What does this mean?
a) Please don’t judge us by our associations.
b) He wasn’t like the rest of them, you know . . .
c) This fundamentalist wasn’t your average fundamentalist except in remaining a fundamentalist. The great thing about fundamentalism is that you have fundamentalists who aren’t like the rest but remain there loyal to the idea which maintains in this world the standard of how we are to be pure in our associations.
d) All of the above, can we go to the Fun Fair now?
e) I don’t really believe fundamentalism ever existed except in the mind of J. Gresham Machen . . . or was it David Bowie?
__________________
Special thanks to my administrative assistant in NC.
Unknowing 
I choose f.
F for fundamentalist! I love it.
I do believe that there are some fundamentalists which provide us good examples of biblical fidelity and even wisdom. I mean, you are a fundamentalist; i.e., you are a result of fundamentalist culture, just as I am. And we would try to say we’re different, but, still, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. With every instance of a genus, there are particular species that fit the ideal better or worse than others.
And I don’t think Doran’s trying to justify “the movement”, since he doesn’t even think there is a fundamentalist movement anymore.
On a more serious note, I’m not sure what the connection is with David Bowie, but I’m sure glad you brought him into the conversation.
And finally, a completely random observation: D. G. Hart argues that Machen was in no way a fundamentalist, and takes pains to portray him as a defender of Reformed theology.
So basically, Hart’s saying that the difference between fundamentalism and Machen was that Machen took confessionalism seriously? Ok, I’ll buy that.
No, clearly he’s not trying to justify the movement. I would say he’s trying to distance himself from it. That was my point. My question is, what do you have left?
Most Christians have three enemies: the world, the flesh and the devil. We also have fundamentalist culture, and it is true that rolling away from that old tree is difficult. But we have to just like a first century pagan has to move away from his, however little—we do not expect medieval cathedrals from the primitive church. No doubt I am in many ways a fundamentalist, but I want to be one less. And that’s my point: fundamentalism doesn’t matter.
Did Fundamentalism ever matter? If so, how?
Is that the “Bill Rice Ranch” guy, or am I confusing the two. The Bill Rice Ranch guy struck me as hokey, even when I was seeking to be more fundamentalistic in high school.
Different guy. Not even a distant relative, I’m told.