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The term “fundamentalism” often conjures up images of militant radicals such as the Taliban or al-Qaeda, or the American “religious right”. These extremists often distort, falsify, and deform religion in order to advance their political and ideological agendas. This groundbreaking book by award-winning Brazilian journalist Mateus Soares de Azevedo examines Islamic and Christian radical ideologies, and argues that the term “fundamentalism”, defined as the passional attachment to a single point of view combined with a vehement rejection of all others, can also be applied more broadly to include narrow-minded anti-religious perspectives such as Marxism, Darwinism, and Freudianism.
In the 21st century it is obvious to all objective observers that passionate and emotional attachment to a single point of view, and the vehement rejection of all others, has become one of the main social, political, and religious issues that leads to conflicts around the globe. Alberto Vasconcellos Queiroz’s Foreword to this book begins with a solemn warning attributed to the “Doctor of Humanity,” Saint Thomas Aquinas: “I fear the man of a single book,” which refers to those who adhere to and defend a single point of view without engaging their human gifts of objectivity, reason, or empathy.
Awards
- Winner in the “Religion: Comparative Religion” category of The USA “Best Books 2011” Awards, sponsored by USA Book News
- ForeWord Book of the Year Award Finalist for “Religion”
- Midwest Book Award Silver Medal for “Current Events”
About the Author(s)
Mateus Soares de Azevedo
Mateus Soares de Azevedo is an author, translator, editor, and journalist from Minas Gerais, central Brazil. He is the author of a number of books and dozens of articles and essays dealing with the importance of traditional religion and spirituality in the contemporary world, some of them translated into English and Spanish. He has also translated a number of books by Guénon, Schuon, Lings, and other Perennialist figures into Portugese. His contributions to World Wisdom's books include:
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Alberto Queiroz
Alberto Vasconcellos Queiroz is the editor-in-chief of the Brazilian publishing house Stella Maris, which publishes books on the Perennial Philosophy and on spirituality in general. He has translated many titles by Frithjof Schuon and William Stoddart into Portuguese. In addition, Queiroz co-edited Remembering in a World of Forgetting: Thoughts on Tradition and Postmodernism, a collection of writings by William Stoddart.
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William Stoddart
William Stoddart (June 25, 1925 – November 9, 2023) was a Perennialist author, editor, and translator who was active in advancing the understanding of the writings of Frithjof Schuon, Titus Burckhardt, and others, for over 50 years. Dr. Stoddart's most recent publications with World Wisdom are An Illustrated Outline of Buddhism: The Essentials of Buddhist Spirituality, What Does Islam Mean in Today’s World?, and Outline of Sufism: The Essentials of Islamic Spirituality. A compilation of his writings, Remembering in a World of Forgetting, was edited by M. Soares de Azevedo and A. Vasconcellos Queiroz. Stoddart also edited The Essential Titus Burckhardt, and was perhaps the greatest authority on the work of this great Swiss traditionalist. Dr. Stoddart's other contributions in World Wisdom books include:
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Reviews
- This book constitutes a useful corrective to the distorted picture of Islam created by the actions of the so-called ‘Islamic’ terrorists, and also to the resulting inaccuracies and prejudices propagated daily by the Western media. In addition, it offers us a convincing rebuttal of the widely-publicized writings of certain notorious atheists such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens.
William Stoddart, author of What Do the Religions Say about Each Other? Christian Attitudes towards Islam, Islamic Attitudes towards Christianity
- The problem identified by Men of a Single Book — that of situating militant fundamentalism in its proper context — is one of today’s most urgent issues. This book provides the answers every reader needs to know.
Michael Fitzgerald, co-editor of The Universal Spirit of Islam: From the Koran and Hadith
- Islam practiced religious tolerance and has been responsible for the preservation of a significant parcel of human culture. This book gives a better understanding of the authentic spirit of Islam and other religions.
Heródoto Barbeiro, Brazilian journalist and TV host
- The challenge that Men of a Single Book delivers is that while Truth is one, it has many expressions that cannot be reduced to a single credo, as Saint Thomas Aquinas warned the faithful seven centuries ago. To understand this work is to go beyond the literalism and collectivism of the diverse revelations in their present state and thereby to recognize the spiritual counterfeits in order to dispel the shadows of what has become a sort of universal trance.
from a review in Parabola
