EGLA · Early Global Atheism: The Americas and China from ‘Savage’ to ‘Universal’ Atheism (1556–1725)

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Project objective

Atheism in the early modern era is often perceived as an exclusively European phenomenon. However, numerous accounts written by missionaries, travelers, philosophers, and theologians between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries describe non-European societies—particularly in China and the Americas—as atheistic. This project, Early Global Atheism (EGLA), offers the first systematic investigation of these sources and advances the hypothesis that atheism was employed as an ethnological category to classify beliefs and populations outside Europe, drawing on notions of “savage,” “civilized,” and “universal” atheism. Chronologically, this research spans from the jesuit Manuel da Nóbrega’s 1556 account of pre-Columbian peoples to the theologian Jacob Reimmann’s 1725 Historia Universalis Atheismi. Methodologically, the project combines tools from history and anthropology to analyze how these reports influenced European theological and philosophical debates. Under the supervision of Prof. Joan-Pau Rubiés at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), the research will benefit from UPF’s strengths in Chinese studies and global history, as well as targeted training in digital humanities and project management. Expected outcomes include two articles, a monograph, participation in three conferences and workshops, the development of a graduate course, the creation of the digital map database (Global Atheism, GLOA), and the curation of a public exhibition at Casa Asia (Barcelona) called Other Atheisms (OAS). The central ambition of this project—thus far underexplored by historiography—is to assess how missionary and traveler accounts of supposed atheism outside Europe shaped the concept of atheism in the early Enlightenment.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

• UNIVERSIDAD POMPEU FABRA · BarcelonaCoordinatorSpain

Links

• View on CORDIS
• DOI: 10.3030/101283814