Fundamentalism and globalism

The religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all today undergoing a transformation known generically as 'fundamentalist'. Although this term is impossible any longer to define precisely, and although there are obvious differences between the movements to which the label is attached, numerous common features, including the original defining feature of fundamentalism-namely the idea of the inerrancy of a sacred text-remain. Together, these considerations justify an interpretation of contemporary religious transformations in a common framework of analysis, especially when account is taken of their global character. This paper develops such an interpretation by focusing on two aspects of the globalism of fundamentalist movements-their transnational reach and the role played by globalism in their imaginary projections across time and space. In addition the paper explains the movements' approaches to popular cultural traditions and to religious and sacred texts, and concludes by emphasising both their modernity and, through an account of their treatment of sexuality, the quasi-ethnic character of the multiple strategies of boundary maintenance which set them apart from other bearers of their own traditions and from the outside world generally.