John Lennox

John Lennox
Born	Northern Ireland
Residence	Oxford, UK
Alma mater	Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Doctoral advisor	James Roseblade
Doctoral students	Howard Smith

John Carson Lennox is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford, Fellow in Mathematics, Philosophy of Science and Pastoral Advisor at Green Templeton College of Oxford University.

Biography

Early life

John Lennox was born in Northern Ireland and went on to become Exhibitioner and Senior Scholar at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where in 1962 he also attended the last lectures of C. S. Lewis on the poet John Donne. In 1970, Lennox received his first doctorate, from the University of Cambridge,^{[citation needed]} for his thesis Centrality and Permutability in Soluble Groups.

Career

Lennox has been part of numerous public debates defending the Christian faith, including debates with Christopher Hitchens, Michael Shermer and Richard Dawkins. The debate in 2007 against outspoken atheist Richard Dawkins, on the topic of Dawkins' book The God Delusion, was broadcast to millions worldwide and was described by the Wall Street Journal as "a revelation: in Alabama, a civil debate over God's existence".

Upon completing his doctorate, Lennox moved to Cardiff, Wales, becoming a reader in Mathematics at the University of Wales, Cardiff. During his 29 years in Cardiff he spent a year at each of the universities of Würzburg, Freiburg (as an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow) and Vienna and has lectured extensively in both Eastern and Western Europe, Russia and North America on mathematics, apologetics and the exposition of Scripture. He has published over 70 peer-reviewed articles on mathematics and co-authored two Oxford Mathematical Monographs and has worked as a translator of Russian mathematics.

Lennox also teaches science and religion in the University of Oxford. He is the author of a number of books on the relations of science, religion and ethics, the most recent of which are: Informetika (2001), Hat die Wissenschaft Gott begraben? (Has Science Buried God?) (2002), Worldview (2004) with D. W. Gooding (3 volumes in Russian and Ukrainian). His most recent book is God and Stephen Hawking: Whose Design Is It Anyway? (2011). He has spoken in many different countries, in conferences and as an academic fellow including numerous trips to the former Soviet Union.

Debates

Lennox (left) debating religion with Christopher Hitchens in Alabama

Lennox is a Christian academic and has participated in a number of public debates against individuals including Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Michael Shermer.

• On 3 October 2007, Lennox debated with Richard Dawkins at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in Birmingham, Alabama on Dawkins' views expressed in his book, The God Delusion.
• Professors Lennox and Dawkins had a follow-up discussion in April 2008 at Trinity College, Oxford to expand upon topics left undeveloped during The God Delusion Debate.
• On 9 August 2008, Lennox debated with Christopher Hitchens at the Edinburgh International Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland on the question of whether or not Europe should jettison its religious past and welcome the "New Atheism."
• On 23 August 2008, Lennox debated with Michael Shermer at the Wesley Conference Centre in Sydney, Australia on the existence of God.
• On 21 October 2008, Lennox debated with Richard Dawkins for the second time at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, the site of the 1860 Oxford evolution debate between Thomas Henry Huxley and Samuel Wilberforce. The debate was titled "Has Science Buried God?" and centred around that question. The Spectator called the event "Huxley-Wilberforce, Round Two."
• On 3 March 2009, Lennox debated with Christopher Hitchens for the second time at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama on the question "Is God Great?" The debate addressed the validity of some of Hitchens' claims in his book God is Not Great.

Personal life

Lennox speaks English, Russian, French, German and Spanish. He is married to Sally and has three children and five grandchildren. He has a brother named Gilbert Lennox, an elder in Glennabbey Church, Glengormley.^{[citation needed]}

Works

• Subnormal subgroups of groups, John C. Lennox and Stewart E. Stonehewer. Oxford : Clarendon, 1987. ISBN 019853552X / ISBN 9780198535522
• Christentum definitiv!: Der Unterschied zwischen christlicher Botschaft und Christenheit, John C. Lennox & David Gooding, Germany, Jota publikationen (2. Februar 2004) | 129 p | ISBN 3935707177
• The Theory of Infinite Soluble Groups, John C. Lennox, University of Oxford, and Derek J. S. Robinson, University of Illinois, 2004 | 458 p | Clarendon Press, ISBN 0-19-850728-3 / ISBN 978-0-19-850728-4
• Hat die Wissenschaft Gott begraben. Eine kritische Analyse moderner Denkvoraussetzungen, John C. Lennox, Hann - Germany, Brockhaus, (31 October 2007) | 144 p | ISBN 3417243580
• God's Undertaker: Has Science Buried God?, John C. Lennox, Lion UK, Updated edition (1 September 2009)| 224 p | ISBN 0745953719
• Seven Days That Divide the World: The Beginning According to Genesis and Science, John C. Lennox, Zondervan (9 August 2011) | 192p | ISBN 0310492173
• God and Stephen Hawking: Whose Design Is It Anyway?, John C. Lennox, Lion UK, 1st edition (1 September 2011) | 96 p | ISBN 0745955495
• Gunning for God: A Critique of the New Atheism, John C. Lennox, Lion UK, 1st edition (1 October 2011) | 248 p | ISBN 0745953220

External links

• John Lennox's official website
• The Feed Trust – this has some of his Scripture exposition resources
• Fixed Point Foundation – features both debates and the Trinity College conversation with Richard Dawkins as well as both debates with Christopher Hitchens
• Interview with John Lennox by Tim Bearder, BBC Radio Oxford, 2008-10-16.
• Premier Christian Radio Radio debate on "Are we alone in the Universe?"