Editing Frederick Copleston (section)

==Biography==
He was raised an [[Anglican]]—his uncle, [[Reginald Stephen Copleston]], was an [[Anglican Diocese of Calcutta|Anglican bishop of Calcutta]]; another uncle, [[Ernest Copleston]], was the [[Anglican Bishop of Colombo]]. Copleston was educated at [[Marlborough College]] from 1920 to 1925.<ref name="gifford"/> At the age of eighteen, he converted to the Roman Catholic faith, which caused a great deal of stress in his family.<ref name="gifford"/> Copleston explained his recognition of the objective authority in the Catholic Church:<blockquote>"It seemed to me that if Christ was truly the Son of God and if he founded a Church to teach all nations in His name, it must be a Church teaching with authority, as her Master did. Obviously one might deny that Christ was the Son of God, and one might reject the claim that he founded a Church. But if these two claims were accepted, it seemed to me that in spite of all its faults the Roman Catholic Church was the only one which could reasonably be thought to have developed out of what Christ established."<ref>[https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/jesuit-and-his-faith-991 Doino, William, Jr., "A Jesuit and His Faith"]</ref> </blockquote>His father, though opposed to his son's becoming a Catholic, helped him complete his education at [[St John's College, Oxford]], where he studied from 1925 to 1929. He graduated from [[Oxford University]] in 1929 having managed a third in classical moderations and a good second at [[Literae Humaniores|Greats]].<ref name="gifford" /> After Oxford, Copleston entered [[St. Mary's College, Oscott]] as a seminarian for the diocese of Clifton, but realized the life was not for him.<ref>Gerard J. Hughes, ''Copleston, Frederick Charles, 1907-1994'', British Academy memoir, p. 278.</ref>

In 1930, he entered instead the [[Jesuit]]s.<ref name="gifford"/> After completing the two-year Jesuit novitiate in Roehampton, he followed the traditional course of studies for the priesthood at the Jesuit house of studies in [[Heythrop]], [[Oxfordshire]] and in 1937 he was ordained a Jesuit priest there.  In 1938 he travelled to Germany to complete his training, returning to Britain just before the [[World War II|outbreak of war in 1939]].<ref name="gifford"/> Copleston was originally destined to study for his doctorate at the [[Pontifical Gregorian University]] in Rome, but the war now made that impossible. Instead, he accepted a posting that saw him return to Heythrop in Oxfordshire to teach the [[history of philosophy]] to the few Jesuits remaining there.<ref name="gifford"/>

From this time onwards, Copleston began writing his influential multi-volume ''[[A History of Philosophy (Copleston)|A History of Philosophy]]'' (1946–75),<ref name=":0" /> a textbook that presents clear accounts of [[ancient philosophy|ancient]], medieval, and modern philosophy.<ref>The original and [[Doubleday (publisher)|DoubleDay]] editions of the ''History'' were published in 9 volumes. From 2003 (after the author's death) [[Continuum International Publishing Group|Continuum]] added two (previously published) other works by Copleston to the series to present it as a work of 11 volumes.</ref> Still highly respected, Copleston's history has been described as "a monumental achievement" that "stays true to the authors it discusses, being very much a work in exposition".<ref name="gifford"/>

Copleston achieved a degree of popularity in the media for [[Copleston–Russell debate|debating]] the [[existence of God]] with [[Bertrand Russell]] in a celebrated 1948 [[BBC]] broadcast<ref>[[Open University]] edited audio [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVLKURgfft0 excerpt from the Russell/Copleston debate] (on the [[argument from contingency]]) introduced by Stuart Brown via [[YouTube]], and a [http://www.biblicalcatholic.com/apologetics/p20.htm Transcript] of the full debate.</ref> (see [[Copleston–Russell debate]]). The following year he debated [[logical positivism]] and the meaningfulness of [[Sacred language|religious language]] with his friend the [[analytic philosophy|analytic philosopher]] [[A. J. Ayer]].<ref name="telegraph-beeson"/>

Throughout the rest of his academic career, Copleston accepted a number of prestigious titles, including visiting professor at Rome's [[Gregorian University]], where he spent six months each year lecturing from 1952 to 1968.<ref name="gifford"/> In 1970 the Jesuit Heythrop house of studies was relocated to London, where as [[Heythrop College, University of London|Heythrop College]] it became a constituent part of the federal [[University of London]]. Copleston became the new college's respected principal and gave undergraduate courses. His uncontestable mastery of his material immediately won the confidence and respect of the students, who were drawn from among younger Jesuits and junior religious from male and female religious orders, and some lay men and women. Moreover, his affable manner, dry humour and unfailing courtesy made him popular. In that same year 1970, he was made [[Fellow of the British Academy]] (FBA), and in 1972 he was given a personal professorship by the University of London. In 1975, he was made an Honorary Fellow of St. John's College, Oxford.<ref name="gifford"/>

After officially retiring in 1974, he continued to lecture. From 1974 to 1982, Copleston was visiting professor at the [[Santa Clara University|University of Santa Clara]], [[California]], and from 1979 to 1981, he delivered the [[Gifford Lectures]] at the [[University of Aberdeen]], [[Scotland]], which were published as ''Religion and the One''. These lectures attempted to "express themes perennial in his thinking and more personal than in his history".<ref name="gifford"/> Toward the end of his life, Copleston received honorary doctorates from a number of institutions, including  [[Santa Clara University]], California, [[Uppsala University]], and the [[University of St Andrews]].<ref name="gifford"/>

Copleston was offered memberships in the [[Royal Institute of Philosophy]] and in the [[Aristotelian Society]].<ref name="gifford-fcc"/> In 1993 he was made [[Order of the British Empire|CBE]].<ref name="independent"/> Father Frederick Copleston died on 3 February 1994 at [[St Thomas' Hospital]] in London, at the age of 86.<ref name="gifford"/>