Hebblethwaite, Brian

Brian Hebblethwaite (1939-2023) was a British philosophical theologian who served as Dean of Chapel at Queens' College, Cambridge. His work centered on defending objective theism against both religious non-realism and revisionist interpretations of Christian doctrine. In "The Ocean of Truth: A Defence of Objective Theism" (1988), Hebblethwaite argued for the reality and knowability of God as transcendent being, critiquing reductionist approaches that treated religious language as merely expressive or symbolic. He maintained that theological statements make genuine truth claims about divine reality. His philosophical theology emphasized the coherence of traditional Christian metaphysics while engaging seriously with modern philosophical challenges. Hebblethwaite's work represents a significant contribution to late 20th-century debates about religious realism, defending the objectivity of theological discourse against anti-realist trends in philosophy of religion.