January 23, 2017
Rather than a history of free thought, Al-Azmeh's book examines freethinking as an activity. He reminded the audience that sophisticated atheism is but one extreme on the continuum of freethinking with regard to religion, not identical with it. As previous scholarship tends to overlook non-explicit forms of religious dissidence and atheism, Al-Azmeh emphasizes that both can be manifested in subtle rhetoric techniques and in literary forms, social milieus and modes of conduct.
