Fundamentalism: The Search for Meaning by Malise Ruthven



Fundamentalism: The Search for Meaning by Malise Ruthven

Summary

"Fundamentalism" is a label for such vastly different developments all over the globe that it is in danger of becoming a near- meaningless term of contempt. That's one of many reasons why Malise Ruthven's careful analysis of the phenomena it is used to describe provides a much-needed mental map. How did we get from the word's first appearance, in America in the early 1900s (promoted by two devout Christian brothers in the oil business to rally the faithful back to "the fundamentals" of Protestantism), to its ubiquitous use to denote the religious motivation of the terrorists who flew passenger jets into the twin towers? (Williams 2011)

In one of the most fascinating and telling details in the book (though it warrants only a bracketed aside) Ruthven points out that both fundamentalism and the Hollywood film industry were born in roughly the same region of southern California at about the same time. Here is a rich theme that I would have liked Ruthven to take further: the parallel fantasy worlds of the 20th century, whose rival parables of good and evil have been played out to capture the minds and hearts of the globe's masses.

These fantasy worlds have fed off one another. Ruthven quotes Sayyid Qutb, the Egyptian Islamist ideologue executed by Nasser's police in 1966: "Humanity is living in a large brothel! One only has to glance at its press, films, fashion shows, beauty contests, ballrooms, wine bars, and broadcasting stations! Or observe its mad lust for naked flesh, provocative postures, and sick, suggestive statements in literature, the arts and the mass media!" But while fundamentalism is provoked by its revulsion towards the fantasies of the western mass media, it also imitates them, as was very evident ...