I had never heard of John Carson Lennox, until about 85 minutes ago. My loss. Lennox is an Irish mathematician specializing in group theory (whatever that is). He is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University and an Emeritus Fellow in Mathematics and the Philosophy of Science at Green Templeton College, Oxford University. But he is also a very accomplished Christian apologist.

In this wide-ranging interview with Eric Metaxas for Metaxas’s “Socrates in the City” series, Lennox discusses the problems with atheism. One of his most interesting points is that you need faith to do science. You also need a mind to do science. He often speaks to his atheistic scientific colleague thusly:

Q: What do you science with?

A: I do it with my . . . brain. (If they slip and say, “with my mind, QED, because a mind is a non-material entity. But most are canny enough to say, with my brain.)

Q: Tell me about your brain, with which you do science. What do you really believe about it? Give me a short history of the brain.

A: That’s relatively easy. The brain is the end product of a mindless, unguided process—It evolved over millions of years.

Q: And you trust it? Be honest with me. If you knew that the computer you use every day in your laboratory was the end product of a mindless, unguided process, not intentional design by a mind, would you trust it?

A: No comment.

Q: Seriously, would you trust it?

A: No.

“I always force an answer, and I’ve asked dozens of world-famous scientists, and every single one of them has said ‘no’.”

On what he would say on reaching the glory of the next life: “I might just say this, … If I’d known that it was going to be like this, I’d have invested far more in it.”

Host Eric Metaxas and Oxford professor John Lennox explore the question, "Has science buried God?"

UPDATE:

Here is part II of this interview, this time not from NYC but from the south of France: