After God: The Future Of Religion (MasterMind) - Hardcover

Cupitt, Don

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0465045146 ISBN 13: 9780465045143

Publisher: Basic Books, 1997

Synopsis

What is it about religion that, despite all odds, allows it to survive? In After God, the renowned scholar Don Cupitt considers the fate of religion, now that we have effectively killed off our gods. The author, a trained theologian and an ordained priest in the Church of England, takes us through the evolution of religious belief from the dawn of the gods to their twilight as well as to the morning after.Tracing the postmodern pilgrimage from traditional belief to cynicism to faith after God, Cupitt says we need to build a new religious vocabulary. He challenges us to see religion less as an ideology and more as a tool kit, a set of techniques perhaps an art form enhancing our lives the way that literature and art do.”A heretic's heretic” and ”an atheist priest,” Cupitt has respect for both skepticism and devotion. He neither accepts nor denies religion at face value; he takes faith to pieces, throws away what he can't use, and assembles the remainder into new and extraordinary shapes, challenging us to creatively reshape it, give it new language, reinvent it.After God is for those who find it hard to be among the congregation of an orthodox religion but who miss the discipline and rewards of practicing a faith, and for the person who will understand Cupitt when he writes, ”I actually think that I love God more now that I know God is voluntary. Perhaps God had to die to purify our love for him.”

About this title

Review

Don Cupitt, professor of philosophy and religion, accepts Nietzsche's death knell for God and writes off the worldwide rise of conservative religious movements as a mere reactionary convulsion. The significance of religion for him lies not in faith but in the therapeutic value of orienting oneself in relation to a metaphysical otherness, even if it is only imaginary. Until now, the valuable existential techniques available in traditional religions have always demanded the prerequisite of faith. Cupitt's daring reformulation of religion drops this prerequisite and demands only a sincerity and creativity that can perpetually recreate modern global culture by drawing on all available religious traditions.

About the Author

Don Cupitt is a fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He has held a variety of college and university appointments and has lectured widely on the philosophy of religion, ethics and Christian ethics, and religious studies. He is the author of over twenty books, including The Sea of Faith, which was produced as a BBC–TV series. He lives in Cambridge, England.

Edition details

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0465045146
• ISBN 13: 9780465045143
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160