Don Cupitt: prophet, public intellectual and pioneer Public intellectual
Affiliation
University of Chester; University of ChichesterPublication Date
2023-05-09
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The 1984 BBC TV series The Sea of Faith offered Don Cupitt an exceptional degree of public recognition and notoriety. His advancement of a non-realist and social constructivist theology had a strong polarizing effect on his audience, engendering disapproval and approbation in equal measure. Opinion was strongly divided between those who resisted any kind of critical approach to Christian teaching and those who felt liberated by Cupitt’s call for a more modern and questioning theology. Through archives of audience reactions to his broadcasts and writings, this article considers whether Cupitt’s influence through The Sea of Faith and other writing and broadcasting was sufficient to rank him as a ‘public intellectual’. It will argue that the controversy Cupitt attracted and his categorization as ‘atheist priest’ and ‘radical theologian’ may ultimately have limited his efforts to promote broad-based, serious theological debate in Church and society.Citation
Graham, E., & Smith, G. (2023). Don Cupitt: Prophet, public intellectual and pioneer public intellectual. Theology, 126(3), 174-182. https://doi.org/10.1177/0040571X231171279Publisher
SAGE PublicationsJournal
TheologyAdditional Links
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0040571X231171279Type
articleDescription
This article is not available on ChesterRepISSN
0040-571XEISSN
2044-2696ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1177/0040571X231171279