Feb 28, 2005 -- An Evangelical Lutheran minister, a Sunni Muslim from Syria, and a Jewish studies scholar came together to address the topic of religious fundamentalism at a symposium sponsored by the Rabbi Arthur Schneier Center for International Affairs at Yeshiva University’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law February 27. All experts in their fields, the three panelists of “The Political Face of Religious Fundamentalism” contrasted and compared fundamentalism in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.

Renowned theologian Martin E. Marty opened the proceedings by discussing the common features of all forms of modern religious fundamentalism. He characterized fundamentalists as reactive, selective in their reliance on basic teachings, and dependent on an “us versus them” mentality.

“Although religious fundamentalism will always appear in the cast of old-time religion, it is a modern phenomenon,” said Dr. Marty, professor emeritus at the University of Chicago Divinity School. “It is a reaction to modernity, which is seen to deprive traditions of power.”

Bassam Tibi, professor of international relations at the University of Goettingen, Germany, underscored the contradictions inherent in Muslim fundamentalism. “It says no to the values of modernity and yes to technological advances,” said Dr. Tibi, who added that he had flown 22 hours to New York because he “wanted to participate in this dialog at a Jewish university.”

Dr. Tibi traced the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, beginning with the founding of the organization Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo in 1928. He said fundamentalist Islam is distinct from its less extreme counterpart by its being both a belief system and a form of government.

Samuel Heilman, professor of Jewish Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center, described fundamentalist Judaism as “a return to a Judaism that is an imagined past.” This is in reaction to a time of crisis, he said, pointing to the Holocaust, the mass migration of European Jews to Israel and the US, and their subsequent absorption into the new host culture.

“Most Jews embrace the modern world as new and improved, but fundamentalists see its attractions as counterfeit,” said Dr. Heilman.

The panelists, all authors of several books, participated in the Fundamentalism Project, a landmark study spearheaded by Dr. Marty that brought together international scholars to explore the nature and impact of fundamentalist movements in the twentieth century.

The symposium was co-sponsored by the Yeshiva College Book Project and was held in honor of the 75th anniversary of YC.