Christian fundamentalism as we know it in the US emerged in the late nineteenth century from two major thematic currents: a "literalist" reading of the Christian Bible and an elaborate End Times scenario (the Second Coming of Christ) articulated by an Anglo-Irish writer, John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) who was part of a sect called the Plymouth Brethren and later the head of groups that was a split-off of it, called the Exclusive Brethren.
During the last 50 years, End Times "eschatological" thinking has become widely familiar and popular among conservative American Protestants, from the interpretative text of commentators like Hal Lindsey and popular fiction like the Left Behind book series and its spin-offs.
As Fenster explains, the fundamentalist eschatology is a theory of history determined in the long run by God. But though the final outcome is determined, the path to that finale is filled with complicated struggles of the forces of evil headed by Satan, who engage in massive malicious schemes full of deception, manipulations and conspiracies against God's people.
Yet there is a strongly contradictory aspect in how believers incorporate this End Times viewpoint into their world outlooks. On the one hand, the course of history has been set by God and cannot be changed. On the other, Protestant fundamentalism stresses the importance of individual choice and agency in the "saved" believers relationship to God. The individual must choose to "accept Jesus as personal Lord and Savior," to use a common formula and is also expected to actively support church activities and proselytization efforts.
The interpretation of End Times prophecies treats Scripture as authoritative and a source of certainty. But it is also a obligation for the believers to try to understand the cryptic message in the Bible about the End Times and to make that process part of their lives in the faith community. And to see it as a part of the divine mission of the Christians to convert the nonbelievers.
Fenster writes that the fundamentalist narrative operates in what he calls "the space between the individual events reported in it (whether they are biblical, 'real,” or 'fictional') and the larger structure of the Christian eschatological narrative as it currently survives."
Such a narrative "attempts to provide a form of resolution and closure between the natural and the supernatural."
If someone is accustomed to reading the events of the day as encrypted messages that can be deciphered as part of a divine plan that leads to a (probably imminent) radical, worldwide transformation, it's not hard to see how they might find conspiracist accounts explaining a worldwide pandemic, dramatic disasters, or wars particularly attractive.
The interpretation of End Times prophecies treats Scripture as authoritative and a source of certainty. But it is also a obligation for the believers to try to understand the cryptic message in the Bible about the End Times and to make that process part of their lives in the faith community. And to see it as a part of the divine mission of the Christians to convert the nonbelievers.
Fenster writes that the fundamentalist narrative operates in what he calls "the space between the individual events reported in it (whether they are biblical, 'real,” or 'fictional') and the larger structure of the Christian eschatological narrative as it currently survives."
Such a narrative "attempts to provide a form of resolution and closure between the natural and the supernatural."
The successful reader/viewer who moves between these realms comprehends and accepts both the information represented by these accounts of discrete historical events and the larger narrative at work in them. The ongoing framing and reframing of present and historical events within the larger narrative demonstrate the intense will to know that characterizes eschatology [End Times thought], a continuing quest for transparency and sharply defined images and information. The Bible provides a combined timetable, map, and script; the annals of human history and current events are a shifting and mobile text; and the practice of popular eschatology is an ongoing attempt to match the latter with the former in order to know the coming future.In the context of the like-minded Christian community, engaging with popular End Times theories can be satisfying and inspiring. It allows the individual to reaffirm the power of a God who controls all of history for the ultimate benefit of his people while also offering "inside information" on current events in the context of a proselytizing mission in which individual action does matter and can be effective in influencing others to become part of that community.
If someone is accustomed to reading the events of the day as encrypted messages that can be deciphered as part of a divine plan that leads to a (probably imminent) radical, worldwide transformation, it's not hard to see how they might find conspiracist accounts explaining a worldwide pandemic, dramatic disasters, or wars particularly attractive.
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