Developing the recent metaphor of a “theological laboratory” (Christoph Markschies,Judith Lieu, and Winrich Lohr), Professor McGrath explores how the evolution of Christology during the early Christian period is illuminated by comparisons with the philosophy of the natural sciences. The lecture considers the value of using Thomas Kuhn’s concept of a “paradigm shift” and the method of “inference to the best explanation” as lenses that bring into focus aspects of the early Christian exploration of the identity and significance of Christ. More importantly, this approach calls into question some of the core assumptions of Walter Bauer’s account of the relation of “heresy” and “orthodoxy”, offering a more plausible alternative

About Professor Alister McGrath

Alister McGrath recently retired as Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at Oxford University, having earlier served as Professor of Historical Theology. McGrath has delivered the Bampton Lectures at Oxford University, the Hulsean Lectures at Cambridge University, and the Gifford Lectures at the University of Aberdeen. He is widely known on account of his theology textbooks, most notably Christian Theology: An Introduction
(Blackwell-Wiley, now in its sixth edition), and for his public engagement with questions of the rationality of faith. His most recent book is The Nature of Christian Doctrine: Its Origins, Development and Function (Oxford University Press).

Professor McGrath’s book is available for purchase at Blackwell’s and Amazon

Professor McGrath will be hosted at Pembroke College by The Rev’d Dr. Andrew Teal, Chaplain and Fellow at Pembroke College, Oxford, and Lecturer in Theology, & Prof.]. Spencer Fluhman, Associate Professor of History at Brigham Young University, and Visiting Associate at Pembroke College, Oxford (2023-24). The lecture forms part of a Christology initiative led by Prof. Fluhman and Rev’d Dr. Teal, and is sponsored by the Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Brigham Young Uni