Between Relativism And Fundamentalism

The current religious scene is dominated by two extremes – relativism and fundamentalism. Neither is desirable: relativism claims that all questions of truth are irrelevant and fundamentalism insists on sole possession of absolute truth. Here Peter L. Berger has gathered a group of religion scholars to consider how a middle position can be defined out of different traditions.

The book begins with an extensive overview. The second section covers the sociological aspect of the argument, giving an objective picture of how relativism and fundamentalism play out in the contemporary world. The essays in the third section deal with theology and are normative rather than descriptive. From their differing vantage points – several Christian traditions and one conservative Jewish tradition – the contributors carve out a space between the two extremes.