This is a book to leave you reeling, provoked - and hopeful. Geoff Crocker embraces the death of God, but not the simplistic mantras of Dawkins-style 'new' atheism. Advocating nothing less than a synthesis of the sacred and the secular, he finds a divine power in religious myth even when its supernatural content is stripped away. Make no mistake: this book pulls no punches in its critique of the church, and many will want to argue with its bold claims. But ultimately this is a work of profoundly spiritual hope, nothing less than a philosophy of life for disenchanted times.

Steven Shakespeare, Lecturer in Philosophy, Liverpool Hope University