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Profile

Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion and Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science & Religion at the University of Oxford. Previously, he was Founding President of the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (OCCA); Lecturer in Christian doctrine and ethics at Wycliffe Hall; Professor of Theology and Education at King’s College, London; and Professor of Historical Theology at the University of Oxford. He is an ordained Anglican priest.

Professor McGrath gained first class honours in Chemistry (1975) and first class honours in Theology (1978) at the University of Oxford. He holds an Oxford DPhil (1978) for his research in molecular biology, a DD from Oxford University's Faculty of Theology for his work in historical and systematic theology (2001), and a DLitt from Oxford University's Division of Humanities for his research in science and religion (2013). 

His research interests include science and religion; natural theology; critical realism in science and theology; the theological utility of scientific philosophies of explanation; theological models of engagement with the natural sciences, especially those of T. F. Torrance and Emil Brunner; the application of biological models of evolution to cultural contexts; the “New Atheism”; “two cultures” issues, especially defending the value of humanities in a scientific culture

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Interviewer

Professor Ard Louis, Professor of Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford.

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Select Publications

The Great Mystery: Science, God and the Human Quest for Meaning (Hodder & Stoughton, 2017)

Inventing the Universe: Why we can't stop talking about science, faith and God (Hodder & Stoughton, 2016)

Re-Imagining Nature: The Promise of a Christian Natural Theology (Wiley-Blackwell, 2016)

Enriching our Vision of Reality (SPCK, 2016)

C. S. Lewis, A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet (Tyndale House, 2016)

Mere Apologetics (SPCK, 2016)

Christian Theology: An Introduction, 6th ed. (Wiley-Blackwell, 2016)

The Christian Theology Reader, 5th ed. (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015)

Dawkins God: From the Selfish Gene to the God Delusion, 2nd revised ed. (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015)

Emil Brunner: A Reappraisal. (Wiley-Blackwell, 2014).

The Passionate Intellect: Christian Faith and the Discipleship of the Mind (IVP Books, 2014)

The Intellectual World of C. S. Lewis (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013).

Darwinism and the Divine: Evolutionary Thought and Natural Theology (Wiley-Blackwell, 2011). The 2009 Hulsean Lectures at the University of Cambridge.

A Fine-Tuned Universe? The Quest for God in Science and Theology (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 2009). The 2009 Gifford Lectures, University of Aberdeen.

“The Natural Sciences and Apologetics”, in Andrew Davison (ed.), Imaginative Apologetics: Theology, Philosophy and the Catholic Tradition (London: SCM Press, 2011), 142-57.

“Biology in a Christian University,” in Oliver D. Crisp, Gavin D’Costa, Mervyn Davies, and Peter Hampson (eds), Christianity and the Disciplines: The Transformation of the University (London: T&T Clark, 2012), 56-70.

“An Enhanced Vision of Rationality: C. S. Lewis on the Reasonableness of Christian Faith.” Theology 116 No. 6 (2013): 410-17.

“Evidence, Theory, and Interpretation: The “New Atheism” and the Philosophy of Science.” Midwest Studies in Philosophy 37 (2013): 179-89.

“The Doctrine of Creation: Some Theological Reflections,” in Jonathan Moo and Robin Routledge (eds), “As Long as Earth Endures”: Biblical and Theological Perspectives on Creation and the Environment. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2014), 32-49.

“Five Questions”, in Gregg D. Caruso (ed.), Science and Religion: Five Questions (Copenhagen: Automatic Press, 2014), 129-35.

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Academic Journeys

 
 

Academic Journey

 
 

How did you study for a DPhil in Molecular Biophysics and a BA in Theology at the same time?

 
 
 

What took you from Oxford to Cambridge?

 
 

From Ministry to the Academy

 
 

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Faith & Scholarship

 
 

Academic Theology for a Non-academic Audience

 
 

Seeing the Universe as a Christian

 
 
 

Science and 'Reality'

 
 

What do you hope for your work on Science and Religion?

 
 

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Scholarly Research

 
 

What is natural theology?

 
 

Stephen Jay Gould's concept of Non-Overlapping Magisteria (NOMA)

 
 
 

On Mary Midgley and Roy Basker on the complex nature of reality

 
 

Bhaskar's 'critical realism' and multiple levels of reality

 
 
 

Inventing the Universe

 
 
 

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Academic Advice

 
 

Tips for Maximal Productivity

 
 

The Writing Life

 
 
 

What are the academy’s dominant metanarratives?