Don Cupitt
Don Cupitt (born 22 May 1934) is an English philosopher of religion and scholar of Christian theology. He has been an Anglican priest and a 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. Career. Cupitt was born in Oldham and 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 philosophy of religion, a position 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 ceased to be a communicant member of the church. Although he has been a priest, he is better known as a writer, broadcaster and populariser of innovative theological ideas. He has written 40 books—which have been translated into Dutch, Persian, Polish, Korean, Portuguese, Danish, German and Chinese—as well as chapters in more than 30 multi-authored volumes. Cupitt 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. The series took its  title from Matthew Arnold's poem "Dover Beach", which reflected on the decline of faith. Cupitt 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. Prompted by the series, Giles Fraser sought a meeting with Cupitt, which led Fraser from atheism into the church. 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"). He calls this way of being a non-realist Christian "solar living". Quotations. Don Cupitt has one entry in the 8th Edition of The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. "Christmas is the Disneyfication of Christianity." Books. In Chapter 13 of his book "After God:The Future of Religion", Cupitt documents how the gradual disintegration of religious belief and supernatural views of the world has led to the growth of naturalism. For Cupitt, the abandonment of religion has also been aided by technological advances and the growing number  of sources of authority. Finally, he goes on to argue that many people still hold on to their religious beliefs purely out of 'ethnic loyalty', and that, despite people's best efforts, religion will continue to liquidate.