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Don Cupitt was an English philosopher of religion and scholar of Christian theology. Cupitt was born in Oldham and educated at Charterhouse, 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 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 remained his base.
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 wrote over 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.