Summary
Title: The Fundamentals of Extremism
Author: edited by Kimberly Blaker
Publisher: New Boston Books
ISBN: 0972549609
Pro:
• Comprehensive introduction to the agenda and beliefs of the Christian Right
• Brings together and organizes a great deal of material
Con:
• Conflates nearly all conservative Christians under the label “fundamentalist”
• Little appreciation for the differences among fundamentalists, evangelicals, etc.
Description:
• Analysis of and polemic against the political agenda of America’s Christian Right
• Argues that the Christian Right’s agenda is a danger to American liberties
• Explains how “fundamentalists” have worked to undermine freedom and democracy
Book Review
It’s important to learn about the Christian Right because much of their agenda would entail overturning significant aspects of modern liberal democracy and its background Enlightenment values in favor of a theocratic, even fascist, state. Not all adherents of the Christian Right would go that far, yet many of its leaders seem willing and principles promoted by those leaders would lead to such a conclusion.
Thus, even moderate members of the Christian Right need to be more aware of what they belong to and where it might be heading.
One attempt to better educate people is Kimberly Blaker’s book The Fundamentals of Extremism. Blaker is a journalist and this shows through — not just in what she writes but also in the contributions of other authors. The whole style and tone tends to be more editorial and journalistic rather than academic or scholarly. It is, then, definitely not an academic treatise on the nature of American fundamentalism or a scholarly review of the goals of the Christian Right.
That’s not a criticism, though, because such books already exist. There is definitely a need for books written with a more general audience in mind and that’s the niche Blaker’s book fits into. Blaker and the other contributors explain how and why religion in America isn’t always a force for good and that religious extremism exists among American Christians just like it exists among Arab Muslims.
There are definitely some problems with the book, though, particularly where the use of the term “fundamentalism” is concerned. There’s little discussion about the origin and development of American fundamentalism, thus the critiques are made without a clear historical and social context. There is also little discussion about the similarities and differences between fundamentalists (like Jerry Falwell), Pentecostals (like Pat Robertson) and conservative evangelicals (like James Dobson).
These groups are not all the same theologically, even though they have very similar political agendas; yet throughout the book, they are all referred to as “fundamentalists.” This is theologically incorrect, but the authors seem to try to get around that by defining “fundamentalist” in more political than religious terms or in religious terms that don’t completely track with genuine fundamentalism. I think that this was an error. The theological differences aren’t irrelevant because, if used appropriately, they could be useful wedges for driving the various groups apart.
It’s quite right to discuss a general political movement that includes multiple religious perspectives, but I don’t think that it’s right to apply a religious term of one group to all of them, especially when we are talking about a critique of their political agenda, not a theological critique of their religious beliefs. This, I believe, leads to confusion and errors because readers will think of people as “fundamentalists” in a religious sense even though they belong to a different tradition.
So this is not a nuanced exploration of American fundamentalism — it doesn’t tell readers anything about the variety of positions that get included in the “Christian Right” and it doesn’t tell readers about the historical and social background for how this movement developed. Readers also won’t find explanations of what fundamentalists see as wrong with modern society or their critiques of religion.
It is, however, a comprehensive introduction to what the Christian Right is doing and what it wants in America. If you are already know a great deal about the subject, you may not find much here that is new; but if you would like a more organized explanation of what is going on than is found in the news, this would probably prove useful.
