Table Of Content

THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF ATHEISM THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF ATHEISM Edited by STEPHEN BULLIVANT and MICHAEL RUSE Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, United Kingdom Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries © Oxford University Press 2013 The moral rights of the authors have been asserted First Edition published in 2013 Impression: 1 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Control Number: 2013948263 ISBN 978–0–19–964465–0 Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, cr0 4yy Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials contained in any third party website referenced in this work. CONTENTS Acknowledgements List of Contributors Introduction: The Study of Atheism STEPHEN BULLIVANT AND MICHAEL RUSE PART I DEFINITIONS AND DEBATES 1. Defining ‘Atheism’ STEPHEN BULLIVANT 2. The Case against Atheism T. J. MAWSON 3. Critiques of Theistic Arguments A. C. GRAYLING 4. Arguments for Atheism GRAHAM OPPY 5. The Problem of Evil MICHAEL L. PETERSON 6. Atheism and Morality ERIK J. WIELENBERG 7. Atheism and the Meaningfulness of Life KIMBERLY A. BLESSING 8. Aquinas and Atheism BRIAN DAVIES PART II HISTORY OF (WESTERN) ATHEISM 9. From the Pre-Socratics to the Hellenistic Age DAVID SEDLEY 10. The First Millennium MARK EDWARDS 11. The Medieval Period DOROTHEA WELTECKE 12. Renaissance and Reformation DENIS J.-J. ROBICHAUD 13. The Age of Enlightenment ALAN CHARLES KORS 14. The (Long) Nineteenth Century DAVID NASH 15. The Twentieth Century CALLUM G. BROWN 16. New Atheism THOMAS ZENK PART III WORLDVIEWS AND SYSTEMS 17. Humanism STEPHEN LAW 18. Existentialism ALISON STONE 19. Marxism PETER THOMPSON 20. Analytic Philosophy CHARLES PIGDEN 21. Jewish Atheism JACQUES BERLINERBLAU 22. Buddhism ANDREW SKILTON 23. Jainism ANNE VALLELY 24. Hinduism JESSICA FRAZIER PART IV ATHEISM AND THE NATURAL SCIENCES 25. Naturalism and the Scientific Method MICHAEL RUSE 26. Atheism and the Rise of Science TANER EDIS 27. Atheism and Darwinism DAVID P. BARASH 28. Atheism and the Physical Sciences VICTOR J. STENGER PART V ATHEISM AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES 29. Atheism and the Secularization Thesis FRANK L. PASQUALE AND BARRY A. KOSMIN 30. The Psychology of Atheism MIGUEL FARIAS 31. Atheism and Cognitive Science JONATHAN A. LANMAN 32. Atheism and Societal Health PHIL ZUCKERMAN 33. Atheism, Gender, and Sexuality MELANIE ELYSE BREWSTER 34. Atheism, Health, and Well-Being KAREN HWANG 35. Conversion and Deconversion RALPH W. HOOD JR. AND ZHUO CHEN PART VI GLOBAL EXPRESSIONS 36. A World of Atheism: Global Demographics ARIELA KEYSAR AND JUHEM NAVARRO-RIVERA 37. Western Europe LOIS LEE 38. North America RYAN T. CRAGUN, JOSEPH H. HAMMER, AND JESSE M. SMITH 39. Central and Eastern Europe IRENA BOROWIK, BRANKO ANČIĆ, AND RADOSŁAW TYRAŁA 40. The Islamic World SAMULI SCHIELKE 41. India JOHANNES QUACK 42. Japan SARAH WHYLLY PART VII ATHEISM AND THE ARTS 43. Literature BERNARD SCHWEIZER 44. The Visual Arts J. SAGE ELWELL 45. Music PAUL A. BERTAGNOLLI 46. Film NINA POWER Index

Description:

Recent books by, among others, Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Christopher Hitchens have thrust atheism firmly into the popular, media, and academic spotlight. This so-called New Atheism is arguably the most striking development in western socio-religious culture of the past decade or more. As such