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History General

The Origins of Agnosticism

Victorian Unbelief and the Limits of Knowledge

by (author) Bernard Lightman

Publisher
Johns Hopkins University Press
Initial publish date
Dec 2019
Category
General, History, Agnosticism
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781421431406
    Publish Date
    Dec 2019
    List Price
    $61.95

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Description

Originally published in 1987. The Origins of Agnosticism provides a reinterpretation of agnosticism and its relationship to science. Professor Lightman examines the epistemological basis of agnostics' learned ignorance, studying their core claim that "God is unknowable." To address this question, he reconstructs the theory of knowledge posited by Thomas Henry Huxley and his network of agnostics. In doing so, Lightman argues that agnosticism was constructed on an epistemological foundation laid by Christian thought. In addition to undermining the continuity in the intellectual history of religious thought, Lightman exposes the religious origins of agnosticism.

About the author

Bernard Lightman is a professor of the history of science at York University. He specializes in the relationship between science and unbelief in the Victorian era, and he is a former president of the History of Science Society.

Bernard Lightman's profile page