Author: Malise Ruthven
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 154
ISBN/UPC (if available): 9780199212705
Description
Fundamentalism is seen as the major threat to world peace today, a conclusion impossible to ignore since the events in New York on September 11, 2001. But what does "fundamentalism" really mean?
Since it was coined by American Protestant evangelicals in the 1920s, the use of the term "fundamentalist" has expanded to include a diverse range of radical conservatives and ideological purists, not all religious.
Fundamentalism could now mean both militant Israeli settlers as well as the Islamist radicals who oppose them; it can mean Christians, Hindus, animal liberationists, and even Buddhist nationalists.
Here, Middle East expert Malise Ruthven investigates fundamentalism's historical, social, religious, political, and ideological roots, and tackles the polemic and stereotypes surrounding these complex phenomena--one that eludes simple definition, yet urgently needs to be understood.
Contents
Preface
List of illustrations
1. Family resemblances
2. The scandal of difference
3. The snares of literalism
4. Controlling women
5. Fundamentalism and nationalism
6. Fundamentalism and nationalism,
7. Conclusion
References
Further reading
Index