Premillennial theology insulated fundamentalists from the war’s disillusionment

Evidence

Yet many fundamentalists retained more than vestiges of the former militancy. As premillennialists, fundamentalists were less troubled by the horrors of war. They knew better than to expect a war to end all wars before Christ’s return, and their penchant for apocalyptic prophecies gave them a framework for understanding the war’s outcome without succumbing to disillusionment and despair. In fact, having shed much of their ambivalence, fundamentalists emerged from the war more patriotic, combative, and cantankerous than ever. And more convinced of their need to defend fundamental truths. Having attributed German wartime barbarism to the influence of liberal theology and evolutionary theory, they determined to secure American Christianity and culture against those same hazards. On a more practical level, as fundamentalists proved unable to seize or maintain control of major denominations and seminaries in the postwar years, combativeness seemed wholly appropriate—even a badge of honor. — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 48

Categorization

• XREF: Exact mechanism of how theology produced political stance; central to demonstrating Du Mez’s continuity thesis — theological distinctive (premillennialism) causally produced combative culture. — connects to: End-times theology split between premillennialists and postmillennialists yet believers often hold both — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 621; Dispensational premillennialism built a detailed end-times timeline around the Rapture — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic…, 248; Premillennial eschatology structurally undermines social justice commitment — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 265 (+5 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The inversion — where liberal mainstreamers were traumatized into pacifism, fundamentalists drew renewed aggression — is a dense causal model worth sitting with.