Agnosticism and atheism Books

Book SynopsisPeter Heehs is an independent scholar based in India. His publications include Writing the Self (Bloomsbury, 2013) and The Lives of Sri Aurobindo (2008). His books have been translated into Russian, Dutch, French and Japanese.Trade ReviewHeehs offers a clear, analytical, narrative history that demonstrates how certain elements of non-theistic (or not strictly theistic) thought and practice in the religious histories of India, China, and the Greco-Roman world eventually coalesced to produce the burgeoning ‘godless’ spirituality of the modern West. * Journal of Contemporary Religion *Peter Heehs’s book and historical examination, Spirituality without God, comes at a timely moment in the discourse on spiritual practice. * Bulletin of the British Association for the Study of Religions *The book gives a map, through time and place, of the world’s various theistic and nontheistic spiritualities … The 'spiritual but not religious' phenomenon is growing, and readers can learn more about it through this thoughtful and knowledgeable author, who for decades has been a resident of an intentional, spiritual community. * Horizons: The Journal of the College Theology Society *Spirituality Without God should be read by all professors at seminaries around the world. It is helpful for gaining insight and understanding in the rise of modern nontheistic religions and spiritualities. It would be an excellent book for use in Christian evangelism classes. * Reading Religion *For those interested in spirituality and its practices, Peter Heehs' book is an interesting source ... Easy to access, very well documented. * Archives de sciences sociales des religions (Bloomsbury Translation) *Heehs is a clear and engaging writer… The book would thus fit easily and well in an undergraduate classroom. * Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses *Spirituality without God: A Global History of Thought and Practice traces the history of nontheistic spiritual thought and practice from the ancient world to our days. In this comprehensive, thought provoking work Peter Heehs traces a variety of spiritual approaches to life which were combined with disbelief in the supernatural. Peter Heehs shows in this impressive and well researched book that the search for spiritual wisdom unfettered by God(s), flourished for thousands of years, alongside religions based on worship of Divine beings. * Boaz Huss, Professor of Jewish Thought, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel *Spirituality without God is an ambitious exploration of the rich history and pervasive influence of godless spirituality in many regions of the world, and the shifting meanings attached to the word spirituality. With its autobiographical reflections, Peter Heehs’ engaging study is particularly timely in a period when many in Europe and North America, the ‘none of the aboves’, choose to identify themselves as spiritual rather than religious. For anyone wishing to understand how ‘spiritual’ has come to mean, according to Peter Heehs, virtually the opposite of ‘religion’, Spirituality without God will be a rewarding read. * Gwilym Beckerlegge, Professor of Modern Religions, The Open University, UK *A fascinating and creative non-Eurocentric approach to the history of religion that is relevant to understanding contemporary religious ideas and practices. This is a very interesting book with a broad audience by a fine historian with a creative and synthetic approach. * Jay L. Garfield, Doris Silbert Professor in the Humanities, Smith College and Harvard Divinity School, USA *Table of ContentsPrologue, A Religion is Born 1. Introduction: Religion and Spirituality, Gods and Godlessness 2. Theistic and Nontheistic Religions in the Ancient World 3. Defending and Debating Tradition 4. The Triumph of Theism 5. The Coming of Modernity and the Decline of God 6. Secularizing the Sacred 7. The Death and Afterlife of God Epilogue, Spiritual but Still Religious? Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisBased on 10 years of dedicated research, Dangerous Illusions is a battle cry for the human race to throw off religion in favour of logic and reason. In this committed and passionate book, author Vitaly Malkin - a philanthropist, business man and investor - argues for a radical shift in humanity's thinking about religion; that reason and religion cannot co-exist, and that mankind will only be truly happy if we are able to shake off the illusions of religion in order to live a life more rooted in the present. Dangerous Illusions sets out to explore the irrational demands that religion makes of man and asks the reader to question what benefit these acts offer human beings in this life. Malkin scrutinises topics such as suffering and evil, pleasure and asceticism, sex and celibacy, and circumcision and excision, through the lens of the three major world monotheistic religions - Christianity, Islam and Judaism. In doing so, the book fearlessly refutes our most careless beliefs, encouraging us to be more aware of the dangers religions pose to our society and, even to change our intellectual practices altogether.

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Book SynopsisThoughtful essays to revive dialogue about atheism beyond belief. The Varieties of Atheism reveals the diverse nonreligious experiences obscured by the combative intellectualism of Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Christopher Hitchens. In fact, contributors contend that narrowly defining atheism as the belief that there is no god misunderstands religious and nonreligious persons altogether. The essays show that, just as religion exceeds doctrine, atheism also encompasses every dimension of human life: from imagination and feeling to community and ethics. Contributors offer new, expansive perspectives on atheism's diverse history and possible futures. By recovering lines of affinity and tension between particular atheists and particular religious traditions, this book paves the way for fruitful conversation between religious and non-religious people in our secular age.Trade Review“What does it mean to be an atheist? It’s not just one thing, it’s not just disbelief in god. There’s a positive expression connected to ideas of ethics, our relationship with authority, how reason and experience and the material world inform our lives, when does science become moral–these are big questions that we have to ask. This book points the way to a positive belief.” * Beyond Atheism Podcast *"Fundamental for anyone interested in the study of atheism." * Reading Religion *“What is atheism? Neither a mere negation, nor a single (self-evident?) truth: this book makes clear that it is as rich, varied, and nuanced as religion itself. To call yourself an atheist is not to state a position, but to start a conversation—a conversation for which this book is an excellent primer.” -- Alec Ryrie, author of 'Unbelievers: An Emotional History of Doubt'“An excellent collection of essays by well-established and up-and-coming voices in religious studies, this book is both critical of New Atheism’s reductive critique of religion and constructive with new possibilities—theological, philosophical, ethical, and political. It enriches the debates by giving atheism histories and subtleties that debates themselves frequently lack.” -- Graham Ward, University of Oxford“Just as contemporary scholars of religion have pushed us to move beyond simplistic equations between religion and belief, this stimulating collection of essays urges us to recognize that atheism also comes in many varieties. By exploring the implications of different forms of atheism and their relation to different conceptions of science, politics, power, ethics, literature, and, indeed, life, this book is a major contribution to the study of religion and its critics. Anyone interested in the relation between religion and the modern world will have much to learn from this exciting collection.” -- Leora Batnitzky, Princeton UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction The Genealogy of Atheism David Newheiser 1 Atheism and Science: On Einstein’s “Cosmic Religious Sense” Mary-Jane Rubenstein 2 Atheism and Society: Hume’s Prefiguration of Rorty Andre C. Willis 3 Atheism and Power: Nietzsche, Nominalism, and the Reductive Spirit Denys Turner 4 Atheism and Ethics: Recovering the Link between Truth and Transformation Susannah Ticciati 5 Atheism and Metaphysics: A Problem of Apophatic Theology Henning Tegtmeyer 6 Atheism and Politics: Abandonment, Absence, and the Empty Throne Devin Singh 7 Atheism and Literature: Living without God in Dante’s Comedy Vittorio Montemaggi 8 Atheism and the Affirmation of Life: Dostoevsky’s Response to Russian Nihilism George Pattison Afterword: The Drama of Atheism Constance M. Furey Acknowledgments Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“What does it mean to be an atheist? It’s not just one thing, it’s not just disbelief in god. There’s a positive expression connected to ideas of ethics, our relationship with authority, how reason and experience and the material world inform our lives, when does science become moral–these are big questions that we have to ask. This book points the way to a positive belief.” * Beyond Atheism Podcast *"Fundamental for anyone interested in the study of atheism." * Reading Religion *“What is atheism? Neither a mere negation, nor a single (self-evident?) truth: this book makes clear that it is as rich, varied, and nuanced as religion itself. To call yourself an atheist is not to state a position, but to start a conversation—a conversation for which this book is an excellent primer.” -- Alec Ryrie, author of 'Unbelievers: An Emotional History of Doubt'“An excellent collection of essays by well-established and up-and-coming voices in religious studies, this book is both critical of New Atheism’s reductive critique of religion and constructive with new possibilities—theological, philosophical, ethical, and political. It enriches the debates by giving atheism histories and subtleties that debates themselves frequently lack.” -- Graham Ward, University of Oxford“Just as contemporary scholars of religion have pushed us to move beyond simplistic equations between religion and belief, this stimulating collection of essays urges us to recognize that atheism also comes in many varieties. By exploring the implications of different forms of atheism and their relation to different conceptions of science, politics, power, ethics, literature, and, indeed, life, this book is a major contribution to the study of religion and its critics. Anyone interested in the relation between religion and the modern world will have much to learn from this exciting collection.” -- Leora Batnitzky, Princeton UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction The Genealogy of Atheism David Newheiser 1 Atheism and Science: On Einstein’s “Cosmic Religious Sense” Mary-Jane Rubenstein 2 Atheism and Society: Hume’s Prefiguration of Rorty Andre C. Willis 3 Atheism and Power: Nietzsche, Nominalism, and the Reductive Spirit Denys Turner 4 Atheism and Ethics: Recovering the Link between Truth and Transformation Susannah Ticciati 5 Atheism and Metaphysics: A Problem of Apophatic Theology Henning Tegtmeyer 6 Atheism and Politics: Abandonment, Absence, and the Empty Throne Devin Singh 7 Atheism and Literature: Living without God in Dante’s Comedy Vittorio Montemaggi 8 Atheism and the Affirmation of Life: Dostoevsky’s Response to Russian Nihilism George Pattison Afterword: The Drama of Atheism Constance M. Furey Acknowledgments Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisThe Problem of Atheism offers the first translation of Augusto Del Noce’s landmark book from 1964. One of the earliest works to recognize the new secularizing trends in Western culture following World War II, this book remains relevant to contemporary debates about secularization, political theology, and modernity.

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Book SynopsisAn intimate psychological study of a largely invisible minority navigating life in a religious world.Trade ReviewAtheists in America is a unique contribution to the literature on atheism touching on topics rarely discussed or researched. I do not know of any other book on the market that seeks to bring together individual narratives of deconversion and the challenges faced afterward. -- Amarnath Amarasingam, York University Atheists in America-a vital new contribution to the growing literature on nonbelievers-reveals in their own words how a wide diversity of people learned to live lives of integrity and meaning without God. The book also grants readers ready to hear it the message that not only is it okay not to believe, being an atheist can be both enlightening and liberating. -- Michael Shermer, editor of Skeptic I used to preach that atheists are fools who lead sad, empty, meaningless, and immoral lives. Then I actually met some atheists. After reading the moving and honest stories in Atheists in America, you will agree with me that nonbelievers lead reasonable, moral, and purposeful lives. -- Dan Barker, copresident, Freedom from Religion Foundation Intriguing... This volume should appeal to academics and some spiritual seekers. Library JournalTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction. The Other Closet: An Introduction to Atheism and Coming Out Processes Part 1. Leaving Faith: Arriving at Atheist Identity from Religious Backgrounds 1. How I Got to None of the Above, by Alvin Burstein 2. Religion and the F-Word (Feminism), by Lynnette 3. Clap Our Hands Like Trees, by Chris Matallana 4. Ex-Mormon, by Cora Judd Part 2. Cultural Contexts in Coming Out as Atheist 5. An Unexamined Life, by Naima Cabelle 6. User Error: Coming Out as Atheist in Utah, by James Mouritsen 7. The Names We Call Home, by Shawn Mirza 8. A Life of Class Consciousness, by David Hoelscher Part 3. Two Closets? Identifying as Both LGBTQ and Atheist 9. A Tale of Two Closets, by Stephen S. Mills 10. The Permanent Prodigal Daughter, by Sherilyn Connelly 11. Far from Home, by David Philip Norris Part 4. Ain't No Mountain High Enough: Navigating Romantic Relationships as an Atheist 12. An Atheist's Simple Revelation About Love: It's Complicated, by Ethan Sahker 13. Swept Under the Rug, by Kristen Rurouni 14. On Love and Credulity, by Matt Hart Part 5. Family Life and Atheist Parenting 15. Dinner with Grandma, by Ronnelle Adams 16. Parenting Authentically in an Interfaith Marriage, by Kevin J. Zimmerman 17. Having a Baby Made Me an Atheist, by Amy Watkins 18. Born Secular, by Adrienne Filardo Fagan Part 6. The Search for Connection: Coming Out to Friends and Questing for Community 19. Slow Growth, by Justus Humphrey 20. An Atheist in the Bible Belt, by Brittany Friedel 21. Coming Out and Finding Home, by Pam Zerba Part 7. Atheism at Work: Tales of Coming Out to Coworkers and Colleagues 22. Is This the Way to Amarillo?, by Samuel W. Needleman 23. Cracking Open the Closet Door, by Camilo Ortiz 24. My Favorite Atheist, by John Douma Part 8. Atheism and Aging: The Challenges of Entering Older Adulthood as a Nonbeliever 25. The Road Less Traveled, by Ursula Raabe 26. A Contrarian Life Story, by Elizabeth Malm Clemens 27. Dark Matter and Missing Socks, by Margaret M. Bennett Concluding Thoughts: The Open Door Notes Bibliography

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Book SynopsisAtheism is an erudite and open-ended exploration of profound questions of estrangement, death, suicide, and the infinite that demonstrates the range and the provocative power of Alexandre Kojève’s thought.Trade ReviewKojève is a riddle, his Russian roots eclipsed by his legendary role as explicator of German idealism to French intellectuals in the 1930s. This splendid translation of his erudite, eccentric 1931 text reveals him taking on the most Dostoevskian of questions with all the wisdom of Western Europe at his back. What is our relation to what is outside the world? Here is an inquiry into atheistic anthropology that would have thrilled Heidegger himself. -- Caryl Emerson, Princeton UniversityAlexandre Kojève became famous and influential primarily because of his seminar on Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit that was given in Paris between the years 1933 and 1939. This seminar was regularly attended by leading figures of the French intellectual life of that time such as Georges Bataille and Jacques Lacan. Kojève's earlier book Atheism is a brilliant analysis of the relationship between faith and atheism that offers invaluable insights on the formation of Kojeve’s thought but also remains important in our time. -- Boris Groys, author of Under Suspicion: A Phenomenology of MediaAlexandre Kojève's philosophical novella on the stakes of atheism for his time is the most significant work of his early career. It is key to understanding his famous Hegel lectures, his attempt to outdo Heidegger, and his idiosyncratic early politics that mixed hopes of radical transformation with a deep pessimism. Thanks to Jeff Love's translation, we can open up anew those philosophical movements of interwar France, including phenomenology and existentialism, which Kojève would so profoundly affect. -- Stefanos Geroulanos, New York UniversityIn Jeff Love's careful translation, this difficult text exudes the irresistible attraction of Kojève's philosophical prose. Written a couple of years before his famous lectures on Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, this essay already displays Kojève's signature combination of intellectual depth, probity, and radicalism. -- Galin Tihanov, George Steiner Professor of Comparative Literature, Queen Mary University of LondonKojève’s text is intriguing and suggestive in its ideas as well as in its genre. -- Clare Carlisle * Times Literary Supplement *I found it most enlightening and asking questions that lie underneath the surface that is usually not scratched by other atheist philosophers. * Scene Point Blank *This book is dense and very rewarding for those who approach it patiently. * Choice *We are glad to have this profound essay to stimulate our thinking on theism, atheism, and mortality, and to give us further insight into the breadth of Kojeve's inquiries. * Review of Metaphysics *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Atheism and PoliticsTranslator’s NoteAtheismNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisStudies secularism and religiosity in Russia, past and presentTrade ReviewDrawing upon the material on a particular Russian region, the Republic of Marii El (the former Mariiskaia Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic), from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first century, the author traces the intricate relationship of religion and secularism in Soviet and post-Soviet times.49.1 2015 * Canadian-American Slavic Studies *Highly recommend[ed]. * H-Soz-u-Kult *[Sony Lûrman's] objective of the study is to compare methods to promote atheist and religious ideas in the Soviet and post-Soviet periods, respectively. Although the content of the teaching of religion [is] the opposite of atheistic propaganda, according to the author, there are similarities in terms of audience and methods . . . .1 2014 * Laboratorium *[This book] greatly enhances our understanding of the post-Soviet revival of religion.June 2013 * REVIEW OF POLITICS *Each chapter traces a concept, an 'elective affinity,' through rich descriptions of how that concept is instantiated in practice across time and across a multireligious social field. The result is new and productive lens through which to understand the relationship between religion and communism. * Anthropos *Highly recommend[ed].April 2014 * H-Soz-u-Kult *Secularism Soviet Style is an attractively written and thought-provoking book that deserves to be read not only by regional specialists but by scholars of religion and secularism more generally. * Slavic Review *Luerhmann's ethnography makes an important contribution to studies about the nature of and the relationships between secular and religious movements in Russia. At the same time, its impact will extend beyond studies of religion to shed critical light on processes of knowledge formation and knowledge transmission. In many ways, because Luerhmann does such a good job of attending to and unpacking Russian styles of persuasion, it will be of tremendous value to schlars working on a wide range of topics, from political ideology to forms of aesthetics and representation to institutions and bureaucracies, not just in Russia but across the former Soviet Union. * The Russian Review *Luehrmann's book is well written and excellently researched. It provides much-needed understanding of the late-Soviet atheist endeavors. Importantly, by showing how Soviet secularism diverged from liberal projects, it makes a valuable contribution to conceptualizations of secularism. * PoLAR *Luehrmann's book is a fascinating anthropological inquiry into the every-day lives of post-communist citizens that focuses especially on four religious groups: Orthodox,Protestant-Lutherans, Evangelical (especially Pentecostal and Charismatic) and Traditional Mari Religion (Chimarij) and the way these religious groups appropriate the secular mobilization and didactic techniques that were forged during the Soviet period. * Anthropology of East Europe Review *This is a fascinating probe into the complex world of a country attempting to remove religion and god from society in order to modernize, but finding that atheism is not synonymous with modernization, and that religion has deep roots and an extraordinary ability to adapt to changing circumstances. . . . Recommended. * Choice *Table of ContentsPreface and AcknowledgmentsNote on Translation, Transliteration, and NamesIntroduction: Atheism, Secularity, and Postsecular ReligionI. Affinities1. Neighbors and Comrades: Secularizing the Mari Country2. "Go teach:" Methods of ChangeII. Promises3. Church Closings and Sermon Circuits4. Marginal LessonsIII. Fissures5. Visual Aid6. The Soul and the SpiritIV. Rhythms7. Lifelong LearningConclusion: Affinity and DiscernmentGlossaryNotesReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisAn account of a personal journey exploring the evidence for, and implications of, human evolution. The author addresses spiritual questions on creation and the meaning of life, and reflects on the experience and effects on his thought of lecturing on controversial matters in American universities.Trade Review“This is one of the rare books on evolution, science, and religion that is still fresh and current one-third century after its authorship by a Domincan priest-professor. Anyone who is wrestling with issues related to the conflicts and tensions that prevail between Christian faith and scientific evolution will benefit from the insights sprinkled lavishly throughout this book.”

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Book SynopsisAn exploration of the religious contexts of Virginia Woolf’s life and work, her religious practices, her ideas about God, and the new forms of community she imagined.Trade Review“[Paulsell’s] is a meditative, ‘slow-reading’ approach that enables readers to investigate Woolf’s works with restored appreciation for religious language and resonances. It builds into a dazzling survey of religion around Woolf which makes the history of ideas exciting—and revelatory.”—Matthew Macer-Wright Virginia Woolf Bulletin“Stephanie Paulsell takes our appreciation of Virginia Woolf’s religious sensibilities to a new level. An important read for Woolf scholars, this book also demonstrates her significance for anyone interested in the spiritual value of literature.”—Jane de Gay,author of Virginia Woolf and Christian Culture“Religion Around Virginia Woolf will inspire poets, novelists, theologians, scholars—anyone who has ever wondered about the origins of Virginia Woolf's genius. Stephanie Paulsell's brilliant and impassioned study uncovers the ways in which Woolf's life—and especially her life as a reader—shaped her writing about the hidden connections among humans, the making of art, and her notions of the divine. In brilliant, lucid prose, Paulsell's insights and close readings describe the ‘fresh chapels’ where we might find new forms of devotion. This is a book I'm recommending to all the serious readers and writers I know.”—René Steinke,author of Friendswood“Stephanie Paulsell has written a landmark book on Virginia Woolf. It is revelatory. She has dared to name what we all have intuited: Woolf is not just a literary writer with a politics of her own, but she is also a spiritual writer who touches the ineffable, so we can touch it too. With uncommon insight and brilliant scholarship, Paulsell illuminates and elucidates Woolf’s prose for what it is: sacred text. I now want to reread everything Virginia Woolf has written as if I were on a pilgrimage with fresh eyes.”—Terry Tempest Williams,author of When Women Were Birds: Fifty-Four Variations on Voice“Paulsell offers valuable context and thoughts for further exploration.”—W. T. Martin Choice“From this well-researched book, readers will take away a new understanding of how religion works in and ‘around’ literature and a deeper appreciation of Virginia Woolf’s religious contribution, despite her professed atheism, to secular modernity and literary modernism.”—Emily Griesinger Woolf Studies Annual“Religion Around Virginia Woolf is a thoughtful and thorough addition to the growing Religion Around series. Impeccably researched and fresh, it is a provocative and fascinating read. Drawing on a diverse range of sources and including many lyrical passages from Woolf’s own writing, Paulsell accomplishes a difficult task for the scholar: she increases both one’s understanding and one’s love and appreciation for Woolf’s work.”—Grace Perry McCright Christianity and Literature

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Book SynopsisIn this book two philosophers, each committed to unambiguous versions of belief and disbelief, debate the central issues of atheism and theism. Considers one of the oldest and most widely disputed philosophical questions: is there a God? Presents the atheism/theism issue in the form of philosophical debate between two highly regarded scholars, widely praised for the clarity and verve of their work. This second edition contains new essays by each philosopher, responding to criticisms and building on their previous work. Trade Review"Smart and Haldane are both remarkable philosophers. Each in his own way possesses the rare combination of formidable dialectical skills, an original vision for philosophy, and immense personal integrity ... I do not see how anyone could read this book and not feel that it represents the finest kind of intellectual encounter ..."Hilary Putnam, Harvard University "Philosophers of both theistic and atheistic persuasions will find this important new debate on theism particularly interesting for themselves and for their students. Haldane an Smart show that the dispute over the existence of God is very much alive among the best philosophers at the end of the twentieth century." Linda Zagzebski, University of Oklahoma "This book show contemporary academic philosophy at its best." Scientific and Medical Network ReviewTable of ContentsPreface to the Second Edition. Introduction: J. J. Haldane and J. J. C. Smart. Part 1: Atheism and Theism: J. J. C. Smart. 1. Introduction. 2. Theism, Spirituality and Science. 3. The New Teleology and the Old. 4. Pantheism. 5. Fine Tuning and the Anthropic Cosmological Principle. 6. The Argument from the Appearance of Design. 7. God as an Ethical Principle. 8. The Argument from Contingency. 9. The Argument from Religious Experience. 10. Pascal's Wager. 11. Miracles. 12. Higher Criticism of the New Testament. 13. The Problem of Evil. 14. Historical Theism and Metaphysical Theism. Part 2: Atheism and Theism: J. J. Haldane. 1. Introduction. 2. Theism and Science. 3. Some Varieties of Explanation. 4. 'Old' Teleology. 5. 'New' Teleology. 6. The Cause of Things. 7. God and the World. 8. God, Good and Evil. 9. Liberty and Providence. 10. Theism - Philosophical and Religious. Part 3: Reply to Haldane: J. J. C. Smart. 1. Methodology. 2. Representation and Intentionality. 3. Consciousness. 4. Chicken and Egg. 5. Eternity and Sempeternity. 6. Theism and the Problem of Evil. Part 4: Reply to Smart: J. J. Haldane. 1. Methodology. 2. The Existence of God. 3. Metaphysical Matters. 4. Reason, Faith and Revelation. 5. A Religious Conclusion. Afterword: J. J. C. Smart and J. J. Haldane. Part 5 Further Reflections on Atheism for the Second Edition: J.J.C. Smart. Part 6 Further Relections on Theism for the Second Edition: J. J. Haldane. Bibliography. Index.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Honorable Mention for the Wayne S. Vucinich Book Prize, Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies""Lively and often entertaining prose."---Catriona Kelly, Times Literary Supplement"Much has been written about the Soviet Union’s war on religion and its vigorous efforts to set up atheism and the Bolshevik revolutionary project as a new faith. Most such accounts treat religion and atheism as simple opposites. Smolkin describes a more nuanced and variable relationship between them."---Robert Legvold, Foreign Affairs"[The] historical backdrop of Russia’s remarkable journey from Orthodoxy to atheism, and back again, is chronicled in Victoria Smolkin’s A Sacred Space is Never Empty: A History of Soviet Atheism. It is the first full account of Soviet atheism, from the Bolshevik revolution in 1917 to the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. This engaging book is full of striking analysis and counterintuitive insights."---Gene Zubovich, Religion & Politics"Smolkin’s profound book . . . allows us to see not only the struggle of atheists against religion in the Soviet Union, but also to formulate some important conclusions about the Soviet society. This is one of the decade’s most successful and important scholarly works on this topic."---Nikolay Mitrokhin, Bremen University"Victoria Smolkin’s important new study of the history of Soviet atheism places the state’s fluid, quasi-adaptive approaches to eradicating religion at the center of a story about the communist party’s failure to fully win over the hearts and minds of ordinary people. This book beautifully fills an empty space, and will be of great value to scholars and students across all disciplines in our field."---Yvonne Howell, University of Richmond"Learning about atheism is a fascinating way to enrich one’s knowledge of religion, and vice versa; Smolkin reminds us that the boundaries between conceptual social categories are more porous than we often realize or admit . . . . Smolkin’s impressive first book broadens our perspective on what qualifies as “sacred,” and educates us on the power and limitations of human conviction in driving the great cycles of historical change."---Anais Garvanian, The Graduate Journal of Harvard Divinity School"Delivered in a highly readable narrative, [Smolkin’s] cogent analysis and challenging conclusions offer much to historians of religion and the Soviet Union: there is also no doubt that students and the interested general public will find the work intriguing and illuminating."---James M. White, European History Quarterly"The book is written in an accessible way . . . Smolkin offers highly interesting insights from her research in Eastern European archives and interviews, conducted in Russia and Ukraine during 2008 and 2013, relevant not only for scholars of religion and history, but also for an interested audience."---Christian Föller, Religion and Society in Central and Eastern Europe"Atheism appears to be a straightforward concept, but for Soviet communists it was not. Victoria Smolkin’s A Sacred Space Is Never Empty: A History of Soviet Atheism explores how the meaning and implementation of atheism were debated and redefined over the course of the entire history of the Soviet Union. . . . Like many recent monographs on Soviet history, this book provides a new answer for why Soviet communism failed. But Smolkin does not provide one piece to that puzzle; she provides the piece. For atheism’s failure in the Soviet Union was intrinsically entwined with communism’s. . . . This beautifully written book—which addresses universal themes such as why there is a need for religion in a modern society—will be of interest to a wide array of readers in any field."---Laurie Manchester, American Historical Review"Smolkin makes a major contribution to the study of religion and of ideology in the late Soviet period. She demonstrates effectively that ideology did matter to the Soviet project, even—indeed especially—in the Brezhnev era, and that religion served as the barometer of ideological health. . . . A real strength of Smolkin’s analysis is precisely the connection she makes to the broader ideological problem of indifference and commitment. Whereas several recent works have rightly sought to bring Soviet antireligious measures into the broader scholarly discussion of secularization and state secularism, Smolkin rightly demonstrates that secularization in the sense of removal of religion from public life or indifference to religion was not the objective of the Soviet regime. Rather, the goal was belief in a sacred antireligion, a convinced atheism. This important book should be read by all scholars interested in religion in the USSR, ideology in the late Soviet period, and secularization and secularism in the twentieth century."---Heather J. Coleman, Journal of the American Academy of Religion"In her fascinating overview, Smolkin demonstrates the paradoxical nature of the atheistic propaganda in the Soviet Union. . . . Smolkin’s book, which is based on the deep investigation of the variety of documents representing the ideas and spirit of the propagandists of Soviet atheism, considerably supplements our understanding of the interdependence of religion and atheism in the Soviet domain."---Elena A. Stepanova, Journal of Religion in Europe"One of the greatest strengths of Smolkin’s book is the varied and comprehensive nature of the materials she draws on. Having worked in state and party archives, surveyed atheist publications, and interviewed key figures from the Soviet study of religion, Smolkin is able to provide an overview of atheist work that has no parallel in the current literature. This well-written book makes essential reading for anyone interested in the history of Soviet ideology or in comparative histories of modern religion and secularization."---Sonja Luehrmann, Canadian Slavonic Papers

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