Don Cupitt

Sea of Faith 40th Anniversary Events
2024-09-20 10:00 - 2024-09-22 14:00 UTC | Gladstone’s Library, Hawarden, United Kingdom
2024 will see the fortieth anniversary of the first broadcast of the BBC TV series, The Sea of Faith in September 1984.
Two special events are being planned to mark this milestone.
July 1-2 2024: Conference evaluating Cupitt’s work and legacy, University of Cambridge, UK.
September 20-21 2024: Special symposium to mark 40th anniversary, Gladstone’s Library, Hawarden, North Wales. Featuring public lectures, archival exhibition, workshops and talks.

Don Cupitt and the Sea of Faith
2024-07-01 12:00 - 2024-07-02 16:00
Day 1: Monday 1st July
2:00-2:15pm – Welcome and Introduction
Elaine Graham, Graeme Smith, Catherine Pickstock, Jeremy Caddick and Jeremy Carrette
2:15-3:45pm – Opening Keynote:
Chair: Elaine Graham
Steven Shakespeare
3:45-4:15pm – Tea
4:15-6:00pm – Short Papers on the different episodes of Sea of Faith:
Chair: Catherine Pickstock

Episode 1, The Mechanical Universe – Copernican revolution. Blaise Pascal and René Descartes. John Cottingham
Episode 2, The Human Animal – Charles Darwin, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Jeremy Carrette
Episode 3, Going by the Book – Martin Luther, David Strauss, and Albert Schweitzer. James Carleton Paget

7:00-8:30pm – Dinner
(Hall) 8:30-9:30pm – After dinner personal responses
(Chapel) Personal appreciations of Don Cupitt:
Chair: Graeme Smith

Catherine Pickstock
George Pattison
Clare Carlisle
Alison Webster

Day 2: Tuesday 2nd July
9:30-11:00am
Chair: Graeme Smith/Jeremy Carrette

Episode 4, Prometheus Unbound – Karl Marx and Søren Kierkegaard. Clare Carlisle/George Pattison
Episode 5, Religion Shock – Arthur Schopenhauer and Eastern religions. Vivekananda, Hindu missionary. Annie Besant and anthroposophist. Jessica Frazier
Episode 6, The New World – Friedrich Nietzsche and the death of God. Ludwig Wittgenstein. Gavin Hyman

11:00-11:30am – Coffee
11:30am-12:45pm – Religion and Media : the making of the Sea of Faith
Chair: Elaine Graham

Rosie Dawson
Peter Armstrong

12:45-1:30pm – Lunch
1:30-2:30pm – Session on Don Cupitt archive:
Chair: Catherine Pickstock
Elaine Graham and Graeme Smith
2:30-3:00pm – Tea
Chair: Jeremy Carrette
3:00-4:30pm – Final Keynote: Linda Woodhead
4:30pm – Tea and departure
Keynote Speakers

Steven Shakespeare
Linda Woodhead

Speakers

Peter Armstrong
Clare Carlisle
James Carleton Paget
John Cottingham
Jeremy Carrette
Rosie Dawson
Jessica Frazier
Elaine Graham
Gavin Hyman
George Pattison
Catherine Pickstock
Graeme Smith

Religion + Media Conference
2022-07-21 08:00 - 17:00
Description

Paper to British and Irish Association of Practical Theology
2022-07-13 15:30 - 17:00 | Online
The paper offers a critical evaluation of the notion of ‘embodied spirituality’ by examining the ideas of the theologian and philosopher of religion Don Cupitt (1934-). In his work, Cupitt argues that talk of God in transcendent and metaphysical terms belongs to an intellectual epoch that has long since passed. Realist doctrines of God have little or no credibility for a society shaped by contemporary scientific thought and the linguistic turn in philosophy: in other words, a fully materialist and embodied society which rejects notions of transcendence.
Cupitt did not argue, however, that Christianity should be discarded as intellectually outdated and outmoded. Rather he suggests it needs to adapt to these contemporary norms by developing in a non-realist direction. His work is, in part, an exploration of the implications for spirituality of a theology which proposes that religions, including Christianity, are fully embodied and immanent, in the sense of being human constructs contributing to human well-being. Instead of a faith grounded in belief in propositional truths or doctrine, Cupitt favours a this-worldly, practical spirituality which bears fruit in ethical and selfless living. For Cupitt, such a spirituality is far from reductionist, to be experienced as a loss of metaphysics and transcendence, but rather it is liberating, invigorating and relevant and appropriate to contemporary society.
As a radical theologian Cupitt is both a resource and a challenge for those practical theologians who wish to take into account important developments in theological thought, addressing the accusation, sometimes made, that practical theology evades fundamental questions to do with the existence and nature of God. Illustrations of Cupitt’s thought will be offered together with some major critical evaluations.
