The whole point is to spur discussion about the nature of
constructive public influence: who's doing it, how much it matters, and how to gauge a scholar's contribution.
Joel Carpenter begins his long - awaited and richly informative book with that quotation, gently noting that while one may question fundamentalism's
constructive achievements, «no one can deny that fundamentalism has survived» and «has found ways to
influence American
public life.»