Fundamentalisms
East and West:
From Conservative
Protestants to the
War on Terror
[Fundamentalism:
A Cultural Construction]
(Incorporating
"Varieties of the Religious 'Right,'"
syllabus by Frank
Flinn)
Course
Description (2004)
Fundamentalist
Christian. Islamic fundamentalist.
Jewish fundamentalist. Fundamentalist Zoroastrian.
Hindu fundamentalist. Fundamentalist
Catholicism.
Fundamentalist feminist. Fundamentalist
anthropologist.
Market fundamentalism. All these usages are
attested.
Why call someone a fundamentalist? Who call
themselves
fundamentalists? Should we all stop using the word?
This is a course on the historical roots of
religious
fundamentalism, how it has changed over time, and
contemporary understandings and misunderstandings
of the term, from conservative Anglo-American
Protestantism to the "War on Terror."
Course
Description (2002)
"Fundamentalist"
and "fundamentalism," are terms that are
often misunderstood and even abused, even as many
proudly call themselves "Fundamentalist." This is a
course
on the historical roots of religious
fundamentalism, how it has
changed over time, and contemporary understandings
and
misunderstandings of the term. The first half of
this course
introduces the "Fundamentalism" movement in
conservative
Anglo-American Protestantism, and examines
Fundamentalism in
the context of the history of Christianity, science
and culture.
Students will also examine the comparative use of
the term,
"fundamentalism," as applied to Islam, Judaism, and
recently,
Hinduism and other world religions. We will address
questions
such as: Why have conservatives of some religions,
e.g.
Jainism and Catholicism, so far generally escaped
this
designation? Is there really such a thing as
"fundamentalism,"
or is this a modernist Protestant stereotype of
conservative
Protestants, reified and applied to the other
religious
traditions of the world? Should we all stop using
this
highly charged word, or does it, if carefully
defined,
have heuristic value as a comparative
terrm?
Defining
Fundamentalism
"[Fundamentalism
is]...a tendency, a habit of mind, found within
religious communities... which manifests itself as
a strategy, or
set of strategies, by which beleaguered believers
attempt to
preserve their distinctive identity as a people or
group. Feeling
this identity to be at risk in the contemporary
era, they fortify it by
a selective retrieval of doctrines, beliefs, and
practices from a
sacred past. These retrieved 'fundamentals' are
refined, modified,
and sanctioned in a spirit of shrewd pragmatism;
they are to
serve as a bulwark against the encroachment of
outsiders who
threaten to draw the believers into a syncretistic,
areligious, or
irreligious cultural milieu. Moreover, these
fundamentals are
accompanied in the new religious portfolio by
unprecedented
claims and doctrinal innovations. By the strength
of these
innovations and the new supporting doctrines, the
retrieved
and updated fundamentals are meant to regain the
same
charismatic intensity today by which they
originally forged
communal identity from the formative revelatory
religious
experiences long ago."
--Marty and Appleby, Fundamentalisms
Observed, pg. 835.
"Fundamentalism
does not refer so much to a set of dogmatic
beliefs, to a creed, or to a literal adherence to a
sacred text
considered infallible. Rather, more broadly it
refers to an
orientation to the world, both cognitive and
affective.
The affective, or emotional, orientation indicates
outrage
and protest against (and also fear of) change and
against
a certain ideological orientation, the orientation
of modernism."
--Richard Antoun, Understanding
Fundamentalism, pg. 3.
"[Fundamentalism
is]...a style of political participation
characterized by unusually close and direct links
between
one's fundamental beliefs and political behavior
designed
to effect radical social change."
--Ian Lustick, quoted in Richard Antoun,
Understanding Fundamentalism, pg.
24.
"No
Better Term Could Be Found..."
"Let
it be said at the outset that the directors of the
project
have assured all authors herein that in this
introduction,
and in all that follows, they will make it
emphatically clear
that 'fundamentalism' is not always the first
choice--, or even
a congenial choice at all--, for some of the
movements here
discussed. Most of the essayists take some pains to
say why
they are uneasy with the term, and they say so
often, with
evident awareness that some of their colleagues who
specialize
in the same topics will criticize their assent to
use the term.
We have asked them to keep their apologies
brief..."
--Marty and Appleby, Fundamentalisms
Observed, pg. viii
"Fundamentalism
is an Embattled Term..."
"'Fundamentalism'
is an embattled term. It arose in the
United States, in about 1920, as a term of
self-reference
adopted by a group of Protestant Christians, who
rallied
behind a series of pamphlets called 'The
Fundamentals,'
(1920-1915). These writings deplored the evils of
modernism--,
especially scientific naturalism and 'uncritical'
use of higher
criticism of the Bible and perceived lapses in
moral values.
They favored returning to 'the fundamentals' of
Christian
belief and practice--, eternal pillars of an
idealized past.
In time, liberal Christians, and modernists of a
more secular
hue, began to use the term, 'fundamentalist,' in a
rather
broader sense--, to designate groups they saw as
naive
enough o believe they could reverse the course of
history,
in favor of a mythic--, (dogmatically and socially
homogeneous)--,
Christian past. In the 1980s, this pejorative usage
became a
staple in journalistic analyses of political
debates about the
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), abortion, and prayer
in the
schools, indicating positions articulated by
conservative
Christian groups, especially evangelical
Protestants. It was
also employed, by extension, to designate the
stances of
religious groups around the world, especially
Muslims, who
took political action to reject Western secular
modernism in
its various forms. The Islamic revolution in Iran
in 1979 put
the term into wide use for the first time. Before
long, it also
came to designate Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and
others.
Many people so designated understandably came to
resent
the term's superior overtones--, its suggestion of
atavism,
and a narrow, rigid mentality. Not without justice,
Muslims in
particular have often seen it as cultural
imperialism of a
specifically Judeo-Christian variety."
--John Stratton Hawley, quoted in Howland, Courtney
W.,
Religious Fundamentalism and the Human Rights of
Women, pg. 3
An
Upside Down View of the World?
'Why
would the MacArthur Foundation pay out several
million dollars to support an international study
of religious
fundamentalists?' Surely one important answer, says
[Peter] Berger, is as follows: 'So-called
fundamentalism
was assumed to be a strange, difficult to
understand
phenomenon; the purpose of the Project was to delve
into this alien world and make it more
understandable.'
Berger then continues: 'But here came another
question.'
'Who finds this world strange, and to whom must it
be made
understandable?' 'The answer to that question was
easy--,
people to whom the officials of the MacArthur
Foundation
normally talk, such as professors at American elite
universities.'
'And with this came the 'Aha! experience.'' 'The
concern
that must have led to this Project was based on an
upside-down perception of the world.' 'The notion
here
was that so-called fundamentalism--, (which, when
all is said
and done, usually refers to any sort of passionate
religious movement)--, is a rare, hard-to-explain
thing.'
'But in fact, it is not rare at all--, neither if
one looks at history,
nor if one looks around the contemporary world.'
'On the contrary, what is rare, is people who think
otherwise.'
--Gerald James Larson, JAAR 65/3, pp.
655-656
Previously
Offered:
Spring
2002
Next
Offered:
Summer
2004
To
Register
Washington
University Online Course Catalog
WebSTAC
(online course registration)
Time
and Place
Summer
2004
ReSt
120 (Q) [U66]
Fundamentalisms
East and West:
From
Conservative Protestants to the War on Terror
-TT--- 5:30 PM - 8:15 PM [Eads
216]
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4242 Social Movements (Professor Bret
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Bibliographic
Resources
Fundamentalisms
Observed (Fundamentalisms Project Volume
One)
Marty,
Martin, and Appleby, R. Scott, eds. 1991. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press
BL238
F83 1 Olin Level B Stacks; BL238 F83 1 c. 2 West C
General Stacks
Fundamentalisms
and Society (Fundamentalisms Project Volume
Two)
Marty,
Martin, and Appleby, R. Scott, eds. 1993. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press
BL238
F83 2 Olin Level B Stacks
Fundamentalisms
and the State (Fundamentalisms Project Volume
Three)
Marty,
Martin, and Appleby, R. Scott, eds., 1993. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press
BL238
F83 3 Olin Level B Stacks; L238 F83 3 c. 2 West C
General Stacks
Accounting
for Fundamentalisms (Fundamentalisms Project Volume
Four)
Marty, Martin, and Appleby, R. Scott, eds., 1994.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press
BL238
.F83 4 Olin Level B Stacks
Fundamentalism
Comprehended (Fundamentalisms Project, Volume
Five)
Marty,
Martin, and Appleby, R. Scott, eds., 1995. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press
BL238
F83 5 Olin Level B Stacks
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