Date/Time: 4th February 2008, 17:30
Monday 4 February & Tuesday 5 February
1) Nature and the Human Quest for Meaning (Mon)
2) Science, Faith and the Meaning of Nature (Tue)
Towards the end of his life, Sir Isaac Newton spoke tantalizingly of his belief that a greater realm of truth lay beyond the observable world. “I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.” These lectures will explore whether nature points beyond itself to a transcendent, spiritual or divine realm.
Traditionally known as “natural theology”, this line of thought builds on the growing interest in the spiritual implications of our deepening understanding of nature.
Are there pathways which lead from the natural sciences to God? Can religion engage in a creative and innovative dialogue with the sciences, leading to new spiritual information about our universe, and our place within it? What kind of engagement with nature does Christian faith mandate? These questions will be of interest to all studying sciences, literature, theology, or philosophy. They have been given new importance recently on account of Richard Dawkins’ book The God Delusion. These lectures set out a new vision for natural theology, and will explore the engagement with nature and the sciences that results.
Alister McGrath is Professor of Historical Theology at Oxford University. He is widely recognized as one of the world's leading theologians, with a special interest in the relation of faith and science. Alister McGrath studied Chemistry at Oxford University where he obtained a first class degree in 1975. He was awarded a D Phil in 1977, for research in molecular biophysics under the supervision of Professor Sir George K. Radda, FRS. Concurrently with his postgraduate scientific research he read theology in which he was awarded a further first class degree by Oxford in 1978. After preparation at Westcott House, Cambridge, he was ordained in the Church of England in 1980 and served a curacy in Nottinghamshire before returning to teach theology at Oxford. In 1995 he was elected Principal of Wycliffe Hall, and in 1999 was awarded his present personal chair in theology at Oxford University. In 2001 an Oxford Doctorate of Divinity was conferred on him for his research on historical and systematic theology. In 2004, he became the first Director of the newly-established Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics. The interaction of Christian theology and the natural sciences has been a major theme of Professor McGrath’s research work, and is notably seen in the three volumes of his Scientific Theology (2001-3). Since 2006, as Senior Research Fellowship at Harris Manchester College, he has directed a major new research project on natural theology, funded by the John Templeton Foundation.