WRESTLINGS WITH CUPITT Stephen Mitchell Don Cupitt and the Future of Christianity by Stephen Ross White (SCM, £14.95) Stephen Ross White’s book promises a great deal. It promises to take Cupitt ‘‘very seriously indeed’’ as ‘‘in many ways the most remarkable, the most radical and the most stimulating’’ of figures on the current theological landscape. Unlike ‘‘the scant critical attention which has been paid to him’’, Dr White intends to ‘‘trace the development of Cupitt’s thought, pausing to consider how and why he has reached his present views’? and ‘‘to establish what contribution, if any, he may have made to the major theological issues of the late twentieth century’’. The promise remains unfulfilled, His book is in two parts. In Part One, Cupitt and his Development, White embarks on a chronological journey through Cupitt’s writings up to the publication of What is a Story? Those looking for an exploration of Cupitt, the artist-theologian, will be disappointed. The yardstick for this study is orthodoxy - his roots in orthodoxy, his objections to orthodoxy and his departure from orthodoxy.
In Part Two, Realism and Anti-Realism, White argues his case contra Cupitt in chapters on technique and method, theological validity, language and reality. Again, those looking for an appraisal of the realization of Cupitt’s vision in or outside the churches will be disappointed.
Cupitt’s work is said to suffer from substantial defects of both technique and method and is ultimately religiously inadequate. In short, Cupitt asks some important questions which are better answered by the ‘‘critical-realist’’ approach.
Almost everything of interest about Cupitt is, to my mind, missing from this book. White dismisses Cupitt’s ‘‘outstanding’? command of language as a ‘‘superficially persuasive veneer’’, Yet as one who sees the renewing of religious thought and ethics bound up with the renewing of language, his innovative linguistic style deserves far closer attention.
There is nothing about his teaching or its influence. White tells us, for example, that The Worlds of Science and Religion is a ‘‘fairly unremarkable study’’. Yet anyone looking for useful material for sixth-formers in the late Seventies would have been struck by the freshness and vitality of Cupitt’s treatment of some well-worn themes.
There is nothing about his broadcasting, nothing about Sea of Faith, nothing about those priests and lay people who have attempted to live out this religious vision.
There is nothing of biographical interest. But then that is to be expected. White is a realist who thinks theological arguments are to be judged right or wrong, correct or incorrect, orthodox or unorthodox, rational or irrational.
Consequently White’s book is stripped of personality. The book is undedicated, tells us nothing about its author (he is Dean of Raphoe, Co. Donegal) and his motives for writing or his own wrestlings with Cupitt.
There is also little original critical appraisal in the book, relying heavily on Janet Martin Soskice and Keith Ward.
Of course the book is already outdated. It is perhaps unfortunate that the author was unable to take the advice of Cupitt in the last pages of The Time Being: “Think of Dorothy Parker, reviewing the book and saying: ‘This is not a book to be lightly tossed aside. It should be thrown, with force’. Similarly, leave this book behind. Forget it. Since out there is no unchanging Truth, there is no true doctrine and no crisp epitome of the Truth. This book is related to my other books as one painting is related to other paintings by the same artist. I | circle obsessively around certain themes, reworking them, looking for interesting angles and insights - but finality, No. Dogmatic truth, No. So move on now. Make believe.
Make, believe. Fare well.’’ Until someone writes Circling Obsessions: Cupitt, the Artist-Theologian those wanting a more helpful, though considerably more expensive, appraisal of the realist/ non-realist debate could toss White aside and turn to the collection of essays in Js God Real? edited by Joseph Runzo (Macmillan, £45).