b. 1934
Richard Swinburne (1934–) is a British philosopher of religion and Emeritus Nolloth Professor of the Philosophy of the Christian Religion at the University of Oxford. He is best known for his systematic probabilistic defense of Christian theism, arguing that the existence of God is more probable than not given the totality of evidence. His trilogy—The Coherence of Theism, The Existence of God, and Faith and Reason—constitutes one of the most rigorous analytic treatments of religious belief in the twentieth century.
Developed a Bayesian probabilistic argument for the existence of God in The Existence of God (1979)
Authored the definitive analytic trilogy on Christian theism: The Coherence of Theism, The Existence of God, and Faith and Reason
Defended substance dualism and the immortality of the soul in The Evolution of the Soul (1986)
Articulated a free-will defense and theodicy in Providence and the Problem of Evil (1998)
Held the Nolloth Chair at Oxford, the leading chair in philosophy of religion in the English-speaking world