“F” is for Fundamentalists. The designation “fundamentalists” is an umbrella term that takes in many theologically conservative, evangelical Protestants from several denominations and independent congregations. As a movement, fundamentalism emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a reaction to “modernist” currents that embraced historical-critical methods of studying the Bible. In time fundamentalism came to represent a belief system that stressed a literal interpretation of the Scriptures. In South Carolina in the 1920s some individuals who embraced fundamentalism began to plant their message across denominational lines when they started schools and Bible colleges. For example, Columbia Bible College [now Columbia International University] president Robert McQuilkin, although a Presbyterian by affiliation, was a committed fundamentalist. The strength of fundamentalism in South Carolina remains the hundreds of independent congregations, many using the designation Baptist or some variation of Gospel Fellowship in their names.
Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.