Blasphemy

by David A. Lawton

From Jesus Christ to Salman Rushdie, from Moses to Freud, blasphemy has been a force in producing many forms of Western cultural identity. Blasphemy continues to influence our relations with other cultures, yet it is not so much an idea as a shifting rhetorical figure. It stands for whatever we we define the truths we uphold in terms of the blasphemies we attack. "Blasphemy is an orthodoxy's way of demonizing difference," writes Lawton. In this provocative book, the author tracks the history of blasphemy from the trial of Christ through the fatwa imposed on Salman Rushdie. He concludes that blasphemy is far from an antique concept, but a living, dangerous rhetoric that still defines the boundaries of popular culture.

228 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Professor Lawton received his MA. from Oxford and his Ph.D. from the University of York, where he held his first academic post in 1974-75. He moved to the University of Sydney, Australia, in 1975, and stayed there as Reader in Early English Language Literature until 1992. From 1992 to 1995 he was Professor and Head of English in the University of Tasmania, moving to England in 1995 to be Professor of English and Chair of Literature in the School of English and American Studies at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. In 1998 he became Professor of English at Washington University, and was Chair 2002-08. He was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1993, was Visiting Fellow at Clare Hall, Cambridge (2009), and was Leverhulme Visiting Professor of English at the University of Oxford (2009-10). Professor Lawton has published six books and many articles in English literary and cultural studies and in medieval studies. He is currently preparing editions of Chaucer's poetry and prose, working on medieval religious drama, and will soon publish a book on voice in medieval literature. He is founding co-editor of a major journal, New Medieval Literatures, and was Executive Director of the New Chaucer Society 2002-12. He was Director of Graduate Studies in English at Sydney and here (1999-2002). He has served as main advisor on more than 20 Ph.D. dissertations, and helped steer several on to subsequent publication. Former students of his hold tenured or tenurable academic positions in Australia, Britain, Japan and the USA. At Washington University and elsewhere he has been named an Outstanding Faculty Mentor and received awards for excellence in mentoring and teaching. David Lawton has also published poetry and journalism, and appeared on radio and television, in the US, Britain and Australia. He is a life member of Clare Hall, Cambridge, and a faculty associate in English Language and Literature at Oxford.