Hosted by Renzo Guolo, a scholar of contemporary fundamentalisms. He teaches Sociology and Sociology of Religion at the University of Trieste and collaborates with various journals, including Limes, MicroMega, and Il Mulino. He also provides commentary for local newspapers within the Espresso-La Repubblica group.
What is the distinction between religion and fundamentalism? Are there connections between the two concepts? Writer and scholar of religious issues Karen Armstrong, author of A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and Muhammad, discusses with Renzo Guolo, Professor of Sociology at the University of Padova, contemporary fundamentalisms (not just Islamic), their causes, and their possible outcomes in the era of "second modernity," intensified by globalization processes. They explore how these fundamentalisms relate to the crisis of the public sphere, which, orphaned by the grand ideologies of the 20th century and now empty, is increasingly being filled by distorted interpretations of religion that provide identity to those who identify with them.
