Fundamentalism as a key topic for religious education. Observations from a Protestant perspective

The origins of religious fundamentalism lie not in Islam, but in Christianity. Specifically, the “original” religious fundamentalism may be found in the Protestant tradition of the United States. Since studying the concept!s origin will exemplify the basic features of fundamentalism, the first part of this article is devoted to an overview of this topic. Against this backdrop, the second part will present fundamentalism as a theological challenge, according special attention to the inerrancy of Scripture. In the third and final part, conclusions are drawn from a religious educational perspective: the educational relevance of fundamentalism is pedagogically justified, reflexive questions are provided for religious teachers, and finally, the reasons for why fundamentalism is a key topic for religious education are thetically summarized.