On Monday 2004-02-16 18:10, Dan Minette wrote: > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "iaamoac" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Monday, February 16, 2004 4:05 PM > Subject: Re: Definition of a Christian Fundamentalist > > > --- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], "Dan Minette" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > wrote: > > > I'm going to be doing some analysis using numbers, but I want to be > > > > sure > > > > > that there isn't an arguement on what a Christian fundamentalist > > > > is. I'd > > > > > say that a Christian fundamentalist is one who, when asked: > > > > > > Which of these statements comes closest to describing your feelings > > > > about > > > > > the Bible? The Bible is the > > > > Word of > > > > > God but not everything in it should be taken literally. OR, The > > > > Bible is a > > > > > book written by men and is not the Word of God." > > > > > > > > > would give the first answer. Does that sound reasonable? > > > > I would generally only consider a Christian fundamentalist to be a > > Biblical Literalist. > > Maybe I wasn't clear. There are three choices: > > > 1) The Bible is the actual Word of God. > > 2) The Bible is the Word of God but not everything in it should be taken > literally. > > 3) The Bible is a book written by men and is not the Word of God." > > The first is a literalist interpretation. The numbers for those who say > the world was created in 6, count 'em, 6 days are about 50% higher than > this number. > > > Most Catholics would choose the first statement. > > Why not the second? How can you not be a literalist and pick one over two? > > Dan M.
One could pick one over two and not be a literalist if one were a believer in a verison of inerrancy. You need more options. Except for an historically rooted definiton, any definiton of "fundamentalist" is arbitrary. It *IS* valid to equate literalism with fundamentalism. But you just create another problem. There are flavors and grades of literalism. You need to be more specific about what constitutes that literalism that you will gloss as "fundamentalist". _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
