Fundamentalism, as the word implies, is about getting back to basics, and for Americans this has meant getting back to God's word as proclaimed in the Bible. Yet the issues that American fundamentalists have most hotly contested--abortion and the Equal Rights Amendment--have little to do with scripture per se. Why are these so central? Perhaps it is because the real fundamentals of fundamentalism are social, not textual. Fundamentalism often seems to be about "family values" and restoring women to their "proper place"--not just in America, but wherever the corrosive effects of secular modernity are felt.
The purpose of this book is to examine the connection between fundamentalism and gender. In their introduction, John Hawley and Wayne Proudfoot plot the intellectual terrain. Then four specialists--Randall Balmer, Peter Awn, John Hawley, and Helen Hardacre--present case studies from Islam, Hinduism, the New Religions of Japan, and American Christianity. In response, Jay Harris and Karen McCarthy Brown come forth with diametrically opposite conclusions. Harris, working from a Jewish perspective, argues that fundamentalism makes no sense as a comparative category, especially in relation to gender. Brown on the contrary turns to depth psychology to show why fundamentalism is necessarily tied to a conservative ideology of gender.
Here readers interested in women's issues, comparative religion, and global fundamentalism are given fresh perspectives on one of the most pressing debates of our time.
Industry Reviews
"This book goes farther than any other source I know in establishing the centrality of gender issues for present day fundamentalist groups throughout the world. Consisting of essays by major scholars in the field, Fundamentalism and Gender offers the kind of fresh, comparative perspectives we need in our continuing efforts to grasp the full dimensions of modern fundamentalism and the range of challenges it faces."--Lewis V. Baldwin, Vanderbilt
University
"Gender provides a critical key to unlocking the dynamics of what fundamentalism is. This book will very much contribute to that discussion."--Rosemary R. Ruether, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
"Insightful, informative examination of the common features of fundamentalism in various cultures and its impact on the status and treatment of women--Very thought-provoking as well as disturbing!"--Carolyn D. Blevins, Carson-Newman College
"Very enlightening!"--R. Taylor Scott, Francis Marion University
"This book brings us closer to understanding the role of gender in the struggles by fundamentalists to make their numbers count within secular societies."--The Women's Review of Books
"This book goes farther than any other source I know in establishing the centrality of gender issues for present day fundamentalist groups throughout the world. Consisting of essays by major scholars in the field, Fundamentalism and Gender offers the kind of fresh, comparative perspectives we need in our continuing efforts to grasp the full dimensions of modern fundamentalism and the range of challenges it faces."--Lewis V. Baldwin, Vanderbilt
University
"Gender provides a critical key to unlocking the dynamics of what fundamentalism is. This book will very much contribute to that discussion."--Rosemary R. Ruether, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
"Insightful, informative examination of the common features of fundamentalism in various cultures and its impact on the status and treatment of women--Very thought-provoking as well as disturbing!"--Carolyn D. Blevins, Carson-Newman College
"Very enlightening!"--R. Taylor Scott, Francis Marion University
"This book brings us closer to understanding the role of gender in the struggles by fundamentalists to make their numbers count within secular societies."--The Women's Review of Books
"Anyone interested in gender in the modern world, in religious constructions of gender, and in Asian cultures will find Hawley's volume gripping, thought-provoking, and disturbing."--The Journal Of Asian Studies
"Each chapter makes its own incisive contribution to the larger debates about fundamentalisms..."--Journal of the History of Sexuality
