Alister McGrath is the Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at Oxford University. His academic career began in Oxford, where he studied chemistry as an undergraduate, and molecular biophysics for his PhD. After a fellowship at the University of Utrecht in 1976, he returned to Oxford to continue his research alongside an undergraduate degree in theology. He studied for ministry in the Church of England alongside John Polkinghorne at Westcott House, Cambridge, serving as a curate in Nottingham from 1980-83.
In 1983 Alister returned again to Oxford, as a tutor at Wycliffe Hall. He was awarded a personal chair (professorship) in theology in 1999, and was the first director of the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics 2004-6. In 2008 Alister moved to London to as Professor of Theology at King’s College, London. Alongside this he also served as an associate priest in a benefice within the Diocese of Oxford. Unable to resist the pull of Oxford, Alister returned a third time in 2014 to become the Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion.
Prof. McGrath is a prolific author of books and some of his most recent publications relevant to science-theology interactions are listed below.
Selected Publications
- The Foundations of Dialogue in Science and Religion (Blackwell, 1998)
- Thomas F. Torrance: An Intellectual Biography (T&T Clark, 1999)
- A Scientific Theology (3 volumes, entitled Nature, Reality and Theory, published by T&T Clark, 2001-3).
- The Re-Enchantment of Nature (Hodder & Stoughton, 2002)
- The Science of God: An Introduction to Scientific Theology (T&T Clark, 2004)
- The Twilight of Atheism (Rider, 2004)
- Dawkins’ God: Genes, Memes and the Meaning of Life (Blackwell, 2004)
- The Order of Things: Explorations in Scientific Theology (Blackwell, 2006)
- Christianity’s Dangerous Idea: The Protestant Revolution from the Sixteenth to the Twenty First Century (HarperOne, 2007)
- The Open Secret: A New Vision for Natural Theology (Blackwell, 2008)
- A Fine-Tuned Universe? Anthropic Phenomena and Natural Theology (Westminster John Knox, 2009)
- McGrath, Alister E. Inventing the Universe : Why We Can’t Stop Talking About Science, Faith, and God. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2015.
- McGrath, Alister E. Enriching Our Vision of Reality : Theology and the Natural Sciences in Dialogue. London: SPCK, 2016.
- McGrath, Alister E. The Territories of Human Reason: Science and Theology in an Age of Multiple Rationalities. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019.
- McGrath, Alister E. Through a Glass Darkly: Journeys through Science, Faith and Doubt. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2020.