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Humans have been uttering profane words and incurring the consequences for millennia. But contemporary events—from the violence in 2006 that followed Danish newspaper cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed to the 2012 furor over the Innocence of Muslims video—indicate that controversy concerning blasphemy has reemerged in explosive transnational form. In an age when electronic media transmit offense as rapidly as profane images and texts can be produced, blasphemy is bracingly relevant again.
In this volume, a distinguished cast of international scholars examines the profound difficulties blasphemy raises for modern societies. Contributors examine how the sacred is formed and maintained, how sacrilegious expression is conceived and regulated, and how the resulting conflicts resist easy adjudication. Their studies range across art, history, politics, law, literature, and theology. Because of the global nature of the problem, the volume’s approach is comparative, examining blasphemy across cultural and geopolitical boundaries.
In this volume, a distinguished cast of international scholars examines the profound difficulties blasphemy raises for modern societies. Contributors examine how the sacred is formed and maintained, how sacrilegious expression is conceived and regulated, and how the resulting conflicts resist easy adjudication. Their studies range across art, history, politics, law, literature, and theology. Because of the global nature of the problem, the volume’s approach is comparative, examining blasphemy across cultural and geopolitical boundaries.
Price: $65.00
Pages: 368
Publisher: University of California Press
Imprint: University of California Press
Publication Date:
15 August 2014
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9780520277229
Format: Hardcover
BISACs:
"Capably encompasses as many facets of this complex topic as possible, examining it on cultural, political, and personal levels . . . Powerful."
Christopher S. Grenda is Professor of History at Bronx Community College, City University of New York.
Chris Beneke is Associate Professor of History at Bentley University.
David Nash is Reader in History at Oxford Brookes University and Research Fellow at the Center for Inquiry, Amherst, New York.
Martin E. Marty is Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of the History of Modern Christianity at the University of Chicago Divinity School.
Chris Beneke is Associate Professor of History at Bentley University.
David Nash is Reader in History at Oxford Brookes University and Research Fellow at the Center for Inquiry, Amherst, New York.
Martin E. Marty is Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of the History of Modern Christianity at the University of Chicago Divinity School.
List of Illustrations
Foreword
Martin E. Marty
Introduction: On the Modern Confluence of Blasphemy, Free Expression, and Hate Speech
Christopher S. Grenda, Chris Beneke, and David Nash
PART ONE. CREATING SPACE FOR SACRILEGIOUS EXPRESSION
1. Thick-Skinned Tolerance: Satire, the Sacred, and the Rise of the Modern
Christopher S. Grenda
2. The Productive Obscene: Philip Roth and the Profanity Loop
Jacques Berlinerblau
3. Defaced: The Art of Blaspheming Texts and Images in the West
David Lawton
PART TWO. SACRILEGE AND DEMOCRATIC DEVELOPMENT
4. Blasphemy and Free Thought in Jacksonian America: The Case of Abner Kneeland
Paul Finkelman
5. Secular Blasphemies: Symbolic Offense in Modern Democracy
Robert A. Yelle
PART THREE. CIVILITY, THE SACRED, AND HUMAN RIGHTS
6. Muslim Political Theology: Defamation, Apostasy, and Anathema
Ebrahim Moosa
7. Protesting Sacrilege: Blasphemy and Violence in Muslim-Majority States
Ron E. Hassner
8. The Indonesian Blasphemy Act: A Legal and Social Analysis
Asma T. Uddin
9. Profound Offense and Religion in Secular Democracies: An Australian Perspective
Elizabeth Burns Coleman
10. Blasphemy versus Incitement: An International Law Perspective
Jeroen Temperman
Afterword: Blasphemy beyond Modernism
David Nash
List of Contributors
Index
Foreword
Martin E. Marty
Introduction: On the Modern Confluence of Blasphemy, Free Expression, and Hate Speech
Christopher S. Grenda, Chris Beneke, and David Nash
PART ONE. CREATING SPACE FOR SACRILEGIOUS EXPRESSION
1. Thick-Skinned Tolerance: Satire, the Sacred, and the Rise of the Modern
Christopher S. Grenda
2. The Productive Obscene: Philip Roth and the Profanity Loop
Jacques Berlinerblau
3. Defaced: The Art of Blaspheming Texts and Images in the West
David Lawton
PART TWO. SACRILEGE AND DEMOCRATIC DEVELOPMENT
4. Blasphemy and Free Thought in Jacksonian America: The Case of Abner Kneeland
Paul Finkelman
5. Secular Blasphemies: Symbolic Offense in Modern Democracy
Robert A. Yelle
PART THREE. CIVILITY, THE SACRED, AND HUMAN RIGHTS
6. Muslim Political Theology: Defamation, Apostasy, and Anathema
Ebrahim Moosa
7. Protesting Sacrilege: Blasphemy and Violence in Muslim-Majority States
Ron E. Hassner
8. The Indonesian Blasphemy Act: A Legal and Social Analysis
Asma T. Uddin
9. Profound Offense and Religion in Secular Democracies: An Australian Perspective
Elizabeth Burns Coleman
10. Blasphemy versus Incitement: An International Law Perspective
Jeroen Temperman
Afterword: Blasphemy beyond Modernism
David Nash
List of Contributors
Index