Atheism and theodicy in classical Athens

Scholarship on atheism in classical Athens has reached an impasse, with irreconcilable views on its definition and extent. The talk shifts perspective by adopting a phenomenological approach, viewing atheism through the modern lens of a “moral panic,” and reassessing the surviving evidence. At stake, it is argued, is less the existence of the gods than what humans expect from divinity, and how these expectations are or are not fulfilled, particularly when it comes to justice. Understanding the importance of questions of theodicy to fifth-century thought allows for a new theological dialectic to emerge, in which atheism is one part of a much wider inquiry into divinity and traditional belief.