Don Cupitt's Ethical Jesus and a Secular Transcendence: A Review of Cupitt's Jesus and Philosophy

In his latest book, Jesus and Philosophy, Don Cupitt looks for a "reform and renewal of Christianity. "He envisages this transformation by means ofa recog- nition ofthe emotivefoundation ofethiCs, a recognition which ousts a traditional moral realism. Examination of the teaching ofJesus re...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Implicit religion
Main Author: Hey, John (Author)
Format: Electronic Review
Language:English
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Published: Equinox [2011]
In: Implicit religion
Further subjects:B Christian Humanism
B Moral Realism
B Book review
B JESUS & Philosophy (Book)
B emotivist ethics
B TEACHINGS of Jesus Christ
B JESUS Christ; Appreciation
B Church renewal
B primacy of believing
B Secular Humanism
B Cupitt, Don
B secular transcendence
Online Access: Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:In his latest book, Jesus and Philosophy, Don Cupitt looks for a "reform and renewal of Christianity. "He envisages this transformation by means ofa recog- nition ofthe emotivefoundation ofethiCs, a recognition which ousts a traditional moral realism. Examination of the teaching ofJesus reveals that he also evoked the emotive humanitarian nature ofethics over against a rigid divine law. Eth- ics, like Christianity, should be understood horizontally, rather than vertically. On this basis Jesus lookedfor a new world-order, based on an extravagant love. There is much to be saidfor Cupitt's demythologising ofa metaphysical religion, particularly in the light of the recent scientific appreciation and development of Darwin's work. Ihere is merit also in Cupitt's stress on the prophetic message, present in the teaching ofJesus, that knowledge of God is synonymous with love of the neighbour. However, his central thesis is damaged by a confusing episte- mology, which fails to explain how an ethic of extravagant love can be derived merelyfrom feeling, and by an uprooting ofJesusfrom his place in first-century Judaism and locating him in a post Enlightenment sceptical modernity. Cup itt's secular transcendence offers us the vision of a "secular Jesus" promot- ing a "quite new moral world. "However this important idea is undermined by a lack of clarity concerning the ethical transcendence, and an autonomous ethic which is compromised by reliance upon an eccentric interpretation ofJesus.
ISSN:1743-1697
Contains:Enthalten in: Implicit religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1558/imre.v14i2.215