1. In Lesson 8, two signature publications are discussed - The Fundamentals, and the Scofield Reference Bible.

How were these important in the development of fundamentalism? The Fundamentals and the Scofield Reference Bible were two uniquely separate but formal Theological publications that were instrumental in helping to unite and drive the onset of the Fundamentalist movement in Protestant Christianity. The summary below provides a high level view of how each publication played a separate and distinctive role in the rise and historical development of Fundamentalism. The first publication, the Fundamentals was a series of twelve pamphlets each containing about 125 pages composed from 90 articles that were written by 64 conservative and orthodox writers. Individual volumes were distributed to twenty-one English speaking countries at no cost to more than three million clergymen, theologians, Protestant Pastors, seminary students, Sunday School Superintendents, and other Protestant Christians associated with a host of missionaries, Theological Colleges, Christian Associations, and evangelism from 1910 to 1915. The pamphlets set forth the great theological issues of the day from a conservative and Fundamentalist standpoint. Two lawyers from Los Angeles, Lyman Stewart, and his brother Milton, paid around $300,000 for the publication and distribution of the pamphlets. 1 Marsden reports, In the Fundamentals the movements interest were focused on a broad defense of the faith. 2 An overwhelming emphasis on soul saving, personal experience, and individual prayer, with very little attention to specific ethical issues, either personal or social. Political causes even prohibition were studiously avoided.3 The distribution of the Fundamentals marks, according to many, the beginning of the modern Fundamentalist movement. This is because the Fundamentals united the conservative with the Fundamentalist ideals, and brought together people of two mindsets. 4 The second publication, the Scofield Reference Bible was first published in 1909 by Oxford University Press. A second edition was published in 1919, and a third in 1966. It is the King James version of the Bible, containing special annotations by Cyrus I. Scofield. Scofield was a Congregational clergyman from Dallas. Scofield's references reflect dispensational pre-millenarianism and his firm belief in the inerrancy of the Bible. Today the Scofield Reference Bible is the single most popular Bible used by Fundamentalists. The Scofield Reference Bible was a signature driving force in the clear unification of the Fundamentalists. Since every person used the same Bible, Fundamentalists could identify as a group. In the past, prior to the availability of the 1909 Scofield Reference Bible, the tendency towards unification and organized Fundamentalist doctrine was weak and floundering. In the early 20th century, the Scofield Reference Bible became the second major publication, strengthening and equipping the early Fundamentalist movement. It is the
Dr. Griffin Jones, CHHI 686: History of Fundamentalism, Lesson 7, Liberty University School of Religion, 45 minutes, 2009, DVD. 2 George M. Marsden. Fundamentalism and American Culture. (NY: Oxford University Press, 2006), 119. 3 Ibid., 119. 4 Dr. Griffin Jones, CHHI 686: History of Fundamentalism, Lesson 7, Liberty University School of Religion, 45 minutes, 2009, DVD.
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opinion of some that the Scofield Bible is the most important document in Fundamentalist history. 5 Consequently, the Fundamentals and the Scofield Reference Bible were two publications organized to represent the foundational truths of Fundamentalism. The publications provided a distinctive identity and theological front against Liberalism. Both the Fundamentals and the Scofield Reference Bible can be contributed as being a blessed outcome of the Niagara and Sea Cliff Bible Conferences. The publications provided a solid frame of reference for understanding the Fundamentalist movement and beliefs. They were purposely broad in their scope, ecumenical in their editors and writers, and they enjoyed widespread circulation and practical application of Fundamentalist teachings while unifying conservative and fundamentalist thinking into close agreement, while serving to bring together a mixed bag of religious denominations with varying mindsets into a tight coalition that would stand together to fight the foes of their faith - Theological Liberalism, rationalism, the evolutionary process of creation, and higher criticism.

Dr. Griffin Jones, CHHI 686: History of Fundamentalism, Lesson 8, Liberty University School of Religion, 45 minutes, 2009, DVD.