McGrath was born on 23 January 1953 inBelfast, Ireland, and grew up inDownpatrick,County Down, where he attendedDown High School. In September 1966 he became a pupil at theMethodist College Belfast, where his studies focused onmathematics,physics andchemistry. He went up toWadham 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 ofGeorge Radda[24] and was elected to an E.P.A. Cephalosporin Research Studentship atLinacre College, Oxford, for the academic year 1975–1976, and to a Domus Senior Scholarship atMerton 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 OxfordDoctor of Philosophy degree for his research in molecularbiophysics (December 1977), and gained first-class honours in theology in June 1978.[25]
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."[26]
McGrath then left Oxford to work at theUniversity of Cambridge, where he also studied forordination in theChurch of England. In September 1980, he was ordaineddeacon and began ministry as acurate at St Leonard's Parish Church,Wollaton,Nottingham, in the English East Midlands. He was ordained priest atSouthwell Minster in September 1981. In 1983, he was appointed lecturer in Christiandoctrine and ethics atWycliffe Hall, Oxford, and a member of the Oxford University Faculty of Theology. He was awarded aBD by Oxford in 1983, for research in historical theology.[27] He spent the fall semester of 1990 as the Ezra Squire Tipple Visiting Professor of Historical Theology at the Divinity School ofDrew University,Madison, New Jersey.[25]
McGrath was elected university research lecturer in theology at Oxford University in 1993 and also served as research professor of theology atRegent 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 ofDD in 2001 for his research in historical andsystematic theology,[25] and was a founding member of theInternational Society for Science and Religion.[28] 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 theGifford Lectures onA Fine-Tuned Universe: The Quest for God in Science and Theology at theUniversity of Aberdeen.[29] In 2010 McGrath was included in "The 20 Most Brilliant Christian Professors" list.[30] In 2013 he was awarded his third doctorate from Oxford University, aDLitt, 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.[31]
In 2014, McGrath was appointed the 32ndProfessor of Divinity atGresham College, a position dating back to 1597.[14] In this position he delivered a series of free public lectures onScience, Faith, and God: The Big Questions,[32] 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."[33]
A formeratheist,[34][35] McGrath accepts and promotesevolution.[36][37] In 2004 McGrath suggested inThe Twilight of Atheism that atheism was in decline. He has been highly critical ofRichard Dawkins, calling him "embarrassingly ignorant of Christian theology". His book,The Dawkins Delusion? – a response to Dawkins'sThe God Delusion – was published bySPCK 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?"[38]
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)ISBN978-0-8010-1416-1
^Dew, James K. Jr. (2011).Science and Theology: An Assessment of Alister McGrath's Critical Realist Perspective. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock. pp. 109, 111.ISBN978-1-60899-855-5.
^McDonald, Jeffrey S. (2017).John Gerstner and the Renewal of Presbyterian and Reformed Evangelicalism in Modern America. Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick Publications. pp. 183–184.ISBN978-1-4982-9631-1.
^"Professor Alister McGrath".www.theology.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved28 September 2023.McGrath initially studied natural science at Oxford, taking a doctorate in molecular biophysics under the supervision of Prof Sir George Radda.
^Nigel Bovey."Alister McGrath talks of God, science and Richard Dawkins".Christian Evidence Society. Archived fromthe original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved13 November 2010.'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.'
^Nigel Bovey."Alister McGrath talks of God, science and Richard Dawkins".Christian Evidence Society. Archived fromthe original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved13 November 2010.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.
^Roger Morris.Is 'Theistic Evolution' a Cop-Out?. Faith Interface.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.
^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
Shipway, Brad. "The Theological Application of Bhaskar's Stratified Reality: The Scientific Theology of A. E. McGrath."Journal of Critical Realism3 (2004): 191–203.
