284: Unabridged Interview: Alister McGrath

This is our unabridged interview with Alister McGrath.

Science can explain the world in an incredibly helpful way, but scientific facts alone can't tell us what our lives are for. In a world shaped by modernity, it can be wildly tempting to chuck religion altogether. But with science alone, we end up in what Max Weber called the iron cage: a world fully explained, but emptied of meaning.

Dr. Alister McGrath grew up in Belfast during the Troubles, amidst conflict across political and religious lines. He became an aggressive Marxist atheist, convinced that religion caused violence and science had made it obsolete. Then, as a chemistry student at Oxford, he met brilliant scientists who believed in God. He then wrestled with the fact that he couldn't prove there wasn't a God. He now holds three Oxford doctorates, in molecular biophysics, theology, and intellectual history, and is Emeritus Professor of Science and Religion at Oxford.

For McGrath, faith became a reason to value science even more. This is part two of The Ache: The Longing Modernity Couldn't Cure, a three-part No Small Endeavor series.

This project was made possible through the support of a grant from Templeton World Charity Foundation, Inc funder DOI 501100011730) through grant ⁠doi.org/10.54224/35684⁠ (doi.org/10.54224/35684). The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Templeton World Charity Foundation, Inc.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Show Notes, Resources, and Transcript⁠ for abridged episode with Alister McGrath (nosmallendeavor.com/alister-mcgrath-science-an…)

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