Sea of Faith (TV series)

"Sea of Faith" was a six-part documentary television series, presented on BBC television in 1984 by Don Cupitt. The programme dealt with the history of Christianity in the modern world, focussing especially on how Christianity has responded to challenges such as scientific advances, political atheism and secularisation in general. Each programme focussed on one religious figure and one figure who was portrayed as advancing secularisation as follows:

The first programme was about Blaise Pascal and his Christian responses to the philosophy of Rene Descartes;The second programme dealt with Charles Darwin, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung;The third programme dealt with Karl Marx as an atheist and Soren Kierkegaard as a Christian;The final programme dealt with Friedrich Nietzsche, described as the most thorough-going of all the atheists, and the man described in the "Radio Times" as the most enigmatic Christian of the twentieth century - Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Other programmes dealt with the rise of Bible criticism, examining the work of David Strauss and Albert Schweitzer, and the encounter of the world religions, looking at how philosophers such as Arthur Schopenhauer had been influenced by religions such as Hinduism. As far as possible, the programme aimed to give presentations in the place where the figures featured each week had actually lived and worked; for example, the programme about Jung was partially filmed in Zurich, and the programme in Kierkegaard was partially filmed near Copenhagen.

Before the programme was first aired, an article on the religious views of Cupitt entitled "New Wave Believer" was published in the "Radio Times". The article aroused considerable controversy, as was evident from the letters that soon appeared in "Radio Times". A more positive set of letters appeared in the "Radio Times" after the programme had been aired. ( [http://www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/collections/media/offair%20010606a.pdf] )

After the showings of the six episodes, the BBC broadcast a discussion of the series and how it had been received, which, as well as featuring Cupitt, featured Alfred Ayer and the then Bishop of Birmingham, Hugh Montefiore. The programme was also featured on a BBC television series, "Did You See?" hosted by Ludovic Kennedy, and featuring in that episode, Karen Armstrong and Bob Monkhouse.