Book Reviews
“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed.” Francis Bacon (d. 1626)
Fed Up With Fundamentalism: A Historical, Theological, and Personal Appraisal of Christian Fundamentalism
Leroy Seat, Liberty, MO: 4-L Publications, 2007, $19.
Reviewed by W. Clyde Tilley, Seymour, TN
If you are fed up with fundamentalism, you may, in the worst case scenario, end up losing your faith, as indeed many have done. Or you may be able to salvage your faith by moving beyond fundamentalism. In fact, Dr. Leroy Seat writes his book with the avowed purpose of helping the reader move beyond fundamentalism.
The Christian fundamentalist movement spans the twentieth century. Early in the 1900s, fundamentalism arose to challenge Darwinism, biblical criticism, and the social gospel. Seat’s historical treatment carries it all the way to the “conservative resurgence” in the Southern Baptist Convention. Beginning as a seemingly sincere movement in the early century, it became increasingly militant as the century wore on.
Christian fundamentalism has several appeals: religious, psychological, and political. They include simplicity, the pride factor, and the fear factor. But it also has several problems such as arrogance, intolerance, and obscurantism.
To explain why he is fed up with fundamentalism, Seat treats several areas where abuse has resulted. These include its treatment of the Bible, its attitude toward religious freedom, war, women, homosexuality, abortion, and capital punishment.
Dr. Seat spent thirty-eight years as a missionary to Japan serving at SeinanGakuinUniversity in FukuokaCity. The final eight years he spent as Chancellor of this institution with more than 10,000 students. The book is well-researched and documented, and it is very readable.
To order a book, you may send an e-mail to 4-LPublications@4-L.org or order on-line from http://llumina.com/store/fedupwithfundamentalism.htm.
