Blasphemy in Britain and America 1800–1930

Blasphemy is the battleground where religious and secular worlds come into conflict. Blasphemy laws are used to discipline unruly populations, to emphasize governmental authority and, latterly in the West, to protect the religious beliefs of others. To those accused of it as a crime it has appeared unnecessary, anachronistic and oppressive. Victims of the crime have seen laws as their only protection against individuals seeking to undermine not simply beliefs but wider standards of morality and behaviour within society. These victims of the crime have also used the concept of blasphemy to reassert their own identities around specific moral imperatives. Blasphemy has a history which reaches into issues of conflict, religious belief, freedom of expression, and is bound up with the growth and development of new media.

This four-volume edition draws together a wide variety of rare primary sources relating to blasphemy from the Enlightenment through to the modern era. Sources are arranged to represent both sides of the debate, giving voice to accused and accusor. New editorial material includes a general introduction, volume introductions, headnotes, endnotes and a consolidated index in the final volume. Most texts are reset, with a few (containing cartoons) produced in facsimile. The edition is broadly interdisciplinary and will be important for scholars of Legal History, Religious Studies, Literature, History of Art, Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Studies.

Contents

Volume 1: The Blasphemous Enlightenment to 1810
Volume 2: The Early Nineteenth Century
Volume 4: The Late Nineteenth Century
Volume 5: The Edwardian Period and Early Twentieth Century

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