The Revenge of God: The Resurgence of Islam, Christianity and Judaism in the Modern World [Paperback]

Gilles Kepel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1994

In this translation of the best-selling French book, La Revanche de Dieu, Gilles Kepel, one of Europe's leading authorities on Islamic societies, offers a compelling account of the resurgence of religious belief in the modern world. His focus is radical movements within Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Much has been written recently about the rise of fundamentalisms in contemporary religion. Kepel, however, finds the term 'fundamentalism,' which derives from the American Protestant experience, to be inadequate for understanding revivalist movements throughout the rest of the world. Ranging from America to Europe and the Middle East, from Protestant televangelists to ultra-Orthodox Jews, from Islamic militants to the 'charismatic renewal,' Kepel argues that each of these movements resists the spirit of modernity and secularism. Nevertheless, they cannot be dismissed simply as a reaction to modernity. In Kepel's words, 'They are true children of our time.' Each group contains a militant membership of young, educated, and modern people. Rather than retreat into the past, they seek to recreate society according to a set of symbols and values in accordance with their holy scriptures. Each group pursues both a strategy from above, attempting to seize state power and use state legislation to promote its ends, and a strategy from below, evangelizing the masses and seeking to take control of their daily lives.According to Kepel, we have much to learn from today's religious movements. Like the workers' movements of yesteryear, they have a singular capacity to reveal the ills of society. Whether or not we agree with their diagnoses, they offer an important and perceptive critique of our society at the end of the millennium.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

An informative history, previously published (1991) in France, of one of this century's more unexpected developments-- the explosive popularity of religious orthodoxy. Kepel, an authority on Islamic fundamentalism, surveys the outburst of conservatism in major Western religions, and the effects of this movement on the secular state. Contradicting earlier studies that depict orthodoxy as a simple ``no'' to modernism, Kepel paints a more complex portrait of adherents who are often young, well-educated technocrats. The new conservatism (of which only a fraction is fundamentalist) is, he argues, ``evidence of a deep malaise in society.'' The harbingers came 15 years ago, with the rise of Israel's Likkud party in 1977, the election of John Paul II in 1978, and the Iranian revolution in 1979. Kepel traces the roots of the Islamic revolt to the pre-WW II Muslim Brotherhood, whose followers preached a total break with the secular state. Their influence can be seen in the Intifada, the Shi'ite revolution in Iran, and the Rushdie affair. Christian conservatism has two components: Catholic aspirations for the ``re-Christianization of Europe,'' tied to the fall of Communism and John Paul II's pontificate; and Protestant evangelism, especially strong in America, which has given rise not only to televangelism but, more recently, to a proliferation of evangelical universities. In Judaism, the emphasis is on returning secular Jews to the orthodox fold, epitomized by the proselytizing of the Lubavitch Hasidim. Kepel points out that all these movements share a rejection of the ``secular city,'' but that they disagree on alternatives, with Christian conservatives loyal to democracy but at least some of the Jewish and Islamic orthodox favoring theocracy. Belongs alongside Martin Marty and R. Scott Appleby's The Glory and the Power (1992) as a notable study of orthodoxy and its political ramifications. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

An astonishing book on one of the burning issues of the day. --Le Parisien

Stimulating, remarkably well-informed, and completely unpartisan, The Revenge of God paints a disturbing picture of our world at the end of the millennium when, once again, apocalyptic voices are making themselves heard. --La Quinzaine Litteraire

This book is well-informed and written in a precise and accessible way. . . . Rather than take sides, Kepel concentrates on describing and analyzing a major phenomenon of our time. --Le Figaro

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Product Details

• Paperback: 215 pages
• Publisher: Pennsylvania State Univ Pr (January 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0271013141
• ISBN-13: 978-0271013145
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #301,417 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #47 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Islam > Theology

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27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A thorough study of the rise of modern religious militants, October 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Revenge of God: The Resurgence of Islam, Christianity and Judaism in the Modern World (Paperback)

Islamic fundamentalists murdered nuns in Algeria, Menachem Goldstein opened fire on praying Muslims at the Tomb of the Patriarch, physicians and patients were gunned down at family planning clinics for performing legal abortions. The list of terror acts in the name of God is growing. What is the origin of this violence, and is there a common denominator between these different religious fundamentalists? Dr. Kepel describes in this very well written book how the three major Abrahamitic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam - four, if you like Dr. Kepel in this study, separate Protestantism and Catholicism) have gone through a notable transformation since the seventies, from adapting their doctrines to the surrounding secular world, to demanding that the secular world adapt to their doctrines. He shows how, as a consequence of this shift, the tolerance towards other religions as well as to secular society has been dramatically reduced. In turn, this has caused an increased willingness amongst religious extremists to use violence to ensure that the surrounding world follows and obeys the demands and customs of the religious communities. One of the central theses, and maybe the most interesting, in Kepel's book is how these tendencies are common to all four religions and how their origins also are similar. Partly because of his viewpoint - Kepel is a islamist at the French research agency CNRS - the book very effectively shows how also modern Christianity and Judaism show tendencies that many probably associate with only militant Islam. Kepel shows how for all three religions the transformation is a more or less explicit rebellion against the enlightenment and rationalism, mostly founded in a desperation about the social end economic conditions in the wake of the recession of the 70:ties. In all cases the "grass roots" movement that arouse around that time has since risen to power and it's in its fringes that the violence flourishes. There is a tendency to accept a certain amount of extremism in the name of cultural and religious freedom, but the question arises: how much do we accept that the freedom of expression and choice is limited in order to meet religious standards and norms? "The Revenge of God" won't answer these questions, but it's an excellent introduction to the background and the context in which they must be answered.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely Useful for Understanding Vital Matters of our Time, June 5, 2005

By 

RJ Buck "Lover of the Sacred Heart" (Liverpool, England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Revenge of God: The Resurgence of Islam, Christianity and Judaism in the Modern World (Paperback)

This book was originally published in France in 1991 and remains incredibly topical. It illustrates better than any book I know, the resurgence of religion the author calls `re-Christianization', `re-Islamicization' and `re-Judaicization'. It powerfully points out that the views of those who still feel secure in - or dismayed by - the apparent triumph of secular modernity, may be thirty years out of date.

For although by the early 1970's it seemed that a modern liberal secularity was becoming everywhere more dominant, by the late 1970's, the tide began to turn.

Kepel locates his account of this turning in four streams: Protestant and Catholic Christianity, Judaism and Islam. He begins with the late 70's founding of Falwell's Moral Majority, the 1978 election of Pope John Paul II, Begin's 1977 victory over nearly thirty years of secular Zionism and Khomeini's 1979 revolution in Iran, and goes on to marshal, an amazing amount of facts and insights from the following years illustrating a continued activity in all of these domains to establish cultures that break from secularism in decisive ways and mount challenges to the secularist state.

I give this book high praise on numerous accounts. Its subject is incredibly important and still so overlooked in many attempts to understand our contemporary world. Kepel's marshalling of evidence is prodigious. It is very well written and accessible. Its tone is balanced, fair and non-polemical. It cries out to read and absorbed - deeply - by anyone seeking to understand our times. I can hardly recommend it highly enough.

Thus, I am not prepared to dock this book a single star. Yet, as far as I am concerned, it has serious faults. As a point of disclosure, I will say I am a Catholic traditionalist of the kind that arouses Kepel's concern. From my perspective, the book misrepresents aspects of Christianity and no doubt, it also misrepresents Judaism and Islam. As I am not qualified to comment on these latter, however, I will mostly restrict myself to the field of Christianity.

Thus, I will say that my main critique of Kepel's account of religious resurgence, is that it is too monolithic, too homogeneous. He seems to assume that the return to religion, is a more or less single phenomenon in response to secularism's failures, though varying from culture to culture. However such variations in culture are not sufficient to explain the fact that there is a world of difference between the Ayatollah ordering the execution of Rushdie and John Paul II proclaiming - with deep sincerity, I believe - that `the Church must propose, it must not impose'.

There is a world of difference between John Paul II declaring that other religions constitute the `normal' way of salvation for those involved in them, and being unsure `whether' any one is in hell and Protestant fundamentalism. There is a world of difference between a kind of Christianity - and I believe Judaism and Islam, as well - that weeps for the entire way secularism degrades humanity and that which focusses on a few limited issues, such as, say, abortion. Certainly John Paul was concerned with abortion too - but his critique of modernity was hardly limited to a few `flash-points'. It extended to include the entire way capitalism and communism debases the human being as a means, not an end, the way our culture of arid commercialism manipulates the desires of millions and the cultural deserts that results from utilitarianism and functionalism. You will not hear Jerry Falwell taking about these things ...

My point is that resurgent religion may encompass at least two distinct types of phenomena. On the one hand, a simplistic fundamentalist backlash. On the other hand, a profound meditative seeking for a higher order of values than secularism permits - an order of values that does not permit the tragedies of either laissez faire capitalism or communism. Moreover, although Kepel is understandably concerned with the way resurgent religion can compromise freedom, he does not consider nearly enough the way secularist ideology may do exactly the same - except perhaps unconsciously, as when he notes how the new religious resurgence is `an attempt to loosen the grip of secularism'. Yes, secularism has a powerful `grip' ... all the more effective and insidious, because it manages to disguise itself as `value-neutral'.

Whatever my qualms, I repeat: five stars. This book is incredibly useful for understanding matters of fundamental import to our times.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If ever I forget thee, O Jerusalem, October 25, 2003

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E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Revenge of God: The Resurgence of Islam, Christianity and Judaism in the Modern World (Paperback)

Gilles Kepel, professor at the Institute of Political Studies of Paris is one of the world's foremost experts on the modern Middle East. In "The Revenge of God" he discusses the resurgence of the three monotheisms that each claims Jerusalem as its own holy city. This book was first published in 1994, but Professor Kepel's chapters on the Islamic revival can be profitably read with post-9/11 hindsight.

Just a glance at this week's 'NY Times' headlines such as "Syria, Long Ruthlessly Secular, Sees Fervent Islamic Resurgence" and "Bush Says He Disagrees With General [Boykin's] Remarks on Religion" are an indication that Professor Kepel's comparative essay is still very topical.

From my viewpoint, the most frightening chapters were not on the revival of Islamic extremism, but the battle for the re-Judaization of Israel by groups such as the Gush Emunim. Intellectually, the concept of 'sacred ground' is easily understood, but the viewpoint that non-Jews have no right to the land that had been promised to the Chosen People is harder to grasp by someone like myself who was raised in a secular state--especially when that viewpoint was carried to its logical extreme via a plot to blow up the mosques on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

If you think it is going to be easy for the Israeli Government to disband the West Bank settlements of its fundamentalist citizens, you need to read this book.

The title of this book might even give an atheist cause to fear when examined in the light of extremist groups such as Gush Emunium or the followers of Sayyid Qutb, the father of modern Islamist fundamentalism. According to Professor Kepel, the radical pessimism of Sayyid Qutb's message did not take root until social conditions in Egypt fell into disarray in the 1970s. Modernism and secularism were profoundly rejected by Qutb's followers, just as they had been by members of Jewish, Protestant, and Catholic fundamentalist groups.

The author contends that the 'simultaniety' of this rejection of modernism by all of these religious groups was the "loss of assurance born of scientific and technological progress since the 1950s." Another factor was the death of "the great atheist messianic ideology of the twentieth century, communism." In his concluding chapter, "Reconquering the World," Professor Kepel writes that the danger (although he does not use the word 'danger') posed by the fundamentalist groups is that in their rejection of the philosophy of the Enlightenment, they also reject the legitimacy of secular governments. "The successes of the Islamists are the clearest indication of the political, economic, and social bankruptcy of the post-independence ruling elites."

How will the social breakdown of the Muslim Mediterranean countries affect the rest of the world? We are just beginning to realize what a quagmire we've gotten ourselves into in Iraq. Even if you don't agree with Professor Kepel's thesis, read this book for a French professor's view of American evangelists Jerry Falwell, Oral Roberts, and Jim Bakker. He doesn't take any cheap shots, but he'll still make you smile (or say 'ouch').