Did you know one of the most influential figures in American fundamentalism was a con artist who ditched his family, did time in jail, and then got rich selling a study Bible?

In this episode, I get personal—sharing about my own years in Bible college and how I was shaped by a system built on shaky foundations. I expose the scandal behind the Scofield Study Bible, a book that quietly molded the curriculum of countless Christian colleges through its connection to C. I. Scofield. And I lay out five reasons why I’m deliberately trying not to be a fundamentalist anymore.

Show Notes:

Kansas gov website with reference to Scofield: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ks/history

Article with overview of Scofield: https://www.acton.org/religion-liberty/volume-35-number-2/ci-scofield-gods-self-made-man

Overview of influence of the Scofield Reference Bible: https://textandcanon.org/the-bestselling-reference-bible-that-remade-american-evangelicalism/

Academic thesis on Scofield: https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2571&context=etd

From the conclusion of the thesis: "This thesis reveals that C. I. Scofield’s claim to be a decorated Confederate hero, a successful lawyer, and a Bible scholar merely reflected a reputation he sought after his political and personal ruin in Atchison, Kansas in 1873. C. I. Scofield used opportunity, confidence, and the good will of others to disguise an unrepentant ambition for recognition as a professional minister. Reverend Scofield’s claim of being a decorated veteran, successful lawyer, or Bible scholar each seem less than compelling individually, but considered together as part of his life story reveals the complex nature of the man and his theology."

https://pcusa.org/news-storytelling/blogs/historical-society-blog/beginnings-fundamentalism

Lyman Stewart and gift to Scofield's Bible project and he and his brother's funding of The Fundamentals of the Faith. This connection doesn't demonstrate anything sinister or unethical, but rather shows the close connection between Scofiled's views and the coining of the term "fundamentalist." Scofield is one of sixty-four authors of the articles in The Fundamentals of the Faith.