Frederick Copleston

Frederick Charles Copleston was born in 1907 near Taunton in Somerset, the son of a judge who had served in Burma, and was raised in the Church of England; two of his uncles were Anglican bishops. At eighteen, while still at Marlborough College, he became a Catholic, to his family's distress. After studying classics and philosophy at St John's College, Oxford, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1930 and was ordained a priest in 1937. When the Second World War prevented further study in Rome, he began teaching the history of philosophy to young Jesuits at Heythrop and started writing A History of Philosophy, whose nine volumes appeared between 1946 and 1975. He lectured for many years at the Gregorian University in Rome, became Principal of Heythrop College in the University of London, and gave the Gifford Lectures at Aberdeen. He became known beyond the classroom for his 1948 BBC radio debate with Bertrand Russell on the existence of God. He died in London in 1994.

Frederick Copleston is also an author in the library: author page and works.

Faith: Raised in the Church of England (two uncles were Anglican bishops); received into the Catholic Church at eighteen, entered the Society of Jesus in 1930 and was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1937. Source: Wikipedia

See also: Thomas Aquinas · Bertrand Russell · Ignatius of Loyola · John Henry Newman