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At some point very early on in its development, Christianity split between two different pathways: one path stayed with the teaching of Jesus and the primacy of ethics, the other started with the return of Jesus and, therefore, with supernatural belief. Today, ethics has been largely sidelined, viewed as secondary or subservient to belief. Don Cupitt argues that the time has come to give ethics priority in defining and shaping religious life. As he puts it, “No longer should we aim to conserve the self, preparing for eternity: we must simply expend it, by living generously." Introduction 1. What Did Jesus Teach? 2. Scattered and Gathered 3. The Glory and the Dream 4. Creation, Divine and Human 5. At the End of the Real 6. Moral Faith (i) Choosing Life 7. Moral Faith (ii) The Moral Domain 8. Moral Faith (iii) Coming Out 9. Moral Faith (iv) The Conquest of Pessimism 10. Priorities 11. The Worth of Everyday Life 12. Living the Dream 13. Dreaming Up 14. Without Consolation 15. Without Reward 16. Morality and Mortality 17. Philosophy of Life as First Philosophy 18. Philosophy of Life as Fundamental Theology Notes Praise for Creative Faith “It’s unusual to find a book which satisfies both mind and spirit, but Don Cupitt has pulled it off. Creative Faith offers sparking insights about religion and human life, whilst inspiring the reader with its vision of overflowing, life-affirming, Christ-like love." —Linda Woodhead, author of Christianity: A Very Short Introduction “In his new book, Don Cupitt shows that age is not dimming his passionate and innovative approach to religious life. Perhaps more forcibly than ever he here argues that the creative solar living he has been expounding for the last decade is a genuine interpretation and application of the example and teachings of Jesus and can still be seen in Christianity at its best (he even has a good word for Pope Francis). Even those who disagree will be compelled to revisit their assumptions and many will find inspiration in this forceful and clearly-written call to open a new religious horizon suited to our time.” —George Pattison, University of Glasgow Don Cupitt is a Life Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge UK—John Harvard’s college. As an undergraduate he studied successively natural sciences, theology and philosophy. He was ordained to the Anglican priesthood in 1960, but in 1962 he returned to Cambridge to teach and, since then, has stayed put. Creative Faith is Cupitt’s fiftieth book, and perhaps his most accurate and careful statement of his life’s chief purpose, which has been to transform our understanding of life, of religion, and of Christianity in order to reach a faith appropriate for today’s world. According to Cupitt, the old faith is all wrong, and it no longer works. It needs to be replaced by a still older faith, which he traces back to the earliest surviving traditions about Jesus.