Alister McGrath has written an intellectual thriller that documents his transition from a nature-loving schoolboy
Marxist to the Oxford Professor of Science and Religion. The detail is fascinating: discovering that what once was
certain crumbled, probing the methods and limits of science and finding in literature, historical, philosophical and imaginative, a pathway from the shadows of Plato's cave to an epiphany of understanding in the sunlit uplands, similar to
that of C.S. Lewis before him. Realising not only that science and religion give different but complementary maps of the
world, but also that Christianity offers the coherent big-picture framework for which his mind and heart had been
questing. This is a must read for all those interested in the life of the mind and the science-religion debate. I could not
put it down. You will not be able to either.
-- John Lennox, Emeritus Professor of Mathematics, University of Oxford
'A compelling story, at once readable and profound. In charting his path from atheism to Christian faith, Alister
McGrath offers rich resources for believers, as well as a robust challenge to sceptics and religion's cultured despisers.'
-- Rupert Shortt, author of Outgrowing Dawkins: God for Grown-Ups
Alister McGrath is renowned as a world-leading academic and very successful author with a particular interest in the
interface of science and religion. This readable account tells his personal story and might even become a classic. It
portrays his journey from a young prodigy to scientist and theologian. Enlivened with occasional flashes of humour
and drawing on the author's exceptional breadth and depth of reading, it illustrates why he has successfully written for
popular as well as academic audiences. It deserves to be very widely read.
-- Michael J. Reiss, President, International Society for Science and Religion
A personal story of how Alister McGrath travelled from a youthful certainty of atheism, across troubled intellectual
seas, to arrive on an island of faith where he learned to be at peace with uncertainty . . . McGrath explains why
Christianity, in providing the big picture which accommodates science, is not only plausible but intellectually
satisfying. Through a Glass Darkly is a book that will help anyone wishing, with sincerity and intellectual honesty, to
reconsider the apparent conflict between science and Christian faith. They will find, as did McGrath, that
understanding what is going on does not demand total certainty, that living with uncertainty is not an admission
of failure but a recognition of reality and that faith in God is the way to peace.
-- Paul Ewart, Professor of Physics, University of Oxford
A rare insight into Alister McGrath's outstanding mind ... a great book to remind Christians of the intellectual credibility of our faith. * Christianity Magazine *
