Introduction

The major aim of this chapter is to explore the relations between modern fundamentalist movements and modernity, and its major claim is that contemporary fundamentalist movements are thoroughly modern movements, albeit promulgating anti modern or anti-Enlightenment ideologies. This chapter also intends to demonstrate the importance of heterodox sectarian movements in influencing both the dynamics of civilizations as well as the expansion and crystallization of modern civilization.

By modern fundamentalist movements I am referring particularly to those that emerged in the twentieth century. However, some of these movements do have earlier origins that led to further development through the twentieth century, such as Protestant groups in the United States, while others emerged more recently, first in Islam, and later in Judaism. Beyond the original Protestant ones, these latter movements did not usually refer to themselves as fundamentalists (with perhaps the partial exception of some Islamic movements in Egypt) but were rather so dubbed by Western scholarly and more general discourse. We place all of these movements under the rubric fundamentalist because, despite all their great differences and disparities, it seems to us that some of the characteristics that they do have in common are indeed crucial to our attempts at understanding their dynamics. This chapter will explore both the commonalities and the differences between these fundamentalist movements, noting also the seemingly similar, yet quite distinct religious ones – communal or national – which have developed especially in India and in Buddhist societies of South and Southeast Asia.