Fundamentalisms Observed: The Fundamentalism Project, vol 1. - book reviews

Journal of Social History, Fall, 1993 by Perry Bush

In this weighty tome, Martin Marty and E. Scott Appleby offer an encyclopedic introduction to the varied and tumultuous world of religious fundamentalism. Sponsored by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Fundamentalism Project will ultimately encompass six volumes on worldwide fundamentalisms, considering the matter from a variety of scholarly angles. Here in the first volume, Marty and Appleby have edited a collection of studies designed to provide introductory sketches, both "historical" and "phenomenological," of fourteen of these movements (p. x). They exercised their editorial hand with a pretty light touch, only asking their contributing scholars to accept the designation of their movements as "fundamentalistic," to write from a perspective "empathetic" to the movement considered, and to eschew technical jargon in an effort to reach the informed laity, nonspecialists but interested readers. In this agenda, the authors are more than successful; it would be hard to imagine a more comprehensive introduction to such a complex phenomenon.

After a brief presentation of underlying definitions and purposes, the reader encounters a wide array of fundamentalist movements. We move from opening presentations on Protestant and Catholic fundamentalisms in North and South America to a consideration of two combative Jewish movements in Israel. Scholars examine movements of Islamic fundamentalism in five different locales in South Asia and the Middle and Far Easts, along with fundamentalistic strains in Hinduism, the Sikh religious tradition, and Buddhism in Sri Lanka and Thailand. Finally, we also receive examinations of the "Confucian Revival in Industrial East Asia," and of a "political fundamentalism" in Japan. At the same time, a number of commonalities appear between many of these disparate movements. While emerging from different traditions and historical circumstances, with different holy books and sources, all share some underlying "family resemblances" the editors carefully underscore in their conclusion.

Marty and Appleby also seemed to have laid out these chapters in a way to to highlight similarities, and to gently introduce readers to what may appear as increasingly strange material. They begin with Nancy Ammerman's fine presentation of Protestant fundamentalism in North America, an area which is probably more familiar to most readers. This then serves as a clear point of reference for a number of ensuing studies. Writing about "Roman Catholic Traditionalism and Activist Conservatism in the United States," William Dinges and James Hitchcock, for example, find a good deal of common ground with the Protestant variety, as does Pablo Dieros's consideration of Protestant fundamentalism in Latin America, a religious movement which is a direct derivative of its North American counterpart. Scholars of more dissimilar movements find this a useful paradigm as well. Gideon Aran, for instance, labels Israeli fundamentalists as "a kind of |born-again Jews,'" (p. 306) while Ted Gold offers a number of comparative points with US fundamentalism in his survey of "Organized Hinduisms" (pp.575-576).

Altogether, the accounts we receive are absorbing. Here are religious traditionalists fighting back, under God (or, in the case of Buddhism or Confucianism, "under the signs of some transcendent reference" [p. x]), against a number of precisely defined and villainous enemies. These militants battle, usually in the realm of civil polity, on behalf of a religious tradition and way of life they see as under attack. As their principal resources in this desperate struggle, they selectively mobilize "real or presumed pasts" (p. ix) in order to maintain their identities and to shape the futures of their societies. Certainly these articles loom as rich resources for students of religion, contemporary politics, and international affairs. Here I will confine my comments to their utility for social historians.

Considered as history, these accounts demand some qualification. A few of these movements are of such recent origin that their analysts necessarily focus the bulk of their diagnosis on contemporary affairs. In his analysis of Israeli ultra-Zionists, for example, Aran cannot take his survey much earlier than the Six Day War in 1966. Similarly, in his examination on the Dakwah groups of Malaysian Islamic fundamentalism, springing into being in the 1970's, Manning Nash's historical focus is likewise somewhat limited. Moreover, given the ultimate aim of the entire project at policy considerations (p. xiii), often the authors delve into a detailed and intricate analysis of the impact of these religious movements on the contemporary politics of their societies.

These minor caveats aside, social historians should find this book immensely rewarding. These studies appear profoundly relevant in a broad conceptualization of social history. In their consideration of collections of people who have, up until recently, mostly "fumed on the margins" (p. 224) of their societies, these authors present material that should be engrossing for historians oriented toward the study of "ordinary people and everyday life."