A. Fundamentalism
1. In 1912, a series of volumes were published under the title, The Fundamentals.
2. These volumes answered many of the claims that had been put forth by those who denied the authority and inerrancy of Scripture (liberals).
3. The Fundamentals consisted of 5 basic beliefs:
4. Those who agreed with The Fundamentals were called Fundamentalists.
5. Fundamentalists are also usually associated with a pre-millienial view of unfulfilled prophecy.
B. Scopes Monkey Trial
1. In 1925, John Scopes was put on trial for teaching evolution in the state of Tennessee.
2. Clarence Darrow (of the ACLU) defended Scopes, while William Jennings Bryan argued for the prosecution.
3. It was a show trial, and has since been used to discredit Christianity and promote evolution.
4. Scopes was found guilty and fined $100, but was it was never imposed due to a technicality.
5. A movie was later made (Inherit the Wind), that ridiculed the Christian belief of creation.
6. This was one of the most famous trials in American history.
C. J. Gresham Machen
1. Gresham Machen was a Presbyterian minister and professor at Princeton Theological Seminary in the 1920s.
2. He was a strong advocate of the Fundamentals and opposed the liberals in the Presbyterian church.
3. His most famous book, Christianity and Liberalism, argued that liberalism was a different religion than Christianity.
4. In 1935, he was kicked out of the Presbyterian church for refusing to support the liberals' agenda.
D. Dead Sea Scrolls
1. The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1946, when some young Bedouin shepherds discovered some clay pots in the caves around the Dead Sea.
2. These pots contained hundreds of different texts that date from the first century.
3. The scrolls were hidden by the Essenes, a Jewish group, that hid them from the Roman Army that was coming to destroy Jerusalem.
4. Among the scrolls were several copies of books from all the books of the Old Testament, except Esther, with Psalms and Deuteronomy having the most copies.
5. There are no significant differences between these books of the Old Testament and what we already have.
E. Francis Schaeffer
1. Francis Schaeffer was an American Presbyterian pastor who travelled to Europe as a missionary after World War II.
2. He began a ministry in Switzerland called L'abri, in which people from all over the world would come listen to him answer their questions about Christianity.
3. He eventually wrote many books based on these discussions about how Chrisitian ideas are reconciled with philosophy, art, and politics.
4. He was a strong believer in the inspiration of the Bible and fought against liberalism in the churches.
F. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
1. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was born in Wales in 1899 and lived until 1981.
2. He became a medical doctor in the early 1920s, but left medicine to become a preacher in 1927.
3. He became famous for preaching a straight-forward gospel without any frills or gimmicks.
4. His church added hundreds of members in the 1930s.
5. During World War II, he became the pastor of Westminster Chapel in London, where he became a very influential preacher.
6. He believed in the authority of Scripture and led the fight against ecumenism in the UK.
7. His sermons (both printed and recorded) continue to have a great influence.