FUNDAMENTALISM95criticized by separatist fundamentalists
for their compromising cooperation with
others.
The doctrine of inerrancy was the
hallmark of fundamentalism, and has
remained the hallmark of many post-
fundamentalist evangelicals within the
Anglo-Saxon world, though not without
dispute. This doctrine teaches that the
Bible in its original manuscripts con-
tained no errors, and that any errors we
may find in our texts are errors of copy-
ing or translation, and have providentially
been kept to a minimum. Fundamental-
ists usually interpret inerrancy to mean
that the Bible contains no factual errors.
They arrive at inerrancy by means of their
doctrine of plenary verbal inspiration,
according to which God inspired the very
words of the Bible and kept them from
error.
The term “fundamentalism” has come
to refer to this distinctive stance, accord-
ing to which the Christian faith needs an
inerrant Bible as its foundation. When
used in this way, it can apply to people
outside of the historic fundamentalist
movement, and is also applied to people
across the world religions who hold sig-
nificantly similar views with respect to
their own faith.