Slaves to Faith
eBook - ePub

Slaves to Faith

A Therapist Looks Inside the Fundamentalist Mind

  1. 264 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Slaves to Faith

A Therapist Looks Inside the Fundamentalist Mind

About this book

As Dr. Mercer posits, the fundamentalist is fundamentally driven by anxiety layered over a fragile sense of self-identity constructed upon a system of beliefs that is both logically inconsistent and highly suspect in light of modern science. As a result, the fundamentalist completely rejects modernity while battling mightily in the arena of national politics and culture to bring about a world that aligns more closely with the fundamentalist worldview. Focusing on Christian fundamentalists, the author puts Christian fundamentalism in its historical and theological contexts. At the same time, Mercer calls upon cognitive theory to explain that the fundamentalist's life story is not particular to Christianity or any other religious belief system but that fundamentalist Catholics, Muslims, Jews, and those of all other faiths share a common psychological profile. Indeed, Mercer insists that if the Christian terminology were eliminated from contemporary fundamentalist Christian rhetoric, what would remain would be a framework that fundamentalists from other religions would find quite familiar and even comforting. In other words, the structure of the fundamentalist worldview, and the psychology beneath it, is pretty much the same across religions. It is a controversial thing to say about Christian fundamentalism, a thesis that has already proved contentious in the author's public appearances, and one that is sure to generate considerable attention and passionate debate as the U.S. populace continues to divide into opposing camps.

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Yes, you can access Slaves to Faith by Calvin Mercer in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Theology & Religion & Religious Fundamentalism & Cults. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Dedication
  4. Contents
  5. Foreword
  6. Preface: My Longest Email
  7. Acknowledgments
  8. Introduction
  9. Part One: The Birth of Fundamentalism
  10. Part Two: Core Fundamentalist Beliefs
  11. Part Three: A Psychological Profile
  12. Part Four: Strategies for Dialogue
  13. Concluding Reflections
  14. Appendix 1: Letters from Former Fundamentalist Students
  15. Appendix 2: An Elementary Guide to Exegeting the Bible
  16. Notes
  17. Bibliography
  18. Index
  19. About the Author
  20. eCopyright