The Fundamentalist Mindset

Psychological Perspectives on Religion, Violence, and History

James W Jones author Charles B Strozier author David M Terman author Katherine A Boyd author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc

Published:27th May '10

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

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The Fundamentalist Mindset cover

This penetrating book sheds light on the psychology of fundamentalism, with a particular focus on those who become extremists and fanatics. What accounts for the violence that emerges among some fundamentalist groups? The contributors to this book identify several factors: a radical dualism, in which all aspects of life are bluntly categorized as either good or evil; a destructive inclination to interpret authoritative texts, laws, and teachings in the most literal of terms; an extreme and totalized conversion experience; paranoid thinking; and an apocalyptic world view. After examining each of these concepts in detail, and showing the ways in which they lead to violence among widely disparate groups, these engrossing essays explore such areas as fundamentalism in the American experience and among jihadists, and they illuminate aspects of the same psychology that contributed to such historical crises as the French Revolution, the Nazi movement, and post-Partition Hindu religious practice.

The Fundamentalist Mindset captures well a timely discussion that beckons the reader to further research and reflection. * Claude Barbre, Journal of Religion and Health *

ISBN: 9780195379662

Dimensions: 155mm x 231mm x 23mm

Weight: 431g

296 pages