FUNDAMENTALISM AS A CHALLENGE FOR RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Empirical research on fundamentalist biographies—presented are three case studies and a summary of research results—demonstrate the complex biographical-motivational factors for fundamentalist turns, but also a transformational potential. Explaining fundamen-talist conversion and deconversion within a theoretical framework of fundamentalism as “modern anti-modernism ” and as “dislocation of religious styles ” opens up a new perspective on the goals of reli-gious education: to transcend the teaching of pure factual knowl-edge, to open up an atmosphere of “care of souls, ” to aim at overcoming literal understanding, and to engage in a creative labo-ratory for thought experiments in order to accompany fundamen-talist young people into processes of transformation. Public concern on fundamentalism is in the news almost every day. It is presented as antidemocratic, antimodern, and mostly violent, as glo