UNE Center for Global Humanities presents “How to Be an Atheist – The Ancient Greek Way”
Despite the perception that atheism is a modern phenomenon, doubts about the existence of a god, or gods, existed in many ancient societies. Ancient Greek evidence of atheistic thought is particularly plentiful and provides the best opportunity for exploring how a society very different from our own addressed issues similar to the ones we face today.
A lecture at the University of New England Center for Global Humanities will address this topic, as scholar Tim Whitmarsh presents “How to Be an Atheist – The Ancient Greek Way” on Monday, April 24 at 6 p.m. at the WCHP Lecture Hall in Parker Pavilion on the UNE Portland Campus. The lecture will also be live-streamed to students and faculty on UNE’s Tangier Campus and to viewers around the globe.
A professor of Greek Culture at the University of Cambridge, UK, Whitmarsh has written numerous books on ancient Greek and Roman life, including Battling the Gods – Atheism in the Ancient World (Knopf, 2015), which has been praised by The New York Times, New Statesman, Guardian and other news outlets. In addition, Whitmarsh frequently appears on TV and radio -- in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia and South Africa -- discussing how we can use our knowledge of antiquity to better understand our present times.
This is the twelfth and final lecture of the academic year for the Center for Global Humanities.