Episode Details

Religious fundamentalism is often framed as a relic of the past, but it is better understood as a modern response to rapid change. From its origins in American Protestantism to militant and traditionalist movements within Islam, Judaism, and Hinduism, fundamentalism has emerged wherever believers feel besieged by secular values, scientific authority, or cultural pluralism. In this episode, we explore how literal readings of scripture became tools of identity and resistance, why clashes like the Scopes Monkey Trial still echo today, and how these movements position themselves against elite institutions they see as hostile. The story suggests that fundamentalism is less about rejecting the modern world outright than about struggling to survive within it—by drawing hard boundaries in an age that relentlessly erodes them.

Ruthven, Malise, 'Family resemblances', Fundamentalism: A Very Short Introduction, Very Short Introductions (Oxford, 2007; online edn, Oxford Academic, 24 Sept. 2013), https://doi.org/10.1093/actrade/9780199212705.003.0001