Puritanism and fundamentalism

Puritanism stands as fundamentalism’s closest historical counterpart, sharing its commitment to central biblical doctrines, militant defense of those doctrines, and concern for holiness.[1] Both movements emerged as reform efforts within Christianity, though separated by centuries. Puritanism encompassed English Protestants from Elizabeth I through the Interregnum who embraced Reformed theology substantially, with this theological orientation providing both historical identity and distinctive features.[2] Fundamentalism, by contrast, developed as a conservative theological movement in opposition to modernism, emerging as a backlash against liberal Christianity in the nineteenth century.[3]

The movements differed fundamentally in their adversaries and strategies. Puritans sought to work out implications of Reformed theology within the English church and politically in the public square, desiring a “further reformation” of ecclesiastical structures and liturgy.[2] Fundamentalists, facing different threats, focused on preserving five central doctrines—virgin birth, deity of Christ, substitutionary atonement, second coming, and biblical inerrancy—while creating a firewall against secular anti-Christian movements embodied in evolution, biblical criticism, and the social gospel.[3]

Additionally, fundamentalism displays a distinctive apologetic character absent from Puritan concerns. Fundamentalism represents biblicistic militancy intent on uprooting apostasy within the church and countering secularism without.[4] It appeals to the same criteria as wider culture to bolster belief in supernatural revelation, with logical consistency and empirical verification prominent in fundamentalist apologetics.[4] The Puritans, working within a Christendom framework, pursued ecclesiastical and theological reform differently than fundamentalists responding to modern skepticism and scientific challenges to biblical authority.

[1] Gerald L. Priest, “Early Fundamentalism’s Legacy: What Is It and Will It Endure through the 21st Century?,” Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal Volume 9 (2004), 9:306–307.
[2] Frank A. James, “Peter Martyr Vermigli: Probing His Puritan Influence,” in The Practical Calvinist: An Introduction to the Presbyterian and Reformed Heritage, ed. Peter A. Lillback (Fearn, Ross-shire, UK: Christian Focus Publications, 2002), 152.
[3] George Thomas Kurian, in Nelson’s New Christian Dictionary: The Authoritative Resource on the Christian World (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2001). [See here, here.]
[4] Donald G. Bloesch, Holy Scripture: Revelation, Inspiration & Interpretation (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994), 94.