Understanding Fundamentalism: Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Movements

I have previewed this book in google previews. It appears to be a factual account of the authors interactions with individuals who are fundamentalist in their approach to their Islamic faith. I will be using it in my course at a community college this Spring, entitled 'Introduction to Cultural Anthropology'. I believe this is a book for our time given the US military incursions in Pakistan and Afghanistan. We can never know enough about other culture's points of view, and how those points of view lead to action. I am very saddened by Professor Antouns death and send condolences to his family.

Although the murder of the author is what first called my attention to this book, it deserves to be reviewed on its own merits, and it does have some. Richard Antoun's 40 years of experience observing a Muslim community in Jordan gave him ample opportunity to observe Islam. His family background and exposure to Christianity and conversion to Judaism gave him a vantage point to notice the similarities between the three major Monotheistic religions extant today. He lucidly describes the 7 criteria he uses to determine the fundamentalist nature of a sect and gives an even handed overview of his research. As a Christian, it was enlightening to discover how my particular denomination is characterized by an "outsider." Some of us take the verse about being "peculiar people" a bit too much to heart. He didn't make outrageous accusations, or any other type of accusation, but merely recorded his observations. I hope that's not what got him killed, but it might be worth noting that his murderer was neither Christian nor Jewish. He wasn't trying to offend, merely to inform and instruct. Dangerous practices these days, it would seem.

The author of this book was murdered today by Abdulsalam S. al-Zahrani in his office at Binghampton University.