Paper 2 - the Rise of Fundamentalism

Fundamentalism is a strict adherence to a set of ideas or beliefs that are conservative in nature. It is a pejorative term usually associated with religious fanaticism. Usually, this is what comes to mind when there is mention of a fundamentalist. However, in Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist starring the protagonist Changez, a Pakistani Princetonian who is a top-ranked employee at a prestigious New York valuation firm, turns out not to be an Islamic fundamentalist, but a reluctant fundamentalist of US Capitalism. Hamid challenges readers to reevaluate their preconceived notions and prejudices of people different from themselves in post 9/11 America by employing the use of motifs, aphorism, and suspense, to create a conflation

The source of the Fundamentalists’ faith is the Bible. But what do the Fundamentalists believe about the Bible? This is the question I am trying to answer for myself. I will present my understanding of the Fundamentalists’ view of the Bible along with my Catholic view of the Bible. My mission is not to offend, but to open a dialogue between the two views. I know from experience that this is a very touchy topic. The best way to go about conversing with someone of different beliefs, I believe, is to see their belief in its best light. I believe it is important to develop a sense of respect for the variety of ways people experience the divine in the lives. Keeping that in mind, I give you my interpretation of the Fundamentalist and the Catholic view of the Bible. Both Catholics and Fundamentalists agree that the Bible is a divinely inspired, infallible, and authoritative means for people to know Christ. There are some distinctions between the Catholics’ and the Fundamentalists’ view of the Bible. Both Catholics and Fundamentalists believe the Bible to be inspired by God; they believe the Bible to be the Word of God. Fundamentalists place most of their emphasis on God as the author of the bible. They do not pay much attention to the human side of the Bible’s authorship. Fundamentalists believe in total word-for-word inspiration of the Bible. The Catholic Church does not teach that God merely dictated

Machen stated that the New Testament books “are regarded by all serious historians as genuine products of the first Christian generation.” (PAGE 18) The statement merely could be false without Machen’s willingness to terminate as un-serious all historians who ignore the validity and authority of the New Testament. The argument of the New Testament authenticity is still conflicted between in liberalism and typical denominations. A weakness in Machen’s argument on Doctrine was while Machen indicates that the New testament could be understood through the perspective of the “primitive Jerusalem church” (PAGE 22), no supportive agreement was found what the primitive church looked

advances from the 1870s to the 1910s to try and understand why most church leaders could say “Without blushing or winking” that the twentieth would be “the Christian century” (16). It seemed like it was not

These sacrilegious men are refuted by the Apostle’s words that the Church “is built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.” If the Church has been founded on these writings from the very beginning, it is a false notion that the power of judging the Scripture belongs to the Church. Instead, the Church must perform a duty of piety by treating Scripture with immediate veneration (worship).

The Transcendentalist notion of questioning the bible as a legitimate authority must have shaken the foundation

Fundamentalism is a type of religious reaction to all forms of modernity. Within Christianity this phenomenon is mostly characteristic of Protestantism but is also found in Catholicism. In fact, the term fundamentalism was coined in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century, but it was only toward the end of that century that the term began to be applied to some

After the Civil War, various intellectual, social and religious changes undermined the foundations of the Evangelical Empire. The so-called higher criticism of the Bible (See Biblical Interpretation) cropped up in many seminaries and called into question traditional views of biblical accuracy and authority. Darwinism and the new geology won rapid acceptance

Hamid’s use of symbolism is significantly effective in The Reluctant Fundamentalistbecause it adds so much more meaning to the main idea of the book. Without understanding the symbolism, the reader might think Erica is simply an American girl who Changez falls in love with, but the symbolism adds much more purpose to her character. Just from understanding the symbolism of Erica, the reader gains the understanding of America’s effect on Changez and how he really is a “reluctant fundamentalist.”

Religious narrow mindedness is bigotry against another's religious convictions or practices or scarcity in that department. The unimportant articulation with respect to a religion that its own particular convictions and practices are right and any opposite convictions are off base does not in itself constitutes narrow mindedness. Religious narrow mindedness, rather, is the point at which a gathering particularly declines to endure practices, persons or convictions on religious grounds. The limit for or the act of perceiving and regarding the convictions or practices of others or the capacity or ability to endure the presence of sentiments or conduct that one aversions or can't help contradicting another is Religious Tolerance.

The third school of interpretation is Traditionalism. Traditionalists maintain that the Bible is full of truth, God is revealed within the Bible and that it is inspired by the Holy Spirit. One of the key characteristics of their approach to the Bible is its emphasis on the need to understand the nature of the different types of literature within the bible. However, traditionalists would not accept the fundamentalist’s notion of inerrancy as many would acknowledge that there are mistakes in the Bible. These are seen as a reflection of both the historical context in which they are written and the human fallibility of the authors. As with Liberals, traditionalists believe that some aspects of the Bible need to be reinterpreted for today. Traditionalists place a lot of emphasis on the process of exegesis. However, after establishing the intended meaning of the author the next step in the traditional approach is the question of how it should be applied to Christian today. However, whereas fundamentalists believe that the true meaning of a text should be clear to each reader;

In the book, The Reluctant Fundamentalist starts off with how the narrator is from Pakistan and is living the American Dream by attending one of the most competitive schools in the United States, Princeton. “I was one of only two Pakistanis in my entering class- two from a population of over a hundred million souls, mind you- the Americans faced much less daunting odds in the selection process” (Hamid 3). This quote caught attention based off how the narrator felt being at Princeton and the perspective the novel gives out to the reader. Claiming that the narrator had the opportunity to attend such a high standing university, demonstrated another side of him and where he came from. The narrator started in Pakistan and craved an education so he had made his way to America to attend a very nice school, and noticing how he is one out of two Pakistanis explains how education is a theme right off the first few pages of the text. Also this quote explains how Americans did not face much daunting odds in the selection process. It appears that the narrator said that the administrative who accept students into the university, did not have a hard time handling the two Pakistanis acceptance.

press their interpretation of the book upon society. But the certainty at fundamentalism’s core is

In The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Moshin Hamid, The main character Changez experiences life both as an American and as a Pakistani. The setting take place in a restaurant in Lahore and Changez is talking to a stranger to our knowledge about his endeavors in America. Changez is in America, and finds himself becoming more and more fond of the American lifestyle and even meets a girl named Erica who he first thinks is the love of his life. Fast forwarding into the future Changez’s job is not all as great as he thinks and America in general is not the dream he thought he had been living, Changez soon figures this out after his relationship with Erica becomes a total bust and his job isn’t the amazing job he thought it was, and he soon feels like a slave to America and the American ways of life. He ends up returning to Lahore back home and becomes a professor at a university, and is an advocate to disengagement from America to Lahore. Within this novel Hamid shapes the protagonist, Changez, as someone who is sincerely both a lover and critic of America. Changez truly does love America, at least in the beginning, because it was like his relationship with Erica: you first meet a person and you like what you see, and you get to know that person and start developing feelings and enjoy being with that person, like he did being in America, but when he started finding out bad things or things she was doing he did not like, like he did when he found out America was bombing near his country. When Changez found this out he felt in a sense betrayed. It doesn’t mean that he doesn’t love America anymore, but he was simply unaware and now that he’s aware he became a critic as well as a lover.

In The Reluctant Fundamentalist there is a notion that the American business model is a process of militarization. In another obvious allusion, the initials of the company that Changez works for, Underwood Sampson are those of the United States, linking the company to the American way of business, politics, and life that is originally admired by Changez. Underwood Sampson is a micro chasm of American business dream where efficiency is the ultimate goal and individual differences are ignored in a melting pot society in favor of a homogenous international identity. The American way is revealed in the company’s claims to be a “meritocracy”. Changez is told “We believe in being the best…if you do well, you’ll be rewarded. If you don’t you’ll