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Alister McGrath

Andreas Idreos Professorship in Science and Religion, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Oxford

Alister Edgar McGrathis an Irish theologian, priest, intellectual historian and Christian apologist, currently Professor of Theology, Ministry, and Education at Kings College London and Head of the Centre for Theology, Religion and Culture. He was previously Professor of Historical Theology at the University of Oxford, and was principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford until 2005. He has also taught at Cambridge University. McGrath holds two doctorates from the University of Oxford, a DPhil in Molecular Biophysics and a Doctor of Divinity in Theology. He is an Anglican and is ordained within the Church of England.

McGrath is noted for his work in historical theology, systematic theology, and the relationship between science and religion, as well as his writings on apologetics. He is also known for his opposition to New Atheism and antireligionism and his advocacy of critical realism. Among his best-known books are The Twilight of Atheism, The Dawkins Delusion, Dawkins’ God: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life, and A Scientific Theology. He is also the author of a number of popular textbooks on theology.

McGrath studied at the Methodist College Belfast, where he focused on mathematics, physics and chemistry. He went up to Wadham College, Oxford and gained first class honours in chemistry. 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 DPhil for his research in molecular biophysics and gained first class honours in Theology.

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 the Oxford degree of Doctor of Divinity in 2001 for his research in 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.


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Books

Surprised by Meaning: Science, Faith, and How We Make Sense of Things

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The Making of Modern German Christology, 1750-1990, Second Edition:

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Intellectuals Don't Need God and Other Modern Myths

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A Cloud of Witnesses: Ten Great Christian Thinkers

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The Passionate Intellect: Christian Faith and the Discipleship of the Mind

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Iustitia Dei: A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification

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The Dawkins Delusion?: Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine (Veritas Books)

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Creation (Truth and the Christian Imagination)

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Science and Religion: A New Introduction

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Theology: The Basics

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Christianity's Dangerous Idea: The Protestant Revolution-A History from the Sixteenth Century to the Twenty-First

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A Fine-Tuned Universe: The Quest for God in Science and Theology (Gifford Lectures)

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C. S. Lewis -- A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet

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In the Beginning: The Story of the King James Bible and How It Changed a Nation, a Language, and a Culture

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LUTHERS THEOL OF THE CROSS

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The Open Secret: A New Vision for Natural Theology

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Reformation Thought: An Introduction

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The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World

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Darwinism and the Divine: Evolutionary Thought and Natural Theology

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Theology: The Basic Readings

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Darkness Shall Fall (The Aedyn Chronicles)

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Doubting: Growing Through the Uncertainties of Faith

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Flight of the Outcasts (The Aedyn Chronicles)

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Redemption (Truth And Christian Imagination Series)

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Chosen Ones (The Aedyn Chronicles)

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The Order of Things: Explorations in Scientific Theology

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Mere Apologetics: How to Help Seekers and Skeptics Find Faith

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T. F. Torrance: An Intellectual Biography

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The Buddha's Light Philosophy

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Christianity: An Introduction

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