Abstract:

The historical narrative of American ecumenism’s origins in the early twentieth century has not been revisited for generations. When future scholars revisit it, they should study the period for the sake of supporting the future work of ecumenism. Part of this work is the expansion of ecumenical bodies to include churches not currently engaged. I propose that the early pamphlet series, The Fundamentals, offers a good place to start. The pamphlets predate modernist schisms and do not reflect the sectarian posture of later groups. Editors of the text appealed to a broad Christian identity among American Protestants to promote cooperation in society. The included essays espouse a common confession while allowing for divergences on numerous doctrinal issues. Though many contributing authors would later become Fundamentalist leaders, others are remembered for their work to unite churches. The text is a product of the same unitive impulses that gave rise to ecumenical structures. I revisit the historical narrative of American ecumenism to discern how The Fundamentals offers insight into the doctrinal discourse of the period among churches, and I argue that the exclusion of the text from ecumenical historiography thus far reveals a modernist bias in American ecumenism.

摘要：

美国普世主义起源于 20 世纪早期的历史叙述几代人都没有被重新审视。未来的学者重访时，应该研究那个时期，以支持未来的普世主义工作。这项工作的一部分是扩大普世教会团体，以包括目前未参与的教会。我建议早期的小册子系列《基本原理》提供了一个很好的起点。这些小册子早于现代主义分裂，并没有反映后来群体的宗派立场。文本的编辑呼吁美国新教徒具有广泛的基督教身份，以促进社会合作。所包含的文章支持共同的忏悔，同时允许在许多教义问题上存在分歧。尽管许多投稿作者后来成为原教旨主义领袖，其他人因团结教会的工作而被人们铭记。文本是产生普世主义结构的相同统一冲动的产物。我重新审视美国普世主义的历史叙述，以了解《基本原则》如何提供对教会时期教义话语的洞察力，并且我认为迄今为止将文本排除在普世主义史学之外揭示了美国普世主义的现代主义偏见。