Fundamentalism

—Peter L. Berger, Director, Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs, Boston University

Description:

Fundamentalism is part of the Global Issues series, which is designed to be a first-stop resource for research on the key challenges facing the world today. Each volume contains three sections, beginning with an introduction that clearly defines the issue, followed by detailed case studies of the issue's impact in the United States and several other countries or regions. The second section draws together significant U.S. and international primary source documents, and the third section gathers useful research tools such as brief biographies, facts and figures, an annotated bibliography, and more. A foreword written by an expert in the field complements each volume. A chronology, glossary, and index provide additional help.

The term fundamentalism originated in the United States during the early 20th century when it was applied to a group of Protestant Christians who defended traditional Christian beliefs in the face of modern ideas. Now, religious fundamentalism is associated with a range of political and social events in the early 21st century, most notably the terrorist attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001. Yet, due to frequent misrepresentation in the media, fundamentalist groups are often misunderstood.

Fundamentalism offers a definition of what constitutes fundamentalism and analyzes the roots, ideas, and goals of fundamentalist groups around the world. It also discusses the various attempts to categorize fundamentalist groups and the disagreements regarding their potential for personal or political violence. Next comes a closer study of specific fundamentalist movements in the United States, as well as four other regions: Europe (ultratraditional Roman Catholicism), Israel (fundamentalist Judaism), the Middle East (the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas), and India (fundamentalist Hinduism).

Target Audience:

Students and Researchers of fundamentalism and religious studies.