Strong Religion
The Rise of Fundamentalisms around the World
296 pages
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2 line drawings, 8 tables
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6 x 9
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© 2002
After the September 11 terrorist attacks against the United States, religious fundamentalism has dominated public debate as never before. Policymakers, educators, and the general public all want to know: Why do fundamentalist movements turn violent? Are fundamentalisms a global threat to human rights, security, and democratic forms of government? What is the future of fundamentalism?
To answer questions like these, Strong Religion draws on the results of the Fundamentalism Project, a decade-long interdisciplinary study of antimodernist, antisecular militant religious movements on five continents and within seven world religious traditions. The authors of this study analyze the various social structures, cultural contexts, and political environments in which fundamentalist movements have emerged around the world, from the Islamic Hamas and Hizbullah to the Catholic and Protestant paramilitaries of Northern Ireland, and from the Moral Majority and Christian Coalition of the United States to the Sikh radicals and Hindu nationalists of India. Offering a vividly detailed portrait of the cultures that nourish such movements, Strong Religion opens a much-needed window onto different modes of fundamentalism and identifies the kind of historical events that can trigger them.
To answer questions like these, Strong Religion draws on the results of the Fundamentalism Project, a decade-long interdisciplinary study of antimodernist, antisecular militant religious movements on five continents and within seven world religious traditions. The authors of this study analyze the various social structures, cultural contexts, and political environments in which fundamentalist movements have emerged around the world, from the Islamic Hamas and Hizbullah to the Catholic and Protestant paramilitaries of Northern Ireland, and from the Moral Majority and Christian Coalition of the United States to the Sikh radicals and Hindu nationalists of India. Offering a vividly detailed portrait of the cultures that nourish such movements, Strong Religion opens a much-needed window onto different modes of fundamentalism and identifies the kind of historical events that can trigger them.
American Academy of Religion: American Academy of Religion Awards for Excellence
Short Listed
International Journal for the Study of New Religions
“This is a very useful and fruitful contribution within the field of the studies regarding fundamentalisms worldwide. It is a book of high quality, well structured and written, which addresses the relevant issues from a scientific and not an ideological perspective. This gives the reader the opportunity to form a concrete idea about all these movements, the way they emerged, their organization, ideology and activity.”
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
CHAPTER 1
The Enclave Culture
CHAPTER 2
Fundamentalism: Genus and Species
CHAPTER 3
Explaining Fundamentalisms:
Structure, Chance and Choice
CHAPTER 4
Wrestling with the World:
Fundamentalist Movements as Emergent Systems
CHAPTER 5
Testing the Model:
Politics, Ethnicity, and Fundamentalist Strategies
CHAPTER 6
The Prospects of Fundamentalism
Appendix to Chapter 2
Appendix to Chapter 3
Appendix to Chapter 4
Notes Index
Introduction
CHAPTER 1
The Enclave Culture
CHAPTER 2
Fundamentalism: Genus and Species
CHAPTER 3
Explaining Fundamentalisms:
Structure, Chance and Choice
CHAPTER 4
Wrestling with the World:
Fundamentalist Movements as Emergent Systems
CHAPTER 5
Testing the Model:
Politics, Ethnicity, and Fundamentalist Strategies
CHAPTER 6
The Prospects of Fundamentalism
Appendix to Chapter 2
Appendix to Chapter 3
Appendix to Chapter 4
Notes Index
For more information, or to order this book, please visit http://www.press.uchicago.edu
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