Don Cupitt

Don Cupitt (born 22 May 1934 in Lancashire) is an English philosopher of religion and scholar of Christian theology. He is an Anglican priest, heretic and an emeritus professor of the University of Cambridge, though is better known as a popular writer, broadcaster and commentator. He has been described as a radical theologian, noted for his ideas about non-realist philosophy of religion.^{[citation needed]}

Career

Cupitt was educated at Charterhouse School in Godalming, Surrey, Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and Westcott House Cambridge. He studied, successively, Natural Sciences, Theology and the Philosophy of Religion. In 1959 he was ordained deacon in the Church of England, becoming a priest in 1960. After short periods as a curate in the North of England, and as Vice-Principal of Westcott House, Cupitt was elected to a Fellowship and appointed Dean at Emmanuel College, Cambridge late in 1965. Since then he has remained at the College. In 1968 he was appointed to a University teaching post in the Philosophy of Religion, a job in which he continued until his retirement for health reasons in 1996. At that time he proceeded to a Life Fellowship at Emmanuel College, which remains his base today. In the early 1990s he stopped officiating at public worship, and in 2008 he finally ceased to be a communicant member of the church. Although still a priest, he is better known today as a writer, broadcaster and populariser of innovative theological ideas. He has written forty books – which have been translated into Dutch, Persian, Polish, Korean, Portuguese, Danish, German and Chinese – as well as chapters in more than thirty multi-authored volumes.

He came to the British public's attention in 1984 with his BBC television series The Sea of Faith, in which orthodox Christian beliefs were challenged. He is currently a key figure in the Sea of Faith Network, a group of spiritual "explorers" (based in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia) who share Cupitt's concerns.

In his writings Cupitt sometimes describes himself as Christian non-realist, by which he means that he follows certain spiritual practices and attempts to live by ethical standards traditionally associated with Christianity but without believing in the actual existence of the underlying metaphysical entities (such as "Christ" and "God").

Personal Life

He is married, with three children who all now live and work in London, and two grandchildren.

Books

By Cupitt

(partial list)

• Crisis of Moral Authority: The Dethronement of Christianity, Lutterworth Press, 1972, ISBN 0-7188-1924-1
• Taking Leave of God, SCM Press, 1980, 2001 edition: ISBN 0-334-02840-X
• Who was Jesus? (London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1977). With Peter Armstrong.
• The Sea of Faith, BBC Books, 1984, Cambridge University Press 1988 edition: ISBN 0-521-34420-4
• After All: Religion Without Alienation, SCM Press, 1994, ISBN 0-334-00036-X
• After God: The Future of Religion, Basic Books, 1997, ISBN 0-465-04514-6
• Mysticism After Modernity, Blackwell Publishers, 1998, ISBN 0-631-20763-5
• The New Religion of Life in Everyday Speech, SCM Press, 1999, ISBN 0-334-02763-2
• Reforming Christianity, Polebridge Press, 2001, ISBN 0-944344-82-8
• Is Nothing Sacred?: The Non-Realist Philosophy of Religion (selected essays), Fordham University Press, 2003, ISBN 0-8232-2203-9
• The Way To Happiness: A Theory Of Religion, Polebridge Press, 2005, ISBN 0-944344-53-4
• The Old Creed and the New, SCM Press, 2006, ISBN 0-334-04053-1
• Radical Theology, Polebridge Press, 2006: ISBN 0-0944344-97-2
• Impossible Loves, Polebridge Press, 2007, ISBN 978-1-59815-001-8
• Above Us Only Sky, Polebridge Press, 2008, ISBN 1-598-15011-1
• The Meaning of the West, SCM Press, 2008, ISBN 0-334-04202-X
• Jesus and Philosophy , SCM Press, 2009, ISBN 0-334-043387

About Cupitt

• Holding Fast to God: A Reply to Don Cupitt, Keith Ward, Abingdon Press, 1990, ISBN 0-687-85476-8
• The Predicament of Postmodern Theology: Radical Orthodoxy or Nihilist Textualism?, Gavin Hyman, Westminster John Knox Press, 2001
• Odyssey on the Sea of Faith: The Life and Writings of Don Cupitt, Nigel Leaves, Polebridge Press, 2004, ISBN 0-944344-62-3
• Surfing on the Sea of Faith: The Ethics and Religion of Don Cupitt, Nigel Leaves, Polebridge Press, 2005, ISBN 0-944344-63-1
• New Directions In Philosophical Theology: Essays In Honour Of Don Cupitt, Gavin Hyman (editor), Ashgate Publishing, 2005, ISBN 0-7546-5061-8

See also

• Christian atheism
• Lloyd Geering
• The Sea of Faith (documentary television series)
• Sea of Faith Network
• "Dover Beach", a 19th-century poem by Matthew Arnold which includes the metaphor of "the Sea of Faith"
• Death of God
• Nontheism
• Oolon Colluphid

External links

• Don Cupitt's website
• Sea of Faith Network
• "Don Cupitt: Taking leave of God (and everything else!)" on That Religious Studies Website
• Review of Mysticism After Modernity
• Audio interview with Don Cupitt on Philosophy Bites podcast

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Name	Cupitt, Don
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Date of birth	22 May 1934
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