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Fundamentalism and the Word of God

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JI Packer wrote this book over 45 years ago. Some of the issues he addresses are not issues today. But the premise behind the book is timeless- the authority of the Word of God. Even though liberalism may not be as strong as it was 50 years ago, today Christendom is wandering farther and farther away from the authority of God?s Word. This fact can be seen in the growth of cults. It can also be seen in how Christians today depend on human authors instead of God?s Word. Yet another manifestation of this wrong notion is the branch of Christianity that replaces God?s Word with emotion and feelings. So though the issue of Liberalism may not be significant today, the issue of authority definitely is.

I read the book for a class on ?The History of Fundamentalism in America?. The book does not really trace the history of Fundamentalism, but the book does cover the central issue in the Fundamentalism/Liberalism debate. Before reading the book, I would suggest reading the first two pages of the conclusion, where the author gives an overview of the entire book. The book is very logically laid out, with each chapter subject building on top of the last chapter subject. The only chapter I had problems with was the chapter on faith. The author tries to explain man?s inability to express faith, showing the author?s reformed presuppositions. I didn?t understand how this tied into the argument and flow of the book, and I think the notion is unbiblical (but this is a discussion for a different book review). The main argument of the book was one of presuppositions (as found in presuppositional apologetics). On page 109 the author writes, ?We should not abandon faith in anything that God has taught us merely because we cannot solve all the problems which it raises. Our own intellectual competence is not the test and measure of divine truth. It is not for us to stop believing because we lack understanding, or to postpone believing till we can get understanding, but to believe in order that we may understand?? This is the core issue of authority- are we going to trust our own minds, or are we going to trust God?s Word?

I would recommend the book to any Christian. The book will challenge you to take on a stronger stance for the Word of God, and it will show the foolishness of doing otherwise.

Solid, dependable but dated exposition of the original Fundamentalist position (ala Machen) before the term got stolen and mis-apportioned to a more narrow sect within the Christian community. Packer clearly states that the term is not "useful for Evangelicals today" (1958) and he was and is right. The book is well worth reading, along with Machen's "Christianity and Liberalism" for a strong sense of the basic challenges orthodox, Evangelical Christians face. In the post-modern era those basic challenges are still present though now characterized in different dress. As Packer says (pg. 42)- "The problem of authority is the most fundamental problem that the Christian Church ever faces." Absolutely true and now as much as ever. Packer's work has abiding interest for anyone seeking to establish themselves within the flow of Christian apologetics and self-understanding.

'Human opinion may not compete with divine revelation.' Charles Spurgeon
in 'The Scales of Judgment'

The author wrote this book, and later distanced himself from these sectarian views. I personally hold fast to much he delivers in this brief. It was his first publication and caused quiet a stir.

Fundamentalists are attacked for exactly their uncompromising stance on God's Word having its origin as divinely inspired, and its authoritative nature, whereby all that is good for life and faith is to be received from God's standard in the explicit word of God.

Many Christians who distance themselves from Fundamentalists, yet defend the authority of Scripture, are actually standing in one accord with Evangelicalism, a more 'user-friendly' variation thereof.

This book is outdated, yet their are timeless truths to the Fundamentalist cause that are fair in its presentation.

There's not much that J. I. Packer writes that isn't worth taking the time to read. His arguments are sound and well-written, and his thinking bears emulation. His works on reformed thinking and evangelism are seminal.

This particular work is focused specifically on so-called fundamentalist thinking and the evangelical position on Scripture. It's well-written, and his chapter on Authority in particular is spectacular.

However, the book is largely contextual, set against the emergence of "anti-fundamentalism thought" in Britain in the 40s and 50s. This makes much of the argument in the book dated, and if you're not familiar with thought in the mid-20th century, or at a minimum, the issues surrounding conservative and liberal positions regarding the authority and inspiration of Scripture, it's easy to get lost.

Still, this is a good work, again, worth the price for the writing on authority and Scripture's view of itself.

There are certain books that have a very short shelf-life, either because they're highly topical or they make pop-culture references that no one will get in 15 minutes.

This is not one of those books.

"Fundamentalism" and the Word of God was first published 51 years in the midst of the British "Fundamentalism" controversy of the 1950s--a controversy centering around the authority of Scripture.

At roughly the mid-point of the 20th century, Theological Liberalism gave way to the "Biblical Theology" movement. Rather than completely shuffling off historic faith, "biblical theologians" sought to get to the heart of what the authors intended; to "read the Bible from within," as it were. A noble goal to be sure.

However, their approach was to study the Bible as an unbeliever so as not to presuppose certain assumptions regarding faith, including disregarding the Bible's internal witness as the divine revelation of God. The result was that essentially everything was up for grabs.

The validity of the virgin birth, the resurrection, Christ's divinity, the nature and necessity of the atonement, the Bible's divine inspiration... Any and all were up for consideration in the name of "biblical criticism."

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

This book could have just as easily been written in 2009 as in 1958. Today, just as then (and indeed throughout history), there has always been movements that desire to have authority over Scripture (either in the name of Tradition or Subjectivism), rather than come under its authority.

To take the Bible at its word as the infallible, inerrant (meaning "wholly true and trustworthy") Word of God--inspired by the Holy Spirit and written by men, with the purity of His words maintained by His providential rule, is seen as outmoded, backwater thinking by many today, even some professing Christians.

In "Fundamentalism" and the Word of God, J. I. Packer offers rebuttal and sharp rebuke to those who would unwisely seek to sit in judgement of Scripture. Rarely mincing words, Packer is blunt, direct and powerful in his arguments, as he provides readers with a foundational understanding of the doctrine of Scripture as found within its own pages. Perhaps the most powerful words in the book are in response to the criticism that conservative Evangelicals (the so-called "fundamentalists) demand that people stop thinking the moment they become Christians; that faith trumps reason. Packer writes:

"The true antithesis here...is not between faith and reason (as if believing and thinking were mutually exclusive), but between a faithful and a faithless use of reason. The question is not whether we should think, but how we should think; whether or not our thinking should be controlled by our faith. The real difference between Evangelicals and those how call them obscurantists lies in the realm of method... Our critics say that the way in which we deal with the Bible is fundamentally dishonest. We reply that the way in which they deal with the Bible is fundamentally un-Christian" (p. 140).

He continues:

"Should the principles governing our study of Scripture be drawn from Scripture itself, or not?...[Those] who acknowledge the authority of Christ as a Teacher in other matters, ought equally to acknowledge it in their approach to the Bible; they should receive Scripture as He did, accepting its claim to be divinely inspired and true and studying it as such. Those who pooh-pooh such an approach as obscurantist, unscientific and intellectually dishonest, should remember that they hereby stigmatize Jesus Christ, who taught His disciples this approach and thereby excluded any other" (p. 141).

Packer rightly argues that the call is not to stop thinking, but to stop thinking sinfully. What the arguments against biblical authority are really calling for is bad Christianity fueled on nothing but the pride that seeks to make man the measure of all things. "Liberalism declares in effect that Christ was wrong, and labours to correct Him... [and] subjectivism, which makes human judgement the arbiter of divine truth, is just an expression of this pride" (p. 161).

"Fundamentalism" and the Word of God is a powerful work and one of the few that is truly timeless. Packer's passion and theological prowess are on full display as he contends for truth and exposes the errors lying behind the perennial problem of subjectivism. It's not light reading, obviously, but it is essential reading.

J I Packer is blessed with the ability to write concisely and clearly about the ideas he wishes to express but he is not blessed with an accurate understanding of non-evangelical views on sola scriptura. And although he is aware that the pivotal issue at stake for evangelicalism is "Authority" he seems to be unaware that Protestantism prior to the 19th century did not express its confidence in scripture in the same way nor with the same meaning as a modern British or American evangelical would.

Mr Packer's analysis is not especially bad but it is nevertheless seriously lacking in historical perspective, furthermore he does not seem to be aware that one source of criticism of the kind of fundamentalism that he is defending comes from the Catholic and Orthodox Churches where authority is seen from significantly different perspective from the one that Mr Packer takes himself. These shortcomings seriously limit the value of his analysis of fundamentalism in relation to scripture as presented in this book.

Traditional Protestantism expressed in the writings of the early Protestant leaders regarded scripture as the sole infallible rule of faith and life for Christians but scripture was not regarded as an inerrant source of information on every topic that is mentioned in the sacred page. Fundamentalism as expressed in the writings of men like B. B. Warfield, J Gresham Machen, Edward J Young expresses confidence in scripture as both the only infallible rule of faith and life for Christians and also as an inerrant source of revealed truth on every topic about which the sacred page expresses itself. Adding inerrancy* to infallibility* is a significant extension of the traditional Protestant view of the authority scripture and it is a very significant departure from the traditional Christian view of the authority scripture as expressed by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

J I Packer's analysis ignores the two changes mentioned in the previous paragraph and because he ignores these significant changes (and they were both present and clearly visible when his book was first published in 1958) one cannot avoid concluding that he has failed to offer an adequate defence of evangelicalism.

[* Note: Infallibility and Inerrancy have quite different meanings within evangelicalism and within Catholicism, this is evident from the statement of Catholic belief expressed in Dei Verbum - the Dogmatic Constitution on Scripture from Vatican II]