By R.W. Morrell

The Encyclopedia Of Unbelief. Edited by Gordon Stein. 2 vols. viii & 819pp. Roy8vo. Prometheus Books, Buffalo, N.Y., 1985. £75.

A work of this character invites comparison with Joseph McCabe’s, Nationalist Encyclopedia, published in 1948 and long out of print; but whereas his book was very much a ‘one man show”, with many of the defects expected in a work which covers subjects about, which its author lacked essential specialist knowledge, when dealing with church history McCabe wrote with authority, but on other subjects his treatment was often superficial. In contrast this new book embodies contributions from over a hundred scholars, many internationally known authorities in their fields and all specialists in the subjects they write on. The degree of specialisation this to the Encyclopedia is evident in the detail presented in most of the individual items, many being substantial pieces, some even, I suggest, major contributions to scholarship not just simply encyclopedia entries. On the other hand a few do not quite come up to expectations in that they should contain more material than they do, an example being the entry entitled ‘Evolution and Unbelief’.

Although very detailed, this particular essay gives the impression of being an example more of the ‘great man history’ school of writing than a fully comprehensive analysis of the debate which prepared the ground for the impact of Darwinian evolutionary propositions. I do not denigrate great men, and they need to be considered biographically as much as in terms of their ideas, and the writer of the article does this, but he also omits any discussion of some of the crucial matters which can be said to have destroyed the status of the bible as a determining factor in the interpretation of natural phenomenon. For example, the reception in the 18th and early 19th centuries of an increasing flood of geological knowledge which was found to be totally incompatible with biblical writ except by theological contortions of the most extraordinary and obvious type, is ignored, though it gave rise to the furious conflict between biblical catastrophists and supporters of what was to become eventually the uniformitarianism of Charles Lyell, which so influenced Darwin and Huxley, we find no mention, or even reference to, such a key figure as James Hutton, an outstanding geologist and noted religious sceptic, yet the clash of Huttonian ideas and those of A.G. Werner was to be a major contribution in making both informed public and scientific opinion favourable towards the idea of evolution. Absent, too, is any reference to the controversy caused by the discovery of animal and human remains in cave deposits which could not be interpreted in terms of catastrophism, namely seen as the biblical flood. The frequently bitter debate the new ideas gave rise to smashed the theological domination over scientific thinking and, incidentally, covered and destroyed many of the ideas now being advanced by our contemporary exponents of so-called ‘scientific creationism’, who do not appear aware that their ‘new’ data was worked over and destroyed over a hundred and forty years ago.

The term unbelief used in the title of this work is, in the words of the editor, ‘not an easy job to define’, but he then suggests that the ‘the closest synonym for unbelief, ‘ is heterodoxy”, which Dr. Stein says it can be taken as meaning, ‘not holding orthodox or traditional opinions – on religious matters, in the context of the encyclopedia’. This allows for the incorporation of many ideas and individuals in the work which to some readers may not be readily seen as representative of unbelief viewed from a more narrow standpoint, however, the broad interpretation of unbelief is welcome and adds to the strength and standing of the Encyclopedia. Nevertheless, despite this the emphasis upon unbelief in terms of religious unbelief can pose some difficulties about what should be included and what was to be left out, and not everyone will concur with the editor’s choice one way or another even if agreeing that some might be covered in detail in other readily available reference sources. It is difficult to understand – why, say, Karl Marx gets a lengthy entry while Frederick Engels, despite ten references in the index, is ignored, So, too, are the Marxists, Karl Kautsky, who wrote a history of Christianity from a materialist and atheist viewpoint, and Rosa Luxemburg.

Contributions include surveys covering unbelief in various geographical areas, including Latin America, the United Kingdom, the United States, Scandinavia, the Soviet Union (closeted with Russia for some reason), China, the Netherlands, and other countries. There is a most interesting contribution on unbelief within Christianity, which may well startle not a few Christian readers. The paranormal is subjected to a well balanced critical analysis, while there is a telling contribution from James Randi on ‘Conjuring and Unbelief in the Supernatural’. 

Mention has already been made of the contribution on evolution, but cannot help wonder why Teilhard de Chardin is termed a “geopaleontologist”, which is, I confess, a singularly unusual description for the Jesuit, who is best described, when wearing his scientific biretta, simply as a palaeontologist.

Important as he was in the history of unbelief, I did find the entry on Voltaire rather more extensive than it need be, although it makes fascinating reading. G.A. Wells presents a summary of the case against the historicity of Jesus, though without entering into any detailed presentation of the history of this hypothesis, which frankly I found disappointing, as did the failure to include in the Encyclopedia an entry for Herbert Cutner, a notable promoter of the myth theory and excellent freethought writer.

There is much in this work which you would find difficult to locate elsewhere, while the insights into some subjects and individuals make refreshing reading and could well lead to scholarly reappraisals of some in due course. Unfortunately there are also some glaring omissions, particularly in the biographical field. I was sorry to see no biographical notes on F.A. Ridley, G.A. Taylor and F.A. Hornibrook, to name but three which spring to mind; such omissions notwithstanding, I have no hesitation in stressing the fact that this is a very important work, perhaps the most important in the field of freethought published for many years, which will become an essential reference tool not just to those associated with organised unbelief but all serious scholars and researchers interested in the fields the work covers. Dr. Stein is to be congratulated on a job well done, and not an easy job at that, I would hope that all university libraries obtain copies and also the libraries of all theological colleges. The students (and staff) at the latter should find such to stimulate their thinking in the Encyclopedia, even if they do not share the outlook and attitudes of many of the contributors. It may seem an expensive work to purchase, but in terms of the prices being asked for many academic works at the present time this is not really so. It is to be hoped that the editor will eventually be able to have a supplementary volume published which will, perhaps, give biographical notes in respect of some of the individuals excluded from the Encyclopedia, as well as expand upon certain other issues, not least the scientific debate referred to above.