:Alister McGrath

McGrath was born on 23 January 1953 in Belfast, 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 George Radda{{cite book |last=McGrath |first= Alister|date=2010 |title=Mere Theology |location=London |publisher=SPCK |page=80 |isbn=978-0281062096}} and was elected to an E.P.A. Cephalosporin Research Studentship at Linacre College, Oxford, for the academic year 1975–1976, and to a Domus Senior Scholarship at Merton College, Oxford, for the period 1976–1978. 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 Doctor of Philosophy degree for his research in molecular biophysics (December 1977), and gained first-class honours in theology in June 1978.{{Cite web|url=http://alistermcgrath.weebly.com/biography.html|title=Biography|website=Alister E. McGrath|access-date=28 October 2021}}

Reflecting on his time as an undergraduate at Wadham, McGrath has written, "I was discovering that Christianity was far more intellectually robust than I had ever imagined. I had some major rethinking to do, and by the end of November [1971], my decision was made: I turned my back on one faith and embraced another."{{cite book |last=McGrath |first= Alister |date=2010 |title=Mere Theology |location=London |publisher=SPCK |page=81 |isbn=978-0281062096}}

McGrath then left Oxford to work at the University of Cambridge, where he also studied for ordination in the Church of England. In September 1980, he was ordained deacon and began ministry 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. He was awarded a BD by Oxford in 1983, for research in historical theology.{{Cite web|url=http://alistermcgrath.weebly.com/curriculum-vitae.html|title=Curriculum Vitae|website=Alister E. McGrath|access-date=28 October 2021}} He 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 to 1999. In 1995, he was elected principal of Wycliffe Hall and in 1999, was awarded a personal chair in theology by the University of Oxford with the title professor of historical theology. He was awarded the Oxford degree of DD in 2001 for his research in historical and systematic theology, and was a founding member of the International Society for Science and Religion.ISSR [http://www.issr.org.uk/about/founding_members.asp List of founding members] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050307010942/http://www.issr.org.uk/about/founding_members.asp |date=7 March 2005 }} 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. In 2009, he delivered the Gifford Lectures on A Fine-Tuned Universe: The Quest for God in Science and Theology at the University of Aberdeen.{{cite web |title=The Gifford Lectures |url=https://www.abdn.ac.uk/sdhp/events/gifford-lectures/index.php |website=abdn.ac.uk |publisher=University of Aberdeen}} In 2010 McGrath was included in "The 20 Most Brilliant Christian Professors" list.{{Cite web|url=https://kavvanah.blog/2010/04/17/the-20-most-brilliant-christian-professors/|title=The 20 Most Brilliant Christian Professors|first=Alan|last=Brill|date=18 April 2010|access-date=28 October 2021}} In 2013 he was awarded his third doctorate from Oxford University, a DLitt, Division of Humanities, for research into science and religion, and natural theology. He is married to Joanna Collicutt McGrath and they have two adult children.{{Cite web|url=http://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/news_details.php?year=2008&news_id=775|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100821032244/http://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/news_details.php?year=2008&news_id=775|url-status=dead|title=World-leading Theologian joins King's|archive-date=21 August 2010|access-date=28 October 2021}}

In 2014, McGrath was appointed the 32nd Professor of Divinity at Gresham College, a position dating back to 1597. In this position he delivered a series of free public lectures on Science, Faith, and God: The Big Questions,{{Cite web|url=https://www.gresham.ac.uk/series/science-faith-and-god-the-big-questions/|title=Science, Faith and God: The Big Questions|website=Gresham.ac.uk|access-date=28 October 2021}} in which he aimed to present "a coherent exploration of how Christian theology can engage with concerns and debates within modern culture, focusing on one of its leading elements – the natural sciences."{{Cite web|url=https://www.gresham.ac.uk/professors-and-speakers/professor-alister-mcgrath|title=Professor Alister McGrath|website=Gresham.ac.uk|access-date=28 October 2021}}

A former atheist,{{Cite web|url=http://www.christianevidencesociety.org.uk/article/articles/25/|title=Alister McGrath talks of God, science and Richard Dawkins|publisher=Christian Evidence Society|author=Nigel Bovey|quote='As a child I never had any interest in Christianity,' he says. 'I went through the motions of going to church with my parents but neither my heart nor my head was in it. It was while I was at the Methodist College, probably aged around 15 or 16, that I became an atheist – somebody who deliberately and intentionally does not believe in God and thinks that anyone who does believe in God is mentally deficient or seriously screwed up.'|access-date=13 November 2010|archive-date=9 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181209111422/http://www.christianevidencesociety.org.uk/article/articles/25/|url-status=dead}}Interview on CBC: The Hour 18 May 2007 McGrath accepts and promotes evolution.{{Cite web|url=http://www.christianevidencesociety.org.uk/article/articles/25/|title=Alister McGrath talks of God, science and Richard Dawkins|publisher=Christian Evidence Society|author=Nigel Bovey|quote=All I can say is that, with complete integrity, there are many Christians who see evolution as illuminating the way in which we understand Genesis and as giving us an enhanced vision of how God brought the world and humankind into being. People can make evolution atheistic but it doesn't have to be.|access-date=13 November 2010|archive-date=9 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181209111422/http://www.christianevidencesociety.org.uk/article/articles/25/|url-status=dead}}{{Cite book|title=Is 'Theistic Evolution' a Cop-Out?|publisher=Faith Interface|author=Roger Morris|quote=Modern proponents of theistic evolution include: Dr Francis Collins, former director of the Human Genome Project and author of The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief (2007). Prof Alister McGrath, former Oxford molecular biophysicist and current Professor of Theology, Ministry and Education, and Head of the Centre for Theology, Religion and Culture at King's College, London. He is the author of numerous books and textbooks on Natural Theology and Scientific Theology. Rev. Dr John Polkinghorne, Physicist and Theologian from Cambridge University.}} 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?"{{cite web|url=http://www.rzim.org/resources/audio_visuals.php |title=Audio Visual Resources |publisher=Ravi Zacharias International Ministries |access-date=7 April 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070329053738/http://www.rzim.org/resources/audio_visuals.php |archive-date=29 March 2007 |url-status = dead}}, includes sound recording of the Dawkins-McGrath debate

McGrath has also debated with Daniel Dennett, at the Greer-Heard Point-Counterpoint Forum in New Orleans in February 2007, as well as Christopher Hitchens at Georgetown University.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nobts.edu/Publications/News/GreerHeard2007.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090206162436/http://nobts.edu/Publications/News/GreerHeard2007.html|url-status=dead|title=NOBTS – Alister McGrath and Daniel Dennett debate the future of atheism at Greer-Heard|archive-date=6 February 2009|access-date=28 October 2021}}{{Cite web |url=http://fora.tv/2007/10/11/Christopher_Hitchens_Debates_Alister_McGrath |title=Christopher Hitchens Debates Alister McGrath – FORA.tv |access-date=24 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071230215521/http://fora.tv/2007/10/11/Christopher_Hitchens_Debates_Alister_McGrath |archive-date=30 December 2007 |url-status = usurped|df=dmy-all }} In March 2007, McGrath debated with Peter Atkins at the University of Edinburgh on the topic 'Darwin and Humanity: Should We Rid the Mind of God?' In November that year, he debated with Susan Blackmore on the existence of God. McGrath has debated with David Helfand at the Veritas Forum on whether belief in God is a delusion.{{Citation|title=Alister McGrath & David Helfand - The God Delusion?| date=4 February 2012 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DagGhOvR8Js |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/DagGhOvR8Js| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|language=en|access-date=2021-08-03}}{{cbignore}} In 2011, he debated with Stephen Law on the topic 'Why Won't God Go Away?'{{cite web|url=https://www.premierchristianradio.com/Shows/Saturday/Unbelievable/Episodes/Unbelievable-5-Feb-2011-Alister-McGrath-Stephen-Law-Why-Won-t-God-Go-Away|title=Unbelievable? 5 Feb 2011 - Alister McGrath & Stephen Law - Why Won't God Go Away?|website=Premierchristianradio.com|access-date=28 October 2021}} 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.{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl1QwJ54P0c |title=The Root of All Evil? The Uncut Interviews - Alister McGrath vs. Richard Dawkins - YouTube |website=YouTube |access-date=3 February 2015 |archive-date=23 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150523181201/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl1QwJ54P0c |url-status=dead }}

The author of more than 50 books,Alister McGrath, A Theory of Everything That Matters: A Brief Guide to Einstein, Relativity, and His Surprising Thoughts on God, Tyndale House Publishers (2019), p. 217 among McGrath's more notable works are:

• {{citation|title=Understanding the Trinity|year=1988|publisher=Academie Books|location=Grand Rapids|isbn=0-310-29680-3}}
• {{citation|title=Understanding Doctrine|year=1992|publisher=Zondervan Publishing House|location=Grand Rapids|isbn=0-310-47951-7}}
• {{citation|title=Bridge-Building|year=1992|publisher=Inter-Varsity Press|location=Leicester|isbn=0-85110-969-1}}
• {{citation|title=Intellectuals Don't Need God & Other Modern Myths|year=1993|publisher=Zondervan Publishing House|location=Grand Rapids|isbn=0-310-59091-4}}
• {{citation|title=The Renewal of Anglicanism|year=1993|publisher=Morehouse|location=Harrisburg|isbn=0-8192-1603-8}}
• 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}}
• {{citation|title=Iustitia Dei|year=1998|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=0-521-62426-6}}
• 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 Intellectual Origins of the European Reformation (2003) {{ISBN|0-631-22939-6}}
• The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World (2004) {{ISBN|0-385-50061-0}}
• Christianity's Dangerous Idea: The Protestant Revolution from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First Century (2007) {{ISBN|978-0-06-082213-2}}
• The Dawkins Delusion? Atheist Fundamentalism and the denial of the divine (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|978-0-06-082214-9}}
• 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|0-310-71812-0}}
• Surprised by Meaning: Science, Faith, and How We Make Sense of Things (2011) {{ISBN|0-664-236-928}}
• Why God Won't Go Away: Engaging with the New Atheism (2011) {{ISBN|0-281-06387-7}}
• Flight of the Outcasts (Series: The Aedyn Chronicles Volume: 2) (2011) {{ISBN|0-310-71813-9}}
• Darkness Shall Fall (Series: The Aedyn Chronicles Volume: 3) (2011) {{ISBN|978-0-310-71814-7}}
• Reformation Thought: An Introduction (2012) {{ISBN|0-470-67281-1}}
• Darwinism and the Divine: Evolutionary Thought and Natural Theology (Oxford: Blackwell-Wiley, 2011). The 2009 Hulsean Lectures at the University of Cambridge
• Mere apologetics: how to help seekers and skeptics find faith (Baker Books, 2012) {{ISBN|978-0-8010-1416-1}}
• The Intellectual World of C. S. Lewis (2013) {{ISBN|978-0-470-67279-2}}
• C. S. Lewis- A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet (2013)
• Dawkins' God: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life ([2004] 2015), 2nd ed., Wiley. {{ISBN|1-4051-2538-1}} {{ISBN|0-281-05927-6}} {{ISBN|978-1-4051-2538-3}}, pbk. (A critique of scientist Richard Dawkins' attitude towards religion)
• The Big Question: Why We Can't Stop Talking About Science, Faith, and God (2015), St. Martin's Press, {{ISBN|978-1-250-07792-9}}
• Enriching Our Vision of Reality: Theology and Natural Sciences in Dialogue (2016), Templeton Press, {{ISBN|978-1-599-47534-9}}
• The Landscape of Faith: An Explorer's Guide to Christian Creeds (2018), SPCK, {{ISBN|978-0-281-07625-3}}
• Mere Discipleship: Growing in Wisdom and Hope (2018), Baker Books, {{ISBN|978-0-801-09422-4}}
• Narrative Apologetics: Sharing the Relevance, Joy, and Wonder of the Christian Faith (2019), Baker Books, {{ISBN|978-0-801-07577-3}}
• Richard Dawkins, C.S. Lewis and the Meaning of Life (2019), SPCK, {{ISBN|978-0-281-08019-9}}
• A Theory of Everything (That Matters): A Brief Guide to Einstein, Relativity, and His Surprising Thoughts on God (2019), Tyndale, {{ISBN|978-1-4964-3807-2}}
• J.I. Packer: His Life and Thought (2020), InterVarsity Press, {{ISBN|978-0-8308-4177-6}}
• A Cloud of Witnesses: 10 Great Christian Thinkers (2005), Wipf and Stock Publishers, {{ISBN|978-1-5975-2304-2}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• Chung, S. W. (ed.). Alister E. McGrath and Evangelical Theology: A Dynamic Engagement. Carlisle: Paternoster, 2003. {{ISBN|978-0-8010-2639-3}}
• 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.

• {{Official website}}
• [http://users.ox.ac.uk/~mcgrath/ Alister McGrath homepage]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070117053337/http://www.citychurchsf.org/openforum.htm Open Forum with Alister McGrath – 'Is God a Delusion? Atheism and the Meaning of Life']
• [http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/video.php?id=1589 Alister McGrath on The Hour (CBC television)]
• [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6609671681098320091 Richard Dawkins Interviews Alister McGrath Video]
• Alister McGrath lecture: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMtLJ6HR2nY God and the Good: Einstein and Religion]. Filmed at The University of Sheffield
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApucKBxhYco Prokhorov Centre interview with McGrath]
• Alister McGrath talks to Nigel Bovey of The War Cry: [https://web.archive.org/web/20071121212630/http://www1.salvationarmy.org.uk/uki/www_uki.nsf/vw-issue/BFD196D083F03BDA802572730054323A?opendocument&id=886681B7556AFD7A802572730050C9D5 Part 1]; [https://web.archive.org/web/20071121212625/http://www1.salvationarmy.org.uk/uki/www_uki.nsf/vw-issue/AE0146DF87403B4B8025727B00551BC4?opendocument&id=08A6C25A6C448C868025727B0053D676 Part 2]
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20071230215521/http://fora.tv/2007/10/11/Christopher_Hitchens_Debates_Alister_McGrath Christopher Hitchens debates (with) Alister McGrath]}}
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080915213724/http://www.atheistdebate.org/ Alister McGrath debates with Peter Atkins at Edinburgh University]}}
• Sue Blackmore at Bristol University on the motion that [http://richarddawkins.net/article,2395,Sue-Blackmore-debates-Alister-McGrath,Bristol-University Alister McGrath debates "belief in God is a dangerous delusion". 13 November 2007.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090606093649/http://richarddawkins.net/article,2395,Sue-Blackmore-debates-Alister-McGrath,Bristol-University |date=6 June 2009 }}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090425070225/http://www.abdn.ac.uk/gifford/lecture-texts Full texts of McGrath's 2009 Gifford Lectures on natural theology]

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