From the Emmanuel College website:
Don Cupitt was born in 1934 in Lancashire and educated at Charterhouse, Trinity Hall Cambridge and Wescott House Cambridge. He studied successively, Natural Sciences, Theology and the Philosophy of Religion. He was deaconed in the Church of England in 1959 and priest in 1960.
After a short period as a curate in the north of England and as Vice-Principal of Westcott House, he was elected to a Fellowship and took up office as Dean of Emmanuel College in 1966.
He served as Proctor (Senior) 1967-68 and in 1968 was appointed to a university assistant Lectureship in the Philosophy of Religion and became a Lecturer in 1973.
He resigned as Dean in 1992 and stopped officiating in public worship at around the same time. Four years later he retired from the University, becoming a life fellow of Emmanuel.
Don Cupitt is probably best known for his work in the symposium “The Myth of God Incarnate” in 1977 followed by the “Sea of Faith” series in 1984 which recently aired on BBC4. The publication of “Taking leave of God” in 1980 confirmed him as a non-realist and “the most radical theologian in the world” in the eyes of the press. The Archbishop of Canterbury , then Robert Runcie, The Bishop of Ely, Peter Walker and the Master of Emmanuel Derek Brewer all defended his right to put forward his ideas. There followed a number of further publications and there was an international conference at Emmanuel in July 2024 and a special feature in the Church Times in June 2024 to mark the 40th anniversary of the Sea of Faith series.
May Don rest in peace and rise in glory.