alister mcgrath

Everyone who has ever walked the face of the earth has been made by God for a relationship with God. Because our rebellion and sin has severed that relationship, there remains a deep yearning inside each human being to have that relationship restored. Whether our teenagers know what to call it or not, Blaise Pascal described this universal hole in the soul as a god-shaped vacume. Alister McGrath describes Pascal’s model as “a God-shaped emptiness within us, which only God can fill. We may try to fill it in other ways and with other things. Yet one of the few certainties of life is that nothing in this world satisfies our longing for something that is ultimately beyond this world.” While it may at times seem like it isn’t so, your teenager is no different than anyone else. His great need is to have this God-shaped emptiness filled by God. Even when they don’t recognize it as such, we can rest in the assurance that their hunger is for heaven, and our calling is to point them to the Cross.

It was more than four hundred years ago that Francis Bacon, now recognized as the architect of the scientific method, made the claim that God has given us two books to study: Scripture and creation. God’s Word and God’s world. He believed that not only was there a beautiful synthesis between faith and science, but that they, in different ways, give us a fuller revelation of who God is. Times, however, have changed. According to a recent poll, 55% of Americans believe that there is an inherent conflict between faith and science. How should we respond? What does Christianity teach us about the interaction of faith and science?

Resources:
PursuingFaith.org

Books Mentioned in this Episode:
Cosmic Chemistry by John Lennox

Can Science Explain Everything by John Lennox

Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion and Naturalism by Alvin Plantinga

Science and Religion: a New Introduction by Alister McGrath

The Great Partnership: Science, Religion, and the Search for Meaning by Jonathan Sacks

We'd love to hear from you!
info@pursuingfaith.org

Today we're talking about stories with noted apologist Alister McGrath. What stories are shaping (and misshaping) our church and our culture? What happens to the gospel when we focus on theological propositions? What can we learn from the ways our brothers and sisters throughout history have approached apologetics? And how can we fully live into God's story, not only speaking but acting in ways that show the goodness of the gospel? Join us for this compelling and practical conversation.

Alister E. McGrath is Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford. In addition to his work at Oxford, McGrath is Senior Research Fellow at Harris Manchester College, Oxford, President of the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics, and serves as associate priest in a group of Church of England village parishes in the Cotswolds. 

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