Basil Mitchell (academic)

Basil George Mitchell, D.D., FBA (9 April 1917 – 23 June 2011) was a British philosopher and one-time Nolloth Professor of the Philosophy of the Christian Religion at the University of Oxford. Mitchell argued strongly for the place of religious belief in public debate and was a prominent critic of liberal humanism.

Mitchell was educated at King Edward VI School, Southampton and The Queen's College, Oxford. After service in the Royal Navy, primarily in the Mediterranean, he became tutor in philosophy at Keble College, Oxford in 1947 and moved to Oriel College, Oxford to take up his university chair in 1968.

He delivered the 1974-76 Gifford Lectures at the University of Glasgow, entitled Morality, Religious and Secular. Among his other important publications in the Philosophy of Law and the Philosophy of Religion include the edited anthology "Faith and Logic" (1957), "Law, Morality and Religion in a Secular Society" (1966) which was a contribution to the debate over law and morality between H.L.A. Hart and Patrick Devlin, "The Justification of Religious Belief" (1981), and his Sarum Lectures, "Faith and Criticism" (1992). There is also a collection of essays, with the title "How to Play Theological Ping-pong" (1993).

Further significant contributions include an essay on "The Christian Conscience" to the "Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity". In addition, he wrote an autobiographical essay,...
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