Alister McGrath | Theologian and Author
Dr. Alister McGrath was a research scientist at Oxford University before he became a theologian. He holds doctorate degrees in the fields of molecular biophysics and theology. He is presently Professor of Theology, Ministry and Education, and Head of the Centre for Theology, Religion and Culture, at King’s College, London and is involved in theological research and the professional development of clergy from a range of Christian denominations. As a former atheist, he regularly engages in debate and dialogue with leading atheists, and is presently researching the iconic role played by Charles Darwin in atheist apologetics.
Dr. Alister McGrath was a research scientist at Oxford University before he became a theologian. He holds doctorate degrees in the fields of molecular biophysics and theology. He is presently Professor of Theology, Ministry and Education, and Head of the Centre for Theology, Religion and Culture, at King’s College, London and is involved in theological research and the professional development of clergy from a range of Christian denominations. As a former atheist, he regularly engages in debate and dialogue with leading atheists, and is presently researching the iconic role played by Charles Darwin in atheist apologetics.
- We need to interact more with science.
- “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not because I see it but because of it, I see everything else.’ – Lewis
- There is a double rationality in the Christian faith… it makes sense of itself and of everything else.
- There’s a map of reality that Christianity is projecting and somewhere on that map are the natural science.
- We’ve got to engage in dialogue without fear.
- The God Delusion said real scientists cannot be Christians. It assumes being a scientist involves challenging faith and claims science disproves God.
- Richard Dawkins is adamant that science eliminates any conceptual space God had once occupied.
- The new atheism is so angry because Christianity has not gone away.
What can we do?
- Apologetics is about engaging our culture and has two elements;
- Identify what the problems are and working out what we can say to those problems.
- Then we have to figure out how we can project those solutions to the world.
- We need to encourage and enable scientists who are Christians to speak out.
- We need to identify and empower them and give them a vision for how they can make a difference.
- Science develops theories for what fits best for what they observe in the world.
- Science does not prove things with absolute reality.
- The wonderful thing about the Christian faith is that it makes sense of what we see in the world.
- The intellectual capaciousness of our faith helps us makes sense of our lives and the world around us.
- Scientists are not the enemy, they are people we need to talk to and bring the Gospel to in terms they can understand and that resonate with them.
- Science is incomplete.
- Science is a surface reading of the way the world is.
- There’s nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.
- We need to go deeper and ask what nature is pointing to.
- Psalm 119:1 – the heavens declare the glory of the Lord.
- The natural world around us has a capacity to point to the glory of the God that created.
- The challenge facing all of us to talk to scientists who see the order of creation to see the glory that creations point to.
- Science needs supplementation.
The Limits of Science
- Science can’t answer the question of why we are here and where we are living.
- We need to show how the Christian faith, endorses the quest for order in the natural world.
- The order of the world reflects the mind of God.
- “you have made us for yourself and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in you.” – Augsutine
- Scientists have restless hearts, we need to help them come home to God and find that peace.
Three Things We Can Do… Reassure, Encourage and Challenge
Reassure
- Reassure people of the robustness and resilience of the Christian faith.
- We have something right, relevant, and that works.
- Christianity is right, comprehensive and draws a map of reality where the natural sciences are located.
Encourage people.
- We need to encourage people who are either scientists or thinking about scientists to see this as a calling God has laid upon them so they may be salt and light in a scientific culture.
- We need more people who can speak the truth of the Gospel with clarity, compassion and conviction in scientific culture.
- Someone needs to help lay that burden upon them.
- We need to build a long-term vision for these people’s lives.
- We have many Christians who are scientists, we want them to up their game… not merely being present in scientific culture but to be an ambassador for Christ.
Challenge
- Ask those questions that need to be asked.
- We need to reread our own tradition.
- We live by fear in sound-byte culture.
- Challenge people to justify assertions.
- There are things we can say that can make a big difference.
The World of Science is a Mission Field
- We all know about mission fields.
- They are important and we need our best people on them.
- Since the rise of the new atheism that uses science as it’s weapon against Christianity.
- Who are the people who can speak with power, compassion and conviction to make a difference on the new mission field of science.
- This is something that needs to be done well.
- It needs to be done now.
