Atheism from Hobbes to Russell

This monograph provides the first comprehensive historical survey of atheistic thought in Britain from the seventeenth to the twentieth century, challenging the conventional wisdom that explicit atheism emerged only in the late eighteenth century. Berman argues that atheism has a much longer and more complex intellectual history than previously recognized, though it was often concealed due to social and legal pressures.

The work traces atheistic thinking from Thomas Hobbes through to Bertrand Russell, examining how successive generations of thinkers developed increasingly explicit critiques of religious belief. Berman demonstrates that while Hobbes himself may not have been an atheist, his materialist philosophy and mechanistic worldview provided crucial conceptual tools for later atheistic thinkers. The author shows how subsequent figures like Anthony Collins, David Hume, and Baron d'Holbach built upon these foundations, gradually moving from covert skepticism to open denial of God's existence.

A central contribution of this study lies in its analysis of why atheism remained largely hidden before the late 1700s. Berman examines the social ostracism, legal penalties, and philosophical strategies that led many skeptics to disguise their views through irony, anonymous publication, or careful ambiguity. He argues that understanding this "cryptic" tradition is essential for properly interpreting many Enlightenment texts that appear superficially religious but contain subversive undertones.

The monograph employs a careful historical methodology, combining textual analysis with attention to social and intellectual context. Berman not only identifies atheistic arguments but also explores how these ideas circulated through clandestine networks and influenced broader cultural debates about reason, morality, and social order. His work reveals atheism not as a sudden emergence but as a gradually developing tradition with its own internal logic and evolution.

This study fundamentally revises our understanding of the history of irreligion in the English-speaking world. By demonstrating that atheistic thought has deeper historical roots than commonly assumed, Berman's work has important implications for how we understand the relationship between religion and modernity. The monograph shows that the "death of God" was not a nineteenth-century phenomenon but the culmination of a much longer intellectual process. For scholars interested in secularization, the history of philosophy, or the development of religious skepticism, this work provides an essential foundation for understanding how atheism evolved from a dangerous heresy to a legitimate philosophical position.