Understanding Fundamentalism

From the opening pages of the preface until the last sentence of the conclusion,this book is well-written, authoritative, and insightful. The authordraws upon some 40 years of rich experience as an anthropologist in theMiddle East and further afield to offer a clear analytical account of fundamentalismin the three monotheistic traditions of Christianity, Judaism, andIslam. His book also draws upon a decade of teaching and debate aboutfundamentalism with undergraduate students at the State University of New York at Binghamton, and the clarity of his writing reflects an appreciationof the needs and interests of students.Antoun defines the phenomenon of fundamentalism as “an orientation tothe world, a particular worldview and ethos, and as a movement of protestand outrage against the rapid change that has overtaken the people of anincreasingly global civilization at the end of the twentieth century.” He arguesthat it has defining characteristics wherever it is found: scripturalism (beliefin the literal inerrancy of sacred scripture); the search for purity in an impureworld; traditioning (making the ancient immediately relevant to the contemporarysituation); totalism (taking religion beyond the worship center tohome, school, workplace, bank, and elsewhere); activism (challenging establishments,both political and religious, sometimes by violent protest); struggleof good and evil; and selective modernization and controlled acculturation.These themes are explored in depth over the course of five chapters,with a sixth chapter based on a case study that presents a recording of conversationsbetween the author and a “fundamentalist” in Jordan in 1986 ...