The Glory and the Power: The Fundamentalist Challenge to the Modern World

Fundamentalist religious movements, assert the authors, are ``innovative . . . usually dynamic'' and ``constructive in spirit.'' In this evenhanded study, which is the basis of a PBS series, Marty, professor of Christianity at the University of Chicago, and Appleby ( Church and Age Unite! ) attempt to steer a middle course by refusing to portray fundamentalists as paragons of unreason. In their definition, fundamentalists, whether Christian, Jewish or Muslim, seek to remake the world by selectively retrieving doctrines and practices from a presumed sacred past. Yet the authors concede that fundamentalists ``need enemies'' and ``demonize opponents.'' After discussing Bob Jones University, an evangelical school in South Carolina, and Operation Rescue, the U.S. anti-abortion movement, they move on to examine Gush Emunim, the Jewish settler movement active in Israel's West Bank, Egypt's Islamic militants bent on aligning government with religious orthodoxy, and resurgent fundamentalist groups from Iran to India and Africa. Photos. (Dec.)