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A collection of essays offering an authoritative and up to date account on the history of atheism.
List of contents
Part I. Preliminaries: 1. Linguistic History of the Terms 'Atheism' and 'Atheist' Philip Durkin; 2. Histories of Atheism: A History Nathan Alexander; Part II. Atheisms in History: 3. Israel and the Near East Jaco Gericke; 4. Pre-modern Japan Sarah Whylly; 5. Ancient Greece Tim Whitmarsh; 6. The Roman Empire Nicole Hartmann; 7. India - 1500 BCE - 1200 CE Ramkrishna Bhattacharya; 8. Christian Europe Ian Logan; 9. The Islamic World Ilkka Lindstedt; Part III. Reformation, Renaissance, Enlightenment: 10. Reformation Alec Ryrie; 11. Early-modern England: Marlowe, Hobbes et al Jeffrey Collins; 12. Spinoza and the Low Countries Henri Krop; 13. Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-century France Alan Charles Kors; 14. The Scientific Revolution Michael Ruse; 15. Scottish enlightenment David McNaughton; 16. Al-Ghazali Shoaib Malik; Part IV. Classical modernity: philosophical and scientific currents: 17. Lives of Jesus and historico-critical scepticism Jeffrey Morrow; 18. Romanticism Ashley Clark; 19. John Stuart Mill Rosario López; 20. The physical sciences Martina Kölbl-Ebert; 21. Charles Darwin Bernard Lightman; 22. Freud and the Unconscious Marsha Hewitt; Part V. Classical Modernity: Social and Political Currents: 23. The French Revolution Xavier Marechaux (SUNY Old Westbury); 24. Freemasons, Atheists, and Anticlericals: Spanish American Struggles for Independence Gregorio Alonso; 25. Marx and Marxisms Andrew McKinnon; 26. Nineteenth-century Russia Victoria Frede; 27. Humanism and Secularism David Nash; 28. Bertrand Russell Dustin Olson; 29. Robert Ingersoll Paul Stob; 30. Early Women's Movement Suvi Karila; 31. Early African-American Secularism Christopher Cameron; Part VI. Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries: Intellectual and Artistic Currents: 32. Analytic Philosophy Sarah Chant; 33. Naturalism John Shook; 34. Existentialism Gary Foster; 35. Postmodernist Philosophies Gavin Hyman; 36. Ayn Rand and Objectivism James Lennox; 37. Darwinism Robert Pennock; 38. Literature Andrew Tate; 39. Music Paul Watt; 40. Visual Arts Richard Richards; 41. Film and Television Christopher Barnett; Part VII. Lived Atheism in the Twentieth- and Twenty-first Centuries: Case-studies: 42. Latin America Germain McKenzie; 43. Modern China Lan Li; 44. Contemporary China Fenggang Yang; 45. India Renny Thomas; 46. The Soviet Union Victoria Smolkin and Sonja Luehrmann; 47. Modern Germany Todd Weir; 48. The Nordic and Baltic Countries Teemu Taira, Atko Remmel and Anton Jansson; 49. USA Eric Chalfant; 50. The Pacific Northwest Tina Block and Lynn Marks; 51. Tunisia Yosr Ben Slima; 52. Southern Africa Leo Igwe; 53. Traditional Societies Benjamin Purzyck and Richard Sosis; Part VIII. Emerging Atheisms in the Twenty-first Century: 54. New Atheism Christopher Cotter; 55. The Internet and the Social Media Revolution Teemu Tiara; 56. The Atheist Spring? Emerging Unbelief in the Islamic World Karin van Nieuwkerk; 57. Intersectional Atheism: Sex, Gender and Race Melanie Brewster, Wei Motulsky, and Anthea Chan; 58. Religion for Atheists? Transhumanism, Mindfulness, and Atheist Churches Jacqui Frost; 59. Atheism Throughout the World Stephen Bullivant; Part IX. Conclusion: 60. Reflections Michael Ruse.
About the author
Michael Ruse is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Florida. He is the author or editor of over sixty books, including The Darwinian Revolution: Science Red in Tooth and Claw, Monad to Man: The Concept of Progress in Evolutionary Biology, Can a Darwinian be a Christian?, Darwinism as Religion: What Literature tells us about Evolution and On Purpose. Ruse is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the recipient of four honorary degrees.
