atheism Quick reference
The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (2 ed.)
... the theory or belief that God does not exist. The word comes (in the late 16th century, via French) from Greek atheos , from a- ‘without’ + theos ...
Critique Reference library
Charlie Blake
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Literary Theory
...acceptance of atheism or agnosticism among European writers and intellectuals is merely one aspect of the transition of crisis and criticism to critique between Voltaire’s reflections on optimism and the inauguration of Kant’s revolutionary critical project, albeit an essential aspect. For in some very important ways it is this covert theocentric legacy often still operative within and behind the ascendant anthropocentrism of the age that in the process of its apparent decomposition and recomposition into various forms of theism, deism, and atheism, as well as a...
Censorship Reference library
Nicole Moore
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Literary Theory
...heretics to deal with Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan in 1666 , but the bill failed, and in 1677 the writ was permanently abolished. In effect, while blasphemy was also a capital offense, reinforced by passage of an act against it in 1698 , it was a lesser one: charges of atheism were more likely to result in death. Scholars of Levy’s generation have argued that repressive persecution under Charles I saw nonconformity as the more heinous crime, because it was a willful opposition to the laws of both church and state, and when enforced by the Star Chamber...
The Korean War and Its Literary Legacies Reference library
Daniel Y. Kim
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Asian American Literature and Culture
...comfort to others, even though he himself can take no comfort in them. Ironically, it is the secret apostate Shin who best exemplifies the core ideals cherished by the religion he longer actually believes in—mercy, charity, and sacrifice. Even after learning the truth of Shin’s atheism, which he shares, Captain Lee too refrains from revealing it or the shattered faith of the twelve ministers. In the end, he has come to recognize that in the face of the horrors visited by war, the very human need to believe that suffering has meaning can be satisfied by...
