Oxford Handbook of Humanism
Regular price
€201.50
While humanist sensibilities have played a formative role in the advancement of our species, critical attention to humanism as a field of study is a more recent development. As a system of thought that values human needs and experiences over supernatural concerns, humanism has gained greater attention amid the rapidly shifting demographics of religious communities, especially in Europe and North America. This outlook on the world has taken on global dimensions as well, with activists, artists, and thinkers forming a humanistic response not only to traditional religion, but to the pressing social and political issues of the 21st century.
With in-depth, scholarly chapters, The Oxford Handbook of Humanism aims to cover the subject by analyzing its history, its philosophical development, its influence on culture, and its engagement with social and political issues. In order to expand the field beyond more Western-focused works, the Handook discusses humanism as a worldwide phenomenon, with regional surveys that explore how the concept has developed in particular contexts. The Handbook also approaches humanism as both an opponent to traditional religion as well as a philosophy that some religions have explicitly adopted. By both synthesizing the field, and discussing how it continues to grow and develop, the Handbook promises to be a landmark volume, relevant to both humanism and the rapidly changing religious landscape.
Anthony B. Pinn is Agnes Cullen Arnold Professor of Humanities and Professor of Religion at Rice University, where he is also the inaugural director of the Center for African and African American Studies as well as founding director of the Center for Engaged Research and Collaborative Learning. His books include, Embodiment and the New Shape of Black Theological Thought (2010); The End of God-Talk: An African American Humanist Theology (2012); (co-edited with Katie Cannon) The Oxford Handbook of African American Theology (2014); Humanism: Essays in Race, Religion, and Cultural Production (2015); and the novel The New Disciples (2015). Pinn is also director of Research for the Institute for Humanist Studies. His awards include the Unitarian Universalist Humanist Association Humanist of the Year (2017), and the Harvard University Humanist Chaplaincy 'Humanist of the Year' (2006).