John Lennox
Encyclopedia
John Carson Lennox is Professor of Mathematics
at the University of Oxford
, Fellow in Mathematics, Philosophy of Science
and Pastoral Advisor at Green Templeton College of Oxford University. He is also an outspoken and world-renowned Christian
academic.
and went on to become Exhibitioner and Senior Scholar at Emmanuel College, Cambridge
, where in 1962 he also attended the last lectures of C. S. Lewis
on the poet John Donne
. In 1970, Lennox received his first doctorate, from the University of Cambridge
, for his thesis Centrality and Permutability in Soluble Groups.
, Michael Shermer
and Richard Dawkins
. The debate in 2007 against outspoken atheist Richard Dawkins, on the topic of Dawkins' book The God Delusion, was broadcast to millions worldwide and was described by the Wall Street Journal as "a revelation: in Alabama, a civil debate over God's existence".
Upon completing his doctorate, Lennox moved to Cardiff
, Wales
, becoming a reader
in Mathematics at the University of Wales
, Cardiff. During his 29 years in Cardiff he spent a year at each of the universities of Würzburg
, Freiburg
(as an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow) and Vienna
and has lectured extensively in both Eastern and Western Europe, Russia
and North America
on mathematics, apologetics
and the exposition of Scripture. He has published over 70 peer-reviewed articles on mathematics and co-authored two Oxford Mathematical Monographs and has worked as a translator of Russian mathematics.
Lennox also teaches science
and religion
in the University of Oxford
. He is the author of a number of books on the relations of science, religion and ethics, the most recent of which are: Informetika (2001), Hat die Wissenschaft Gott begraben? (Has Science Buried God?) (2002), Worldview (2004) with D. W. Gooding
(3 volumes in Russian
and Ukrainian
). His most recent book is God and Stephen Hawking: Whose Design Is It Anyway? (2011). He has spoken in many different countries, in conferences and as an academic fellow including numerous trips to the former Soviet Union
.
Lennox is a Christian
academic and has participated in a number of public debates against individuals including Richard Dawkins
, Christopher Hitchens
and Michael Shermer
.
.
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
at the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, Fellow in Mathematics, Philosophy of Science
Philosophy of science
The philosophy of science is concerned with the assumptions, foundations, methods and implications of science. It is also concerned with the use and merit of science and sometimes overlaps metaphysics and epistemology by exploring whether scientific results are actually a study of truth...
and Pastoral Advisor at Green Templeton College of Oxford University. He is also an outspoken and world-renowned Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
academic.
Early life
John Lennox was born in Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
and went on to become Exhibitioner and Senior Scholar at Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay on the site of a Dominican friary...
, where in 1962 he also attended the last lectures of C. S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
on the poet John Donne
John Donne
John Donne 31 March 1631), English poet, satirist, lawyer, and priest, is now considered the preeminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are notable for their strong and sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs,...
. In 1970, Lennox received his first doctorate, from the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, for his thesis Centrality and Permutability in Soluble Groups.
Career
Lennox has been part of numerous public debates defending the Christian faith, including debates with Christopher HitchensChristopher Hitchens
Christopher Eric Hitchens is an Anglo-American author and journalist whose books, essays, and journalistic career span more than four decades. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and became a media fellow at the...
, Michael Shermer
Michael Shermer
Michael Brant Shermer is an American science writer, historian of science, founder of The Skeptics Society, and Editor in Chief of its magazine Skeptic, which is largely devoted to investigating pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. The Skeptics Society currently has over 55,000 members...
and Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins
Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...
. The debate in 2007 against outspoken atheist Richard Dawkins, on the topic of Dawkins' book The God Delusion, was broadcast to millions worldwide and was described by the Wall Street Journal as "a revelation: in Alabama, a civil debate over God's existence".
Upon completing his doctorate, Lennox moved to Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, becoming a reader
Reader (academic rank)
The title of Reader in the United Kingdom and some universities in the Commonwealth nations like Australia and New Zealand denotes an appointment for a senior academic with a distinguished international reputation in research or scholarship...
in Mathematics at the University of Wales
University of Wales
The University of Wales was a confederal university founded in 1893. It had accredited institutions throughout Wales, and formerly accredited courses in Britain and abroad, with over 100,000 students, but in October 2011, after a number of scandals, it withdrew all accreditation, and it was...
, Cardiff. During his 29 years in Cardiff he spent a year at each of the universities of Würzburg
Würzburg
Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located at the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....
, Freiburg
Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. In the extreme south-west of the country, it straddles the Dreisam river, at the foot of the Schlossberg. Historically, the city has acted as the hub of the Breisgau region on the western edge of the Black Forest in the Upper Rhine Plain...
(as an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow) and Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
and has lectured extensively in both Eastern and Western Europe, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
on mathematics, apologetics
Apologetics
Apologetics is the discipline of defending a position through the systematic use of reason. Early Christian writers Apologetics (from Greek ἀπολογία, "speaking in defense") is the discipline of defending a position (often religious) through the systematic use of reason. Early Christian writers...
and the exposition of Scripture. He has published over 70 peer-reviewed articles on mathematics and co-authored two Oxford Mathematical Monographs and has worked as a translator of Russian mathematics.
Lennox also teaches science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
in the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
. He is the author of a number of books on the relations of science, religion and ethics, the most recent of which are: Informetika (2001), Hat die Wissenschaft Gott begraben? (Has Science Buried God?) (2002), Worldview (2004) with D. W. Gooding
David Willoughby Gooding
David Willoughby Gooding is Professor Emeritus of New Testament Greek at Queen's University Belfast, and is a member of the Royal Irish Academy.He is a highly regarded Bible teacher, active in various countries...
(3 volumes in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
and Ukrainian
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
). His most recent book is God and Stephen Hawking: Whose Design Is It Anyway? (2011). He has spoken in many different countries, in conferences and as an academic fellow including numerous trips to the former Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
Debates
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
academic and has participated in a number of public debates against individuals including Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins
Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...
, Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Eric Hitchens is an Anglo-American author and journalist whose books, essays, and journalistic career span more than four decades. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and became a media fellow at the...
and Michael Shermer
Michael Shermer
Michael Brant Shermer is an American science writer, historian of science, founder of The Skeptics Society, and Editor in Chief of its magazine Skeptic, which is largely devoted to investigating pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. The Skeptics Society currently has over 55,000 members...
.
- On 3 October 2007, Lennox debated Richard DawkinsRichard DawkinsClinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...
at the University of Alabama at BirminghamUniversity of Alabama at BirminghamThe University of Alabama at Birmingham is a public university in Birmingham in the U.S. state of Alabama. Developing from an extension center established in 1936, the institution became an autonomous institution in 1969 and is today one of three institutions in the University of Alabama System...
in Birmingham, AlabamaBirmingham, AlabamaBirmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
on Dawkins' views expressed in his book, The God DelusionThe God DelusionThe God Delusion is a 2006 bestselling non-fiction book by British biologist Richard Dawkins, professorial fellow of New College, Oxford, and inaugural holder of the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford.In The God Delusion, Dawkins contends that...
. - Professors Lennox and Dawkins had a follow-up discussion in April 2008 at Trinity College, OxfordTrinity College, OxfordThe College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope , or Trinity College for short, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It stands on Broad Street, next door to Balliol College and Blackwells bookshop,...
to expand upon topics left undeveloped during The God Delusion Debate. - On 9 August 2008, Lennox debated Christopher Hitchens at the Edinburgh International FestivalEdinburgh International FestivalThe Edinburgh International Festival is a festival of performing arts that takes place in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, over three weeks from around the middle of August. By invitation from the Festival Director, the International Festival brings top class performers of music , theatre, opera...
in Edinburgh, Scotland on the question of whether or not Europe should jettison its religious past and welcome the "New AtheismNew AtheismNew Atheism is the name given to a movement among some early-21st-century atheist writers who have advocated the view that "religion should not simply be tolerated but should be countered, criticized, and exposed by rational argument wherever its influence arises." New atheists argue that recent...
." - On 23 August 2008, Lennox debated Michael ShermerMichael ShermerMichael Brant Shermer is an American science writer, historian of science, founder of The Skeptics Society, and Editor in Chief of its magazine Skeptic, which is largely devoted to investigating pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. The Skeptics Society currently has over 55,000 members...
at the Wesley Conference Centre in Sydney, Australia on the existence of God. - On 21 October 2008, Lennox debated Richard DawkinsRichard DawkinsClinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...
for the second time at the Oxford University Museum of Natural HistoryOxford University Museum of Natural HistoryThe Oxford University Museum of Natural History, sometimes known simply as the Oxford University Museum, is a museum displaying many of the University of Oxford's natural history specimens, located on Parks Road in Oxford, England. It also contains a lecture theatre which is used by the...
, the site of the 1860 Oxford evolution debate1860 Oxford evolution debateThe 1860 Oxford evolution debate took place at the Oxford University Museum on 30 June 1860, seven months after the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species. Several prominent British scientists and philosophers participated, including Thomas Henry Huxley, Bishop Samuel...
between Thomas Henry Huxley and Samuel WilberforceSamuel WilberforceSamuel Wilberforce was an English bishop in the Church of England, third son of William Wilberforce. Known as "Soapy Sam", Wilberforce was one of the greatest public speakers of his time and place...
. The debate was titled "Has Science Buried God?" and centred around that question. The SpectatorThe SpectatorThe Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
called the event "Huxley-Wilberforce, Round Two." - On 3 March 2009, Lennox debated Christopher Hitchens for the second time at Samford UniversitySamford UniversitySamford University, founded as Howard College is a private, coeducational, Alabama Baptist Convention-affiliated university located in Homewood, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, United States. It includes the , Cumberland School of Law, McWhorter School of Pharmacy, Brock School of Business, Ida V....
in Birmingham, AlabamaBirmingham, AlabamaBirmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
on the question "Is God Great?" The debate addressed the validity of some of Hitchens' claims in his book God is Not GreatGod Is Not GreatGod Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything is a book by author and journalist Christopher Hitchens criticising religion. It was published in the United Kingdom as God Is Not Great: The Case Against Religion....
.
Personal life
Lennox speaks English, Russian, French, German and Spanish. He is married to Sally and has three children and five grandchildren. He has a brother named Gilbert Lennox, an elder in Glennabbey Church, GlengormleyGlengormley
Glengormley or Glengormly is the name of a townland and electoral ward in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Glengormley is within the urban area called Newtownabbey and the wider Newtownabbey Borough.-Location:...
.
Works
- Subnormal subgroups of groups, John C. Lennox and Stewart E. Stonehewer. Oxford : Clarendon, 1987. ISBN 019853552X / ISBN 9780198535522
- Christentum definitiv!: Der Unterschied zwischen christlicher Botschaft und Christenheit, John C. Lennox & David Gooding, Germany, Jota publikationen (2. Februar 2004) | 129 p | ISBN 3935707177
- The Theory of Infinite Soluble Groups, John C. Lennox, University of Oxford, and Derek J. S. Robinson, University of Illinois, 2004 | 458 p | Clarendon Press, ISBN 0-19-850728-3 / ISBN 978-0-19-850728-4
- Hat die Wissenschaft Gott begraben. Eine kritische Analyse moderner Denkvoraussetzungen, John C. Lennox, Hann - Germany, Brockhaus, (31 October 2007) | 144 p | ISBN 3417243580
- God's Undertaker: Has Science Buried God?, John C. Lennox, Lion UK, Updated edition (1 September 2009)| 224 p | ISBN 0745953719
- Seven Days That Divide the World: The Beginning According to Genesis and Science, John C. Lennox, Zondervan (9 August 2011) | 192p | ISBN 0310492173
- God and Stephen Hawking: Whose Design Is It Anyway?, John C. Lennox, Lion UK, 1st edition (1 September 2011) | 96 p | ISBN 0745955495
External links
- John Lennox's official website
- The Feed Trust – this has some of his Scripture exposition resources
- Fixed Point Foundation – features both debates and the Trinity College conversation with Richard Dawkins as well as both debates with Christopher Hitchens
- Interview with John Lennox by Tim Bearder, BBC Radio Oxford, 2008-10-16.
- Premier Christian Radio Radio debate on "Are we alone in the Universe?"