. : )

If Mark Ward disappears under mysterious circumstances, I volunteer to investigate his disappearance. I’m just down the road, in Olympia.

Publishing is probably not a possibility. Getting a book really published, especially in the major publishing houses, is a practical impossibility for a fundamentalist. We all know that. At least I hope we do.

As for blogs, that is a good question. Where are the 30-40 year old BJU/Central/Etc PhD grads? What are they writing? The thing is, the evangelicals, backed by a decent amount of money from MacArthur, Piper, Dever, etc. have academically trained theologians who only write. They don’t pastor. So, my question is, where are the BJU trained scholars?

Mard Ward is has a PhD from BJU, and works at Logos. Andy Naselli has a PhD from BJU (and TEDS) and works at Bethlehem Seminary in Minneapolis. Kevin Bauder has a DMin and PhD and he writes, and is at Central. By and large:

1. I don’t think fundamentalists write as much, and
2. What they do write often flies under the radar because Baptist fundamentalism is basically a non-entity in the broader conservative Christian world.

I think more fundamentalists need to write, but I’m not sure what publishing opportunities are available. Fundamentalists are usually restricted to blogs. The books some do publish are usually dealing with issues central to Baptist fundamentalism (e.g. One Bible Only), but irrelevant to the larger conservative Christian conversation. I’ve seen:

• No attempt to engage the current culture wars (e.g. transgenderism, homosexuality) on a Biblical basis (beyond blogs)
• Few attempts to write biblical commentaries, beyond the prophetic books
• Few attempts to engage current theological issues (e.g. NPP). Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary does have an active theological journal, but they are an exception. I don’t believe Central has one. Maranatha has one, but they’re very busy right now.

I don’t believe there are enough trained Baptist fundamentalists to do this work, and those who are trained are already very, very, very, very, very busy.

has tied himself to D. A. Carson, and now Piper. To me, his experience at BJU is now irrelevant to him. I could be wrong. That is my impression.