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About

We want to openly reflect on the Great Conversation of Intellectual Discourse and Christian Faith. There is a two millennial old history of this discussion involving some of the greatest scholars/thought leaders of all time. At University of British Columbia, we continue this conversation through our thirty-five year old distinguished lecture series, The Graduate & Faculty Christian Forum. It was launched as a brilliant week of lectures, meals and seminar discussions led by the distinguished astrophysicist-theologian Sir John Polkinghorne, President of Queens’ College, Cambridge, famous in 1989 for his intriguing breakthrough volume One World: The Interactions of Science and Theology. He has authored many other thoughtful books since.

Welcome to a world of limitless possibilities for the future of thought, connected to the history of thought, where the journey is as exhilarating as the destination. This collection of great books should provide students and faculty with resources for their research and personal enrichment. We paint this canvas of the Christian mind together from different sectors of the university. The only limit is the extent of our imagination in building our own worldview/social imaginary/robust big ideas engagement. You have much to contribute.

Our Story

We in GFCF want to reflect back on our heritage of brilliant discussions at UBC. These lectures and the great books they are located within have reached people around the globe. Topics range from science, philosophy, history, politics, climate, the arts, sociology, religious studies, humanities, technology, ethics, culture studies, theology, medicine, environmental studies, and law. They are not in any particular chronological order, but they are books that shape the public mind and contribute to culture. If you want to dig deep, join us on the search for truth, beauty, and goodness; help us humanize this fragmented world through discovery of these grande pensées.

Philosophy

Michael Polanyi, Personal Knowledge.

Charles Taylor, A Secular Age; The Language Animal; Sources of the Self.

Alastair MacIntyre, After Virtue.

Athens and Jerusalem: George Grant’s Theology, Philosophy & Politics. (eds. Ian Angus, Ron Dart, Randy Peg Peters)

William T. Cavanaugh, The Uses of Idolatry.

Alvin Plantinga, Where the Conflict Really Lies.

Thomas Nagel, Mind & Cosmos.

Richard Swinburne, Evolution of the Soul (Giffords).

David Bentley Hart, The Experience of God.

The Arts & Humanities

Jeremy Begbie, Abundantly More: The Theological Promise of the Arts in a Reductionistic Age.

Jens Zimmermann, Incarnational Humanism.

Daniel K. Williams, The Politics of the Cross.

Makoto Fujimara, Art & Faith: A Theology of Making.

Andy Crouch, Culture Making.

David Lyle Jeffrey & Gregory Maillet, Christianity & Literature: Philosophical Foundations and Critical Practice.

Michael Ward, Planet Narnia.

Malcolm Guite, The Word in the Wilderness.

Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov.

C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man.

Science & Technology

Andrew Paul Davison, Astrobiology and Christian Doctrine.

John Polkinghorne, Faith, Science, and Understanding.

Sy Garte, The Works of His Hands.

Craig Gay, Modern Technology and the Human Future.

Denis Alexander, Rebuilding The Matrix.

Stanley Jaki, The Origin of Science and the Science of Origins.

Tom McLeish, Faith & Wisdom in Science.

Steven Bouma-Prediger, For the Beauty of the Earth.

Lesslie Newbigin, Foolishness to the Greeks.

Ian Hutchinson, Can a Scientist Believe in Miracles?

David Livingstone, Putting Science in its Place: Geographies of Scientific Knowledge.