Alex, although I appreciated some points Martin Trench made, e.g., about the dangers of literalism leading to legalism, and the “ages” pointing to Universal Reconciliation, I also think that he (in the vein of Frank Schaeffer), is guilty of
- painting things “fundamentalist” with too broad a brush, and
- completely dismissing a few of the valid beliefs within “fundamentalism.”
Some “fundamentalist” beliefs (in no particular order):
•The inerrancy of the Bible
•The Creation account in Genesis, including Adam and Eve
•A global flood sent by God, and Noah’s Ark
•A personal devil, and a literal future antichrist
•The miracles of Christ
•The Virgin Birth of Christ
•The bodily resurrection and physical return of Christ
•The substitutionary atonement of Christ on the cross (including Gustaf Aulen’s version of the ransom theory, Christus Victor)
•Dispensational eschatology (e.g., one or more raptures of Christians, a literal millennial reign of Christ in a kingdom on earth)
•Eternal Conscious Torment
My own viewpoints have changed radically in the last five years, so that I have given up some views in this list, and taken on others:
Like Michael Hardin, I now believe God has never been violent–but from the viewpoint of Richard Murray, not René Girard. And I now believe the Scriptures are only part of a progressive revelation, reflective of the human mediators’ growing recognition of God’s goodness (C.S. Cowles). The Scriptures can only point to **THE Word of God: Jesus **(Rev. 19:13).
Unlike Dr. Trench, I still believe catastrophism, as seen in Flood geology, explains sedimentation and the fossil record. And I still reject macro-evolution (inorganic matter to single-celled organism to fish to amphibian to reptile to mammal to man).
And, also unlike Hardin or Trench, I still believe in a personal devil, and a literal antichrist. I think Adolph Hitler was probably a prototype of the antichrist. Hitler brought order out of chaos in Depression-era Germany, and I suspect antichrist will someday do likewise…even with “all power and signs and lying wonders” (2 Thessalonians 2:9).
In college, I took a graduate seminar on Alexander the Great. The professor knew very well the symbolism for Alexander in the Book of Daniel, i.e., the belly and thighs of bronze of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue, the he-goat attacking the ram, the beast like a leopard with four wings. The professor could only dismiss the book as having been written after the fact, since he considered predictive prophecy impossible. I, on the other hand, still thrill at Daniel’s Seventy Weeks!
BTW Regarding the signs of the zodiac showing “The Gospel in the Stars,” Trench should realize that the author of the definitive work on the subject, Joseph A. Seiss (1823-1904), was also the premier scholar for a futurist interpretation of Revelation! But according to Trench, Seiss would have been one of those “crazy” people who push the prophetic scriptures off to the future.
Blessings.
My gut feeling is he’s seeking truth but might have gone down some dead-ends & jumped to conclusions that are too speculative (& historically questionable according to Sobornost). He’s now posted a bibliography for further investigation: 
).
I am sure he is sincere in his beliefs and love for God. I believe there is something he is ‘into’ that is dodgy and hence the Holy Spirit gave me a gift of discernment. I have been victim to many a wrong teaching and so I always pray about new ideas/teachings I come across. (In the past, I’d just look into something I found interesting without seeking God about it). Interestingly, when I’ve prayed about UR, I’ve not had any kind of ‘warning’. I was feeling very doubtful of UR several months ago. I kept praying to God to confirm to me if UR was true. One morning I was really praying about this and fretting about it. I checked my facebook after praying, and saw a message from my non Christian sister. She’d sent me a link to a song (Mike Scott- ‘what do you want me to do’). I looked it up on youtube but for some reason I clicked on the wrong song by mistake. It was this one: ‘Bring Em all In’
