The name comes from The Fundamentals, a series of twelve booklets defending traditional Christian teachings. These were published from 1910 to 1915 and sent free to thousands of pastors and theology students.
They were a response to new findings in science and social thought that seems to make Christianity outdated. Some church leaders were willing to accept new ideas (such as evolution), while others resisted, leading to a modernist-fundamentalist split in many churches.
The authors of The Fundamentals defended such teachings as Jesus’ miracles, His virgin birth, His resurrection from the dead, and the historical reliability of the Bible.
The name fundamentalists has come to apply to people who take a conservative approach to the Bible and morality.
Curiously, some of the original authors of The Fundamentals were open to the possibility that evolution might be true.
Today, fundamentalists get bad press, but they are a powerful social and political force.
There is a line (a thin one, some would say) between fundamentalists and those who call themselves evangelicals (see 337).
