Historian: First Bible Fueled First Fundamentalists

The 16th-century English Reformation, the historic period during which the Scriptures first became widely available in a common tongue, is often hailed by scholars as a moment of liberation for the general public, as it no longer needed to rely solely on the clergy to interpret the verses.
But being able to read the sometimes frightening set of moral codes spelled out in the Bible scared many literate Englishmen into following it to the letter, said James Simpson, a professor of English at Harvard University........

"Very definitely, we see the same phenomenon: newly literate people claiming that the sacred text speaks for itself, and legitimates violence and repression," Simpson said, "and the same is also true of Christian fundamentalists."

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This historian has the right idea about Bibles fueling fundamentalism, intolerance, persecution etc. But, any notion that Christian fundamentalism is only 500 years old or that it is restricted to Protestants only is poppycock. Perhaps the historian was using "Protestant" and "Christian" interchangeably?

LMAO alert: According to this research, Christian fundamentalism is the result of a few half-literate limeys wetting their pants in trepidation after reading the scary stuff inherent in the Bible :-) Logically then, "religious conflict" and "persecution" that John Dayal periodically bleats about can be contained by taking this hateful literature out of circulation? The point about neo-literate limeys is pertinent to the situation in 100% "literate" Kerala, Tamil Nadu, indeed all of India where half-literate neo-convert "fathers" have been wreaking havoc, scared shit less after reading that hateful biblical literature.