Publications on the dialectic between atheism and religion have continued to grow in recent years. The Varieties of Atheism: Connecting Religion and Its Critics is a part of this trend, presenting arguments for widening the margins of discussion between atheistic positions and theological studies. In this sense, this collection of essays points to an increasingly close relationship between the study of religion and the analysis of atheism, understood as a holistic and complex phenomenon in our society. The book is divided into eight chapters, accompanied by an introduction, a short epilogue, and an index. The editor, David Newheiser, explains in the introduction that the book was prompted by the shoddy arguments of the so-called New Atheists, who have a biased and “stereotyped understanding of religion” (1). However, religiosity is an extremely pluralistic phenomenon that transcends the cognitive level. Religion is materialized in practices and worldviews characterized by enormous diversity. Drawing on important publications in the critical and academic study of religion, such as the work of Talal Asad, Newheiser is committed to studying atheism under the same parameters, building dialectical bridges between theology and contemporary atheistic positions.
It is in this spirit that this publication is presented. Most of the essays reflect on the relationship between religion and atheism with concrete examples. The book includes studies of relevant figures in Western thought, such as Mary-Jean Rubenstein’s analysis of Albert Einstein’s worldview and its relationship to religion, Andre C. Willis’ comparative study of the skepticism of Richard Rorty and David Hume, and Denys Turner’s contextualization of Friedrich Nietzsche’s atheistic thought in relation to the work of William of Ockham and Thomas Hobbes. In addition, the analysis of characters and scenes in Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s work by Vittorio Montemaggi and George Pattison, respectively, extend the case studies of atheism to literature. In contrast to the previous chapters, the contributions by Susannah Ticciati, Henning Tegtmeyer, and Devin Sigh are not structured around a specific example. These three contributions use an apophatic theological perspective to weave relations between the atheistic positions, even the most belligerent ones, and the theological contributions. The three chapters show that theology and the enormous plurality that characterizes this discipline can help to eliminate narrow and stereotyped views of religion, pointing out the philosophical closeness that can exist between the atheistic positions and the theological ones.
On the whole, the work fulfills its proposed goals. As indicated in the epilogue and the acknowledgments, this book emerged from the papers presented at a conference on atheism organized by Newheiser in 2018 at the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry at the Australian Catholic University. The study of atheism, especially from theological works, demonstrates, as this volume does, that the varieties of atheism are as plural, or even more plural, than the varieties of religious experiences, following William James’ famous publication that serves as the main argument for the book’s title. Nevertheless, I think the title of the book may mislead the potential reader. Although the title mentions "connecting religion and its critics," the perspective of analysis lacks innovation due to its monodisciplinary perspective. The work focuses solely on a theological approach to Western and contemporary atheistic positions, and thus mostly in opposition to Christianity.
Furthermore, there is a long tradition of Christian theological analysis of atheism. It is curious that none of the essays has pointed this out, but it is worth mentioning the conference called “First International Symposium on Belief,” organized by the Vatican Secretariat for Non-Believers and held in Rome from March 22 to 25, 1969. This conference was attended not only by members of the Roman Curia, such as Cardinal Jean Daniélou, but also by prestigious academics such as Talcott Parsons and Robert Bellah. In this sense, there is a long tradition of authors who, coming from theological contexts, have analyzed contemporary atheism with more or less success. In The Varieties of Atheism, Ticciati’s chapter is evidence of this tradition, which has been established for decades. It is certain, and I must mention it, that this book, unlike the 1969 conference in Rome, seeks to avoid a belief-centered perspective. However, the reduction of the concept of "religion" to a specific context and analyzed only from a theological perspective, is the second reason why the reader may expect a different content than the one suggested by the title.
Both the title of the book and Newheiser’s introduction appeal to the critical study of religion, and although it serves as an argument for avoiding narrow and stereotyped views of atheism and religion, the overall work focuses on a very specific religious context: the Christian one. The work would have been more appealing if the chapters had dealt not only with the plurality of contemporary atheism, but also with skeptical and atheistic positions in other religious contexts. It would have been enlightening to observe how Christian theologians analyze the plurality of unbelief beyond their religious context. Similarly, historical arguments could have helped in describing the plurality of atheism. Although atheism in pre-modern and non-Christian societies, such as ancient Greece and Rome, is briefly mentioned in the introduction, it occupies only a small paragraph on page five. I am not suggesting that the work fails to demonstrate the complexity of contemporary atheism and its connections with religion because of these missing points, but rather that the “varieties of atheism” and its religious connections should not be reduced to the contemporary Western Christian context.
Aside from these limitations, the book proves to be fundamental for anyone interested in the study of atheism, helping readers understand the close relationship between Christian theological views and Western atheism. By shifting our focus from value judgments and belligerent defenses of worldviews to more cross-cutting questions, such as those raised by Constance M. Furey in the epilogue (202), we can avoid a sterile debate of conflicting positions by finding common ground that renews both poles. As this book demonstrates, especially in Turner’s chapter, atheism could not exist without theological reflection, and theology could not develop and revitalize itself without atheistic criticism. It is in this conversation of mutual recognition that the complex but exciting study of religion and its critics should proceed.
Ramón Soneira-Martínez is a postdoctoral fellow at the Austrian Archaeological Institute (ÖAI).
Ramón Soneira-Martínez
Date Of Review:
July 31, 2023
