Alister McGrath

Alister Edgar McGrath
Born	(1953-01-23) 23 January 1953 Belfast, Northern Ireland
Nationality	British
Awards	Royal Society of Arts
Scientific career
Fields	Historical Theology, Religion and Science, Natural theology
Institutions	Oxford University, King's College London

Alister Edgar McGrath (born 23 January 1953) is a Christian theologian and apologist, who holds both a DPhil (in molecular biophysics) and an earned Doctor of Divinity degree from Oxford. He is noted for his work in historical, systematic and scientific theology. He states that he was formerly an atheist and still believes in evolution.

In his writing and public speaking, he promotes "scientific theology" and opposes antireligionism. McGrath was until recently Professor of Historical Theology at the University of Oxford, but has now taken up the chair of Theology, Religion and Culture at King's College London since September 2008. Until 2005, he was principal of Wycliffe Hall.

Biography

McGrath was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and grew up in Downpatrick, County Down, where he attended Down High School. In September 1966 he became a pupil at the Methodist College Belfast, where his studies focused on mathematics, physics and chemistry. He went up to Wadham College, Oxford in 1971 and gained first class honours in chemistry in 1975. He began research in molecular biophysics in the Oxford University Department of Biochemistry under the supervision of Professor Sir George Radda, FRS and was elected to an E.P.A. Cephalosporin Research Studentship at Linacre College, Oxford, for the academic year 1975-6, and to a Domus Senior Scholarship at Merton College, Oxford, for the period 1976-8. During these three years, he carried out scientific research while studying for the Oxford University Final Honour School of Theology. He was awarded an Oxford D.Phil. for his research in molecular biophysics (December 1977), and gained first class honours in Theology in June 1978.

McGrath then left Oxford to work at Cambridge University, where he also studied for ordination into the Church of England. In September 1980, he was ordained deacon, and began work as a curate at St Leonard's Parish Church, Wollaton, Nottingham, in the English East Midlands. He was ordained priest at Southwell Minster in September 1981. In 1983, he was appointed lecturer in Christian doctrine and ethics at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, and a member of the Oxford University Faculty of Theology. McGrath spent the fall semester of 1990 as the Ezra Squire Tipple Visiting Professor of Historical Theology at the Divinity School of Drew University, Madison, New Jersey.

McGrath was elected University Research Lecturer in Theology at Oxford University in 1993 and also served as research professor of theology at Regent College, Vancouver, from 1993-1999. In 1995, he was elected Principal of Wycliffe Hall, and in 1999, was awarded a personal chair in theology by Oxford University, with the title "Professor of Historical Theology". He was awarded an Oxford Doctorate of Divinity in 2001 for his research on historical and systematic theology, and was a founding member of the International Society for Science and Religion On 1 September 2008 McGrath took up the Chair of Theology, Ministry and Education in the Department of Education and Professional Studies at King's College London..

McGrath is a prolific writer. His work often refers both to the early Church Fathers and to contemporary evangelical stalwarts such as Thomas Torrance and J. I. Packer. His areas of expertise include doctrine, Church history, the interaction of science and faith, and evangelical spirituality.

Views

In 2004 McGrath suggested in The Twilight of Atheism that atheism was in decline. He has been highly critical of Richard Dawkins, calling him "embarrassingly ignorant of Christian theology". His book: The Dawkins Delusion? – a response to Dawkins's The God Delusion – was published by SPCK in February 2007, and the two had public debate on the topic, "Does religious belief damage the health of a society, or is it necessary to provide the moral and ethical foundations of a healthy society?" McGrath has also debated with Daniel Dennett, at the Greer-Heard Point-Counterpoint Forum (February 2007) in New Orleans. He was interviewed by Richard Dawkins about his book Dawkins' God and faith in general for the television documentary The Root of All Evil? McGrath's interview was not included in the final cut, but the unedited footage is available online. He states that he is not opposed to atheism itself, but rather the views of atheism held by people such as Dawkins.

Writings

Among McGrath's more notable works are:

• Iustitia Dei: A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification (1986) ISBN 0-521-62426-6
• Understanding the Trinity (1988) ISBN 0-310-29680-3
• Understanding Doctrine (1992) ISBN 0-310-47951-7
• Bridge-Building: Effective Christian Apologetics (1992) ISBN 0-85110-969-1
• Intellectuals Don't Need God and Other Modern Myths (1993) ISBN 0-310-59091-4
• A Life of John Calvin (1993) ISBN 0-631-18947-5
• A Passion for Truth: The Intellectual Coherence of Evangelicalism (1996) ISBN 0-8308-1866-9
• Science and Religion: An Introduction (1998) ISBN 0-631-20842-9
• Historical Theology: An Introduction to the History of Christian Thought (1998) ISBN 0-631-20844-5
• "I Believe": Exploring the Apostles' Creed (1998) ISBN 0-8308-1946-0
• T. F. Torrance: An Intellectual Biography (1999) ISBN 0-567-08683-6
• The Journey: A Pilgrim in the Lands of the Spirit (2000) ISBN 978-0-385-49588-2
• Christian Theology: An Introduction (2001) ISBN 0-631-22528-5 (often used as a seminary textbook)
• The Christian Theology Reader (2001) ISBN 0-631-20637-X (containing primary sources referred to in his Christian Theology)
• In the Beginning : The Story of the King James Bible and How It Changed a Nation, a Language,and a Culture (2001) ISBN 0-385-72216-8
• Glimpsing the Face of God: The Search for Meaning in the Universe (2001) ISBN 0-8028-3980-0
• The Reenchantment of Nature: The Denial of Religion and the Ecological Crisis (2002) ISBN 978-0-385-50059-3
• Knowing Christ (2002) ISBN 0-385-50316-4
• A Scientific Theology v. 3 (2003) ISBN 0-567-08349-7
• A brief history of Heaven (2003) ISBN 0-631-23354-7
• The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World (2004) ISBN 0-385-50061-0
• Dawkins' God: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life (2005) ISBN 1-405-12538-1 (A critique of scientist Richard Dawkins' attitude towards religion)
• Christianity’s Dangerous Idea: The Protestant Revolution from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First Century (2007) ISBN 978-0060822132
• The Dawkins Delusion? (2007) ISBN 0-281-05927-6 A critical response to Dawkins' book The God Delusion
• The Open Secret: A New Vision for Natural Theology (2008) ISBN 978-1-4051-2691-5
• A Fine-Tuned Universe: The Quest for God in Science and Theology (2009) ISBN 0-664-23310-4
• Heresy: A History of Defending the Truth (2009) ISBN 978-0060822149
• Mere Theology: Christian Faith and the Discipleship of the Mind (2010) ISBN 0-281-06209-9
• "Chosen Ones (Series: The Aedyn Chronicles Volume: 1)" (2010) ISBN 0310718120
• "Flight of the Outcasts (Series: The Aedyn Chronicles Volume: 2)" (expected 2011) ISBN 0310718139

Bibliography

• Chung, S. W. (ed.). Alister E. McGrath and Evangelical Theology: A Dynamic Engagement. Carlisle: Paternoster, 2003. ISBN 978-0801026393
• Keating, James F. "The Natural Sciences as an Ancilla Theologiae Nova: Alister E. McGrath's A Scientific Theology." The Thomist 69 (2005): 127-52.
• Myers, Benjamin. "Alister McGrath's Scientific Theology." Reformed Theological Review 64 (2005): 15-34.
• Shipway, Brad. "The Theological Application of Bhaskar's Stratified Reality: The Scientific Theology of A. E. McGrath." Journal of Critical Realism 3 (2004): 191-203.

External links

• Alister McGrath homepage
• Open Forum with Alister McGrath - 'Is God a Delusion? Atheism and the Meaning of Life'
• Alister McGrath on The Hour (CBC television)
• Richard Dawkins Interviews Alister McGrath Video
• Alister McGrath talks to Nigel Bovey of The War Cry: Part 1; Part 2
• Christopher Hitchens debates (with) Alister McGrath
• Alister McGrath debates with Peter Atkins at Edinburgh University
• Alister McGrath debates Sue Blackmore at Bristol University on the motion that "belief in God is a dangerous delusion". November 13. 2007.
• Full texts of McGrath's 2009 Gifford Lectures on natural theology