He is the author or coauthor of numerous books on modern Christianity. He also has contributed articles and essays to Foreign Affairs, Harvard Theological Review and other publications. He combines religious with historical sensitivities to help us understand the rise and rational of fundamentalist movements and their impact on religion, education and politics. Appleby defined religious fundamentalism as a movement that organizes in opposition to a perceived threat to identity. Fundamentalism is a general mode that manifests itself in most of the world's religions including Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism.
Global conflicts fall into three categories.
Those conflicts, such as the recent war between Peru and Bolivia, which do not involve religion. Those wars, such as the war in Bosnia, where religion is not central but where ethnic tensions tend to exacerbate the situation. Finally, there are conflicts where religion is central, such as the fighting in Algeria. These religious movements are not supernovas that appeared in the last 50 years. They will continue to be around.