The subject of atheism has mostly been a marginal one in the theological syllabus, despite occasional references to leading sceptics, humanists and other critics of religion. This is quite surprising given the current interest amongst undergraduate students. As this excellent volume shows, atheism has significant historical and geographical reach, appearing in different manifestations and representing large numbers of people in the world today. While definitions are fuzzy and counting heads imprecise, Keysar and Navarro-Rivera, in their demographic overview, estimate on the basis of a 2008 survey in 40 countries (which did not include the Middle East and much of Asia) that around 7 per cent of the world's population can be classified as atheist in the minimal sense of not believing in God or gods. Not surprisingly, this figure masks significant regional variations and forms of unbelief which require particular types of explanation. The largest recorded concentrations of atheists are in the Czech Republic (55%), France (41%) and Sweden (39%), while the lowest are in Venezuela (2%), Dominican Republic (3%), Philippines (3%), Chile (3%) and Turkey (3%). Elsewhere along the spectrum are the UK (30%), and the USA (8%). A disproportionate number within these groups are young, male, educated and unmarried.

A working distinction between negative and positive atheism informs most of the forty-six essays in the volume. Negative atheism is simply the absence of belief in God or the gods and so includes scepticism, agnosticism and indifferentism. Positive atheism is the belief that there is no God or gods and includes more vigorous denials of religion and positive affirmations of humanism, such as we encounter today in the new atheism. Yet the essays reveal that negative and positive atheism remain generic categories under which many types and varieties can be subsumed. Attention is given in successive essays to the history of atheism (from the pre-Socratics to the new atheism), to different intellectual traditions (e.g. analytic philosophy, Marxism and existentialism), to regional variations (including India and Japan, where atheism looks rather different from its standard Western forms – China is strangely omitted), to atheist inflections of the different world religions (Judaism, Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism), and to multidisciplinary perspectives (including the natural sciences, sociology and psychology). Christian atheism (e.g. death of God theology) does not merit a dedicated essay, though this might be seen as implicit in much of the volume.

The standard is generally very high, each essay representing intensive research and being appended by substantial bibliographical material. As such, it is one of the most successful of the Oxford Handbooks. In providing the most comprehensive and up-to-date guide to atheism in the world today, this volume ought to prove an invaluable resource both for teaching and as an entry point to further research.