For the Media
The Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (the OCCA) brings together some of the clearest Christian minds and welcomes enquiries from media outlets seeking informed commentary and stories on a range of issues relating to the Christian faith.
For media enquiries, quotes and requests for interviews, please contact the Media Unit:
Nancy Gifford
nancy.gifford@theocca.org
Ruth McGarahan
ruth.mcgarahan@theocca.org
media biographies
Alister McGrath
Rev. Prof. Alister McGrath is a world-renowned theologian and Christian communicator. He is Professor of Theology, Ministry and Education at King's College London and Director of its Centre for Theology, Religion and Culture. Alister is also President of the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (the OCCA) and Senior Research Fellow at Harris Manchester College, Oxford. He holds first class honours degrees in both Chemistry and Theology from Oxford University and was awarded an Oxford DPhil for his research in the natural sciences. He also holds an Oxford Doctor of Divinity for his work in theology.
Alister’s books include: Christian Theology: An Introduction, Dawkins’ God: Genes, Memes and the Meaning of Life, The Dawkins Delusion?, Why God Won’t Go Away: Engaging with the new atheism, Mere Theology: Christian Faith and the Discipleship of the Mind and Surprised by Meaning: Science, Faith, and How We Make Sense of Things. Alister’s most recent book Mere Apologetics: How to help Seekers and Skeptics Find Faith was published in January 2012 and his critical new biography of C.S. Lewis will be published by Hodder & Stoughton in 2013. A full list of Alister’s books are available on Amazon.
Areas of interest: historical and systematic theology, atheism, the relationship between Christian theology and the natural sciences and theological engagement with current cultural concerns.
Articles: Alister has been published in various national newspapers and magazines including The Times, The Daily Telegraph, and The Daily Mail.
Media: various appearances on BBC Radio 4 including The Moral Maze, Lent Talks and King James Bible and national television appearances including Channel 4 News.
John Lennox
Prof. John Lennox is an experienced exponent of the intellectual defence of Christianity. He has debated a number of the world’s leading atheists over the past five years, including Richard Dawkins, Peter Singer and Christopher Hitchens. The Wall Street Journal described his God Delusion debate with biologist Richard Dawkins as ‘a revelation’. He is Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University, a Fellow in Mathematics and the Philosophy of Science at Green Templeton College, Oxford and an Adjunct Professor of the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (the OCCA). He also teaches for the Oxford Strategic Leadership Programme at the Executive Education Centre, Said Business School, Oxford University. He studied at Cambridge, from which he holds the degrees of MA, MMath and PhD and was subsequently Reader in Pure Mathematics at the University of Wales, where he was awarded a DSc degree. He also holds an MA in Bioethics.
John has lectured extensively in North America and Eastern and Western Europe on mathematics, the philosophy of science and the intellectual defence of Christianity.
John has written a number of books on the interface between science, philosophy and theology including Gunning for God: Why the New Atheists are Missing the Target and God and Stephen Hawking: Whose Design is it anyway? (responding to Hawking's The Grand Design). His 2009 book God's Undertaker: Has Science Buried God was described in The Spectator as an excoriating demolition of Dawkins’ overreach from biology into religion. John’s books are available on Amazon.
Areas of interest: the interface between science and religion, philosophy and theology, the ‘new atheists’ and their unscientific methodology, science and ethics, philosophy of science.
Articles: John was profiled in The Times (November 2010) and has written for The Daily Mail and The Washington Post.
Media appearances: various appearances on UK television (BBC, Channel 4) and radio (BBC Oxford, Moody Radio) as well as national television and radio in North America and Australia (ABC).
Amy Orr-Ewing
Amy Orr-Ewing is UK Director for the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (the OCCA) and an Associate Tutor at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University. Amy is a passionate exponent of a rational Christian response to many of the pressing cultural issues of the day, bringing her formidable theological knowledge to bear on a wide variety of subjects. She gained a first class degree in Theology at Christ Church, Oxford University, before receiving a Master’s in Theology from King’s College London.
Amy has written a number of books, including two that explore key questions in apologetics; Why trust the Bible? which was shortlisted for the 2006 UK Christian Book Awards and But Is It Real?. Her most recent publication is Millennials, which she co-authored with her husband Frog in 2010. They have also published Holy Warriors: A Fresh Look at the Face of Extreme Islam and Deep. Amy has also contributed to the books Beyond Opinion; God and the Generations; and Worth Knowing: Wisdom for Women. Amy’s books are available on Amazon.
Amy is currently writing a new book for a mainstream audience on the subject of friendship.
Amy lectures on Christian Apologetics worldwide and was recently invited to speak both at the White House and to staffers on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Amy and her husband Frog have recently planted a new church in Buckinghamshire called Latimer Minster.
Areas of interest: the nature of truth, identity, rational defence of Christianity, historicity of the Bible, New Testament history, ethical dilemmas, tolerance, evil, suffering, friendship, human trafficking.
Media: various appearances on BBC Television including Blue Peter and Songs of Praise, national television appearances in the USA and radio interviews and debates including BBC Radio 4’s Beyond Belief.
Michael Ramsden
Michael Ramsden is Director of the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (the OCCA). A very natural but compelling communicator, he is constantly in demand to speak on all aspects of religion. He is also Honorary Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University. Michael Ramsden was brought up in the Middle-East and later moved to England where he worked for the Lord Chancellor’s department investing funds. While doing research at Sheffield University, he taught Moral Philosophy and lectured for the International Seminar on Jurisprudence and Human Rights in Strasbourg. Michael speaks to a wide variety of audiences worldwide and is involved in a number of initiatives to equip and train emerging leaders and Christian leaders throughout Europe.
He has contributed to a variety of theological books including ‘Beyond Opinion: Living the Faith We Defend’ and has written a series of articles for Idea magazine, giving a rational Christian response to some of today’s most challenging issues.
Areas of interest: belief and identity, the nature of truth, affluence and convenience, systemic risks underlying our financial system, suffering and the problem of evil.
Media: various national television and radio programmes including The Heaven and Earth Show (BBC1).
Os Guinness
Os Guinness is an author, social critic and Senior Fellow of the EastWest Institute in New York. He is a co-founder of the Trinity Forum and served as Senior Fellow from 1991 until 2004. Os directed the first seven Trinity Forum seminar curricula and is currently one of the Senior Faculty members of the Trinity Forum Academy. He is a regular speaker and seminar leader at political and business conferences in the United States, Europe, and Asia. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of London and his D.Phil in the social sciences at Oriel College, Oxford.
Os has written or edited more than twenty-five books, including The American Hour, Time for Truth, The Call, Invitation to the Classics, Long Journey Home, and Unspeakable: Facing up to the Challenge of Evil and The Case for Civility.
Os’ new book about freedom A Free People’s Suicide: Sustainable Freedom and the American Future will be published by IVP in August 2012. Os’ books are available on Amazon.
Previously, Os was a freelance reporter with the BBC. Since moving to the United States in 1984, he has been a Guest Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Centre for International Studies and a Guest Scholar and Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Media: various appearances on national TV in USA.
Sharon Dirckx
Dr. Sharon Dirckx is an Academic Tutor at the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (the OCCA) and an assistant tutor at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University. Originally from a science background, she has a Ph.D. in brain imaging from the University of Cambridge and has held research positions with Novartis Pharma AG, Switzerland, The Medical College of Wisconsin, USA and the University of Oxford. Sharon graduated from the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics in 2005 where she completed the one-year certificate. Since then Sharon has been invited to speak in a variety of settings including a schools conference in Lincoln Cathedral, The London School of Economics and Dartmoor and Bullingdon Prisons.
Upcoming book: Why Me? a book on suffering including personal stories (IVP, 2013).
Media: Sharon has recently been interviewed by Sally Magnusson for BBC-1’s Songs of Praise.
Areas of interest: answering apologetics questions for a mainstream audience, science in the work place, suffering (at a popular level), issues surrounding being a working mum.
Vince Vitale
Dr. Vince Vitale is Senior Tutor at the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (the OCCA) and Tutor in Evangelism and Apologetics at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University. An engaging speaker, Vince has a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Oxford, having first completed an Oxford M.Phil. in Theology. His doctoral research focuses on The Problem of Evil. Vince is an Associate Editor of Forum Philosophicum: International Journal for Philosophy and erstwhile Secretary of the Joseph Butler Society for the Philosophy of Religion. Before moving to Oxford he was Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy and the Department of Religion at Princeton University, USA, where he also served as Director of Athletes in Action Christian Fellowship. Vince played varsity soccer at Princeton University and holds an Oxford Blue for football and boxing.
Areas of interest: philosophy of religion, arguments for and against the existence of God, the problem of evil/suffering. Does God exist? Is belief in God rational? Does philosophy point to God? New atheism.
Tom Price
Tom Price is an Academic Tutor at the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (the OCCA) and a gifted presenter who excels in translating complicated philosophical and theological ideas into an accessible and relevant apologetic. He holds degrees in Christian Apologetics (MA) and Philosophy (BA). Tom was the founding Editor of the University and Colleges Christian Fellowship's apologetics website bethinking.org. Tom regularly lectures and speaks on Christian Apologetics at events such as Keswick, the European Leadership Forum and 24-7 Prayer's Transit. Tom is also the Student Resources Coordinator for the Damaris Trust - an educational charity that seeks to help people across the world explore spiritual and moral issues underlying their contemporary culture.
Publications: contributed chapter ‘Love and Redemptions’ in Matrix Revelations
Areas of interest: contemporary spirituality (New Age, Mysticism) meta-ethics, analytic & continental arguments for God, faith and reason, suffering, cultural apologetics and the intersection of film & spirituality, C.S. Lewis and Christian apologetics.
Michelle Tepper
Michelle Tepper is a former graduate and now an Associate of the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (the OCCA) and an extremely gifted communicator and Christian apologist. Michelle engages on a variety of faith issues in various forums around the UK, as well as across Canada and North America. Born and raised in Florida, USA, Michelle came to Oxford University to complete her BA in Political Science at New College. She has spent the past six years as a full-time Student Pastor at St. Aldates, a thriving student church located in the heart of Oxford. Michelle has a great connection, particularly with young people, and a very accessible and engaging style.
Areas of interest: Christian identity, the political impact of Christianity and emergent civil society in Latin America, marriage, parenting, Christmas and Easter, truth, postmodernism and belief, eating disorders, student issues.
Michelle is currently writing about changing attitudes towards women in the Bible, and challenging the stereotypical image of biblical womanhood.
Frog Orr-Ewing
Frog Orr-Ewing is the Chaplain and a Lecturer at the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (the OCCA). He is much in demand as a conference speaker and leadership coach. Frog is also an Assistant Tutor at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University. He is an Associate Lecturer at St Paul's Theological Centre and is completing doctoral research on Nineteenth Century missiology and church-planting. After graduating from Oxford University, Frog went on to be one of the pastors at St Aldate’s Church in central Oxford before moving to South East London, where he became the youngest incumbent in the Church of England at All Saints Church, Peckham. The church experienced marked growth, particularly engaging hundreds of children and young people and pioneered many forms of urban mission. After seven years in the heart of the city, Frog and Amy have started a new church in Buckinghamshire called Latimer Minster.
Publications: Frog has co-authored a number of books with his wife Amy Orr-Ewing including: Millennials: Reaching and Releasing the rising generation and Holy Warriors: A Fresh Look at the Face of Extreme Islam. Frog’s books are available on Amazon.
Media: Songs of Praise featured All Saints Church, Peckham when Frog was Vicar there.
