Blasphemy in the Christian World

David Nash is Reader in History at Oxford Brookes University. He has previously published on the secular and republican movements in England, specialising in the history of blasphemy, and appearing extensively in the media both Britain and America to speak on this subject. He has held visiting professorships in Utrecht and Buffalo, and is a permanent Visiting Research Fellow of the Center for Inquiry (Amherst, New York). In 2003 he was invited to give both verbal and written evidence to the House of Lords Select Committee on religious offences.

• 1. The past invades the present - Blasphemy in the contemporary World ; 2. Blasphemy in Words and Pictures - Part One 1500-1800 ; 3. Blasphemy in Words and Pictures - Part Two 1800-2000 ; 4. Who Were the Blasphemers? ; 5. Controlling the Profane ; 6. Responses to Blasphemy: Victims and Communities ; 7. Last Temptations and Visions of Ecstasy: Blasphemy and Film ; 8. Conclusion

Blasphemy in the Christian World offers additional persuasive evidence for religion's continued relevance by showing how the rediscovery of seemingly archaic blasphemy laws in Europe and the Americas challenges cherished ... legal traditions of free speech and expression