Evangelicalism versus Fundamentalism

Written by Robin Marie in Educational at February 2, 2011

Last evening fellow blogger Samuel Won and I were talking about the distinction between evangelicals and fundamentalists, which we were a bit unclear about. After looking through some articles and recalling my own understanding, the basic - but by no means complete - understanding I have come to is this:

Evangelicals, while usually believing in the inerrancy of the Bible, are more likely to be willing to interpret that “truth” metaphorically. Even if they do have a literal interpretation of the Bible, they focus less on the importance of believing it literately and more on one’s personal relationship with Jesus. It is from evangelicalism that we get the concept of being “born again.” Spreading the gospel is also of great importance. Evangelicalism as we usually use the word today dates from the early eighteenth century, getting its first huge boost from the First Great Awakening and yet another shot in the arm in the Second Great Awakening. While evangelicals are usually conservative in their politics, there are plenty of liberal evangelicals out there.

Fundamentalism arose out of evangelicalism in the early twentieth century, and was a reaction against the more liberalizing trends of theology - in and out of evangelicalism. The most notable example of early fundamentalism in action is the Scopes Trial of 1925. Fundamentalists always believe in the literal inerrancy of the Bible, and while they also focus on the importance of having a personal relationship with Jesus, they also tend to focus a lot on the enemies of fundamentalism. The fundamentalist viewpoint focuses less on the compassion of Jesus and more on the very real presence of evil in the world. Unlike evangelicals, fundamentalists are nearly always conservative politically.

That is my summary - how would you add to or modify it?