An account of the resurgence of religious fundamentalism in the modern world, and of the conflict and strife to which it has given rise. Gilles Kepel examines this development by comparing three major world religions - Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

The Revenge of God is a compelling account of the resurgence of religious belief in the modern world, and of the conflict and strife to which it has given rise. Gilles Kepel examines this development by comparing three major world religions - Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. He shows that there are striking similarities between all three religions: despite the individual character of each religious doctrine and the revival of conflicts between them, all violently resist the spirit of the Enlightenment and the secular values which it has produced - liberalism, democracy, individualism and the privatization of morality. Kepel argues that all three religions have benefited from a growing disenchantment with political ideologies and secular utopias. Each of them includes a 'militant' membership of young, educated and modern people; each pursues both a strategy 'from above', seizing state power and using state legislation to promote its ends, and a strategy 'from below', by evangelizing the masses and taking control of their daily lives. Carefully and convincingly documented, Kepel's highly topical account ranges from Europe to America and the Middle East, from Protestant 'televangelists' to ultra-orthodox Jews, from Islamic militants to the 'charismatic renewal', and uncovers a hidden and often disturbing reality. Now available in English, The Revenge of God has sold 60,000 copies in France and thousands more throughout the world. It addresses one of the most important issues of our times and deserves to be widely read.

Translator:

Alan Braley

Publisher:

Polity Press

ISBN:

9780745612690

Publication date:

December 1993

Length:

229mm

Width:

152mm

Weight:

392g

Pages:

224

Illustrations:

0

Readership:

Undergraduate

Original language:

French

An informative history, previously published (1991) in France, of one of this century's more unexpected developments - the explosive popularity of religious orthodoxy. Kepel, an authority on Islamic fundamentalism, surveys the outburst of conservatism in major Western religions, and the effects of this movement on the secular state. Contradicting earlier studies that depict orthodoxy as a simple "no" to modernism, Kepel paints a more complex portrait of adherents who are often young, well-educated technocrats. The new conservatism (of which only a fraction is fundamentalist) is, he argues, "evidence of a deep malaise in society." The harbingers came 15 years ago, with the rise of Israel's Likkud party in 1977, the election of John Paul II in 1978, and the Iranian revolution in 1979. Kepel traces the roots of the Islamic revolt to the pre-WW II Muslim Brotherhood, whose followers preached a total break with the secular state. Their influence can be seen in the Intifada, the Shi'ite revolution in Iran, and the Rushdie affair. Christian conservatism has two components: Catholic aspirations for the "re-Christianization of Europe," tied to the fall of Communism and John Paul II's pontificate; and Protestant evangelism, especially strong in America, which has given rise not only to televangelism but, more recently, to a proliferation of evangelical universities. In Judaism, the emphasis is on returning secular Jews to the orthodox fold, epitomized by the proselytizing of the Lubavitch Hasidim. Kepel points out that all these movements share a rejection of the "secular city," but that they disagree on alternatives, with Christian conservatives loyal to democracy but at least some of the Jewish and Islamic orthodox favoring theocracy. Belongs alongside Martin Marty and R. Scott Appleby's The Glory and the Power (1992) as a notable study of orthodoxy and its political ramifications. (Kirkus Reviews)