‘The new world’ in retrospect : Cupitt, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein

Hyman, Gavin (2026) ‘The new world’ in retrospect : Cupitt, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein. Theology, 129 (1). pp. 13-20. ISSN 0040-571X

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Abstract

This article examines the relationship of Don Cupitt’s thought to that of Friedrich Nietzsche and Ludwig Wittgenstein, particularly as articulated in the final episode of Cupitt’s Sea of Faith television series and in the accompanying book. It suggests that this has a significance beyond its place in the wider television series. In particular, it helps us to understand a recently articulated paradox regarding Cupitt’s ambivalent influence on the later theologians of ‘radical orthodoxy’. It also helps us to understand the later, quite different direction taken by Cupitt’s own thought. In the wake of Cupitt’s recent death, this article seeks to locate the wider significance of his thought through a snapshot of his thinking at a particular time and its relationship to other significant philosophers.