The Battle for God: A History of FundamentalismIn the late twentieth century, fundamentalism has emerged as one of the most powerful forces at work in the world, contesting the dominance of modern secular values and threatening peace and harmony around the globe. Yet it remains incomprehensible to a large number of people. In The Battle for God, Karen Armstrong brilliantly and sympathetically shows us how and why fundamentalist groups came into existence and what they yearn to accomplish. We see the West in the sixteenth century beginning to create an entirely new kind of civilization, which brought in its wake change in every aspect of life -- often painful and violent, even if liberating. Armstrong argues that one of the things that changed most was religion. People could no longer think about or experience the divine in the same way; they had to develop new forms of faith to fit their new circumstances. Armstrong characterizes fundamentalism as one of these new ways of being religious that have emerged in every major faith tradition. Focusing on Protestant fundamentalism in the United States, Jewish fundamentalism in Israel, and Muslim fundamentalism in Egypt and Iran, she examines the ways in which these movements, while not monolithic, have each sprung from a dread of modernity -- often in response to assault (sometimes unwitting, sometimes intentional) by the mainstream society. Armstrong sees fundamentalist groups as complex, innovative, and modern -- rather than as throwbacks to the past -- but contends that they have failed in religious terms. Maintaining that fundamentalism often exists in symbiotic relationship with an aggressive modernity, each impelling the other on to greater excess, she suggests compassion as a way to defuse what is now an intensifying conflict. BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Karen Armstrong's Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life. |
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Page 109
... traditional practices , finding that without an emotive , mystical element , faith and worship lose their soul . Both the Reformers and the scholars of the Science of Judaism were pre- occupied with the survival of their religion in a ...
... traditional practices , finding that without an emotive , mystical element , faith and worship lose their soul . Both the Reformers and the scholars of the Science of Judaism were pre- occupied with the survival of their religion in a ...
Page 118
... traditional tax - exempt status , and Umar Makram urged them to oppose Muhammad Ali and force him to rescind the new taxes . But the ulema had rarely shown a united front , and the pasha was able to lure a significant number into his ...
... traditional tax - exempt status , and Umar Makram urged them to oppose Muhammad Ali and force him to rescind the new taxes . But the ulema had rarely shown a united front , and the pasha was able to lure a significant number into his ...
Page 209
... traditional obser- vance ; the Holy Land was being polluted by the Zionists . All that a zealous Jew could do to fill the void was to cling to the texts which preserved his last link with the divine . The destruction of the Holocaust ...
... traditional obser- vance ; the Holy Land was being polluted by the Zionists . All that a zealous Jew could do to fill the void was to cling to the texts which preserved his last link with the divine . The destruction of the Holocaust ...
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