Atheism at the Agora

This fresh, comprehensive study of ancient Greek atheism aims to dismantle the current consensus that atheism was 'unthinkable' in ancient Greece, taking an interdisciplinary approach to the subject. A fascinating read for students and scholars in Classics, ancient religion, and history of atheism.

Autorentext

Dr James C Ford is the director of Stoa Strategy Ltd and an honorary fellow at the University of Liverpool, in the United Kingdom. He has previously held teaching, research, and curatorial roles at Lancashire County Council Museums and the Universities of Liverpool, Manchester, and Oxford. Ford has written and spoken on a range of topics including witchcraft and alterity, PTSD and memorialisation as healing for psychogenic injuries in the ancient world, Herodotus and unknowability, and LGBT history in Lancashire: his main research interests are in historical atheism.

Inhalt

1. Introduction: Clearing the landscape of Greek atheism; 2. Foundations: Learning (un)belief in the Greek religious environment; 3. Morality: Atheist ethics and immorality in the Greek imagination; 4. Theology: Discourses of (a)theology and the evolution of Greek belief; 5. Unknowability: The piety of agnosticism in Greek philosophy and practice; 6. Othering: Mediating the legitimacy of (a)theism and the creation of Greek identity; 7. Scapegoats: The threat of atheism to the ancient Greek city; Conclusion: Belief in unbelief.