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, it has spurred fertile (and often heated) discussions both within, and between, a diverse range of disciplines. Yet atheism, and the New Atheism, are by no means co-extensive. Interesting though it indeed is, the New Atheism is a single, historically and culturally specific manifestation of positive atheism (the that there is/are no God/s), which is itself but one form of a far deeper, broader, and more significant global phenomenon. The Oxford Handbook of Atheism is a pioneering edited volume, exploring atheism - understood in the broad sense of "an absence of belief in the existence of a God or gods" - in all the richness and diversity of its historical and contemporary expressions. Bringing together an international team of established and emerging scholars, it probes the varied manifestations and implications of unbelief from an array of disciplinary perspectives (philosophy, history, sociology, anthropology, demography, psychology, natural sciences, gender and sexuality studies, literary criticism, film studies, musicology) and in a range of global contexts (Western Europe, North America, post-communist Europe, the Islamic world, Japan, India). Both surveying and synthesizing previous work, and presenting the major fruits of innovative recent research, the handbook is set to be a landmark text for the study of atheism.
Author
Stephen Bullivant is Senior Lecturer in Theology and Ethics in the School of Education, Theology and Leadership. He joined St Mary's in September 2009, after completing his DPhil at Oxford University on the Second Vatican Council's engagement with atheism. In June 2010, he was awarded the Catholic Theological Society of America's 'Catherine Mowry LaCugna Award for New Scholars'. He is currently Programme Director for the MA in Theology, for which he teaches the 'Scripture and Systematic Theology', 'Themes in Contemporary Theology', and 'Research and Reflective Practice' modules. On the BA Theology and Religious Studies, Stephen teaches both historical and doctrinal topics (inc. 'Foundations in Christian Theology', 'Trinity', 'Vatican II') and religious studies modules ('Atheism and Nonreligion'). He also teaches 'Christ and Christian Ethics' as part of St Mary's well-established foundation course in Youth Ministry. In addition to his ongoing theological work on - inter alia - the Christian engagement with unbelief, new evangelization, dialogue, and aspects of Catholic Social Teaching, Stephen publishes regularly on the social-scientific study of unbelief and secularity. From 2008 to 2014 he was a co-director of the international Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network. Between 2011 and 2014 he was a committee member of the European Society for Catholic Theology, serving as its delegate to the International Network of Societies for Catholic Theology. A popular speaker and writer, Stephen has appeared on BBC Radio 4 and Vatican Radio, and has written for (among others) New Scientist, The Guardian, America, and Strange Notions. He has also given invited talks and lectures in the United Kingdom, Finland, Italy, Brazil, the Philippines, and the USA.
