Religious Fundamentalism: A Paradigm for Terrorism?

The term, ‘fundamentalism’, today names a broad religio-political perspective found in most, if not all, major religions. Most disturbingly, it is associated with variant forms of religious extremism and thus religiously-oriented terrorism. And it is Islamic modalities of terrorism that, rightly or...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Pratt, Douglas 1949- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Equinox Publ. 2007
In: Journal for the academic study of religion
Year: 2007, Volume: 20, Issue: 2, Pages: 195-215
Further subjects:B Fundamentalism
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Parallel Edition:Electronic
Description
Summary:The term, ‘fundamentalism’, today names a broad religio-political perspective found in most, if not all, major religions. Most disturbingly, it is associated with variant forms of religious extremism and thus religiously-oriented terrorism. And it is Islamic modalities of terrorism that, rightly or wrongly, have come to take centre-stage in current world affairs. Arguably, however, the religious fundamentalism with which Islamist extremism is associated follows an identifiable paradigm that has wider applicability. It denotes, among other things, a paradigm that paves the way from the relative harmlessness of an idiosyncratic and dogmatic belief system, to the harmful reality of religiously driven and fanatically followed pathways to terrorist activity. This paper will discuss the phenomenon of fundamentalism and attempt to describe and analyse the paradigm of religious fundamentalism. It is the cumulative dynamic of fundamentalism which informs the emergence of religious extremism and terrorism.
ISSN:2047-7058
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal for the academic study of religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1558/arsr.v20i2.195