Understanding Fundamentalism

by: Graham Cray, interview, reprinted by permission The Door, May/June 1994

"Fundamentalism is a reaction against the modern world rather than a commitment to the Bible. It is a kind of retrenchment, going back into a shell, talking only to people like themselves, naming the enemy. What happens with fundamentalism is an almost total rejection of the present culture - the creation of a counterculture, really, which tries to pretend it's pure from Scripture, but doesn't read Scripture intelligently . As a result, the Bible becomes a magic book of proof-texts, read irrespective of its historical context."