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"The conversation around atheism is still dominated by the strident and combative voices of figures like Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and the now-deceased Christopher Hitchens. In bestselling books, prominent columns, and widely viewed lectures, these commentators have claimed that religion is irrational, unscientific, morally corrosive, and something that must be actively opposed. Those who have tried to defend religion against these criticisms have tended to reproduce the idea that religion and atheism are competing theories about belief in divine beings. But defining atheism narrowly in terms of belief makes it into an abstraction that misrepresents atheism as it actually exists. There are other ways to imagine atheism, and The Varieties of Atheism performs that imaginative work. This collection offers an expansive account of atheism's diversity, exploring what it has meant in the past and what it can mean in the future. The essays highlight the contingency and ambivalence of basic categories like "atheism" and "religion," which are marked by the history of post-Enlightenment debates over Judaism and Christianity. The essays in this collection trace key themes and figures in these debates in conversation with early modern philosophy, medieval theology, and contemporary theory. By clarifying the complex lines of affinity and tension between particular atheists and particular religious traditions, The Varieties of Atheism opens new avenues for the study of secularity"--
About the author
David Newheiser is a senior research fellow in the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry at Australian Catholic University. He is the author of
Hope in a Secular Age: Deconstruction, Negative Theology, and the Future of Faith.
