Delusions and Dark Materials: New Atheism as Naïve Atheism and its Challenge to Theological Education
This paper engages with New Atheism as reflected in the recent popular academic work of Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett and Christopher Hitchens and the adolescent fiction of Philip Pullman. It asserts that New Atheism represents a challenge to theology not because of its philosophical c...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sage
[2009]
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| In: |
The expository times
Year: 2009, Volume: 120, Issue: 12, Pages: 586-593 |
| Further subjects: | B
Theological Education
B Charles Taylor B Philip Pullman B Atheism B Religious Education B PULLMAN, Philip, 1946- B Sam Harris B Atheist Bus Campaign B Atheists B Daniel Dennett B HARRIS, Sam, 1967- B Richard Dawkins B HITCHENS, Christopher, 1949-2011 B Dawkins, Richard, 1941- B Popular Culture B DENNETT, Daniel Clement, 1942- B Christopher Hitchens B New Atheism B Secularism |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This paper engages with New Atheism as reflected in the recent popular academic work of Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett and Christopher Hitchens and the adolescent fiction of Philip Pullman. It asserts that New Atheism represents a challenge to theology not because of its philosophical critique or rigorous argumentation, but because it contributes to a popular cultural disposition which is uncritically anti-religious. Atheism itself is certainly not new, but the means by which the position of these New Atheists is articulated (ranging from popular books and films to bus advertisements) problematizes the task of theological education in a liberal Western society, such as that of modern Britain, by engendering a culture of naïve secularism. It is at this interface of popular culture and theological education that this evaluation of New Atheism hopes to offer its own critique of the critics. |
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| ISSN: | 1745-5308 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The expository times
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0014524609106983 |