Religious fundamentalism : aspects of a comparative frame-work of understanding

Abstract

The article presents the outline of a comparative framework for the understanding of religious fundamentalism. The argument is developed around the interrelated aspects of macro-historical religious context, socio-religious context, and the context of religious tradition as a primary dimension of religion. In those overlapping contexts, the possibility of fundamentalism is explained with reference to pre-disposing, precipitating and perpetuating conditions. In terms of the dimension of religious tradition, fundamentalism is expounded in terms of the following three aspects: education, inter-pretation and identity-definition. Fundamentalism emerges as an awkward mix (not a creative synthesis) of traditional and modernist elements in the present breach - with its peculiar characteristics, crises and threats - between epochs.