Introduction Into Alister McGrath’s a Scientific Theology

Abstract

Alister McGrath (born 1953) is one of the most famous living British theologians, and the scientific theology he created is considered by many to be one of the most interesting projects of contemporary theology. Alister McGrath is an Anglican priest; he holds doctorates in Molecular Biophysics (1977) and in Theology (2001) from the University of Oxford. He is mainly interested in the questions concerning the relations between natural and theological sciences. As a biologist, and also as an ex-atheist converted when he was adult, he is engaged in the argument with the so-called scientific atheism, holding regular debates with its prominent representatives. According to McGrath, now it is science that should play the same role towards theology as Platonism did in the patristic period, or Aristotelianism in the Middle Ages. As he writes, his work is an attempt at an interdisciplinary dialog between four partners having equal rights: theology, natural sciences, philosophy and history.