What Is Fundamentalism?

Fundamentalism is a late 19th-20th century Protestant movement. It was a reaction against the assault of rationalist criticism initially launched by German scholars whose intent was to undermine the Christian belief in the inerrancy of the Bible. Some Protestant denominations sought refuge in a semantic literalism that appeared to shelter the Bible from this onslaught from agnostic scholars. The simplicity and apparent clarity of this approach has recently appealed to many Catholics, who had almost no understanding of the biblical basis of Catholic beliefs. They were seeking order amid the doctrinal and moral chaos of heterodox theologians bent on deconstructing the Christian faith. In many areas of the U.S. the two largest denominations are Catholics and ex-Catholics!