Rev Don Cupitt 22.05.1934 – 18.01.2025

In this article Adrian Skelton shares a tribute to a radical and controversial theologian.

The phrase ‘Sea of Faith’, taken from a Matthew Arnold poem, was used for Cupitt’s 1984 BBC series and book. Six episodes focus on individual theologians from Pascal to Nietzsche and Cupitt explores the changing character and influence of Christianity. It remains a masterclass.

Born in Oldham, Lancashire, Cupitt studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge before pursuing studies in philosophy and religion. He attended the Anglican training college, Westcott House, and was ordained in 1959. After his curacy, he returned to Westcott House as vice-principal, then to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he became dean and life fellow. His subsequent progressive direction as a philosopher of religion took him ever further beyond the acceptable boundaries of the Church of England.

A Controversial Academic

He shared in notoriety, as a contributor to The Myth of God Incarnate (1977), edited by John Hick (Edward Cadbury Professor of Theology at Birmingham). The book provoked controversy and revealed the huge gap between the theology pursued by many academics and that presented to people in the pews. It is perhaps this credibility gap that has led to the rapid decline in church attendance since the 1960s.

Significant publications which illustrate the progress of his developing thought are Taking Leave of God (1980), The Long-legged Fly (1987), Solar Ethics (1995), After God (1997), the trilogy of “Everyday Speech” books (1999-2000), Theology’s Strange Return (2010), and Ethics in the Last Days of Humanity (2015).

After God is a logical and lucid presentation of the history of religion and its possible future. The trilogy written just before the turn of the millennium arose from the premise that what people really believe is encapsulated in the phrases of everyday speech – as Wittgenstein had suggested. Since at least Taking Leave of God, Cupitt has regarded 'God' as a metaphor. And yet he continued to write wittily and cogently about religion. He retained an allegiance to the radical teaching of Jesus, but not to the Church.

From a New Zealand perspective, it is remarkable that Lloyd Geering was writing books on similar themes with similar titles, unbeknown to both, long before they met. Their joint legacy is important as an attempt to provide a corrective to the disaster of the increasing narrowness of religion in this century.