Gifford Lectures 2008 — University of Glasgow
Professor David Fergusson
Professor of Divinity
University of Edinburgh
“Religion and Its Recent Critics”
- Tuesday 8 April — The new atheism: historical roots and contemporary context.
- Thursday 10 April — The implausibility of religious belief: claims and counterclaims.
- Tuesday 15 April — The genesis of religion: can Darwinism explain it away?
- Wednesday 16 April — Religion, morality and art: invention or discovery?
- Tuesday 22 April — Is religion bad for our health? Saints, martyrs and terrorists.
- Thursday 24 April — Sacred texts: how should we treat them?
Sir Charles Wilson Theatre
University Avenue/Gibson Street
17.30 for 18.00
Free and open to the public.
Registration to Claire Laidlaw
Corporate Communications
C.Laidlaw@admin.gla.ac.uk
0141 330 4978
Recent Gifford Lectures
University of Aberdeen - 2007
Professor Stephen Pattison, Head of the School of Religious and Theological Studies at Cardiff University, delivered a series of six Gifford lectures entitled: “Seeing Things: From Mantelpieces to Masterpieces.” A book based on these lectures is to be published later this year under the title Seeing Things: Deepening Relations with Visual Artefacts.
For a synopsis of these lectures or to download lecture notes go to www.abdn.ac.uk/gifford/synopsis.shtml.
University of St. Andrews – 2007
Professor Martin Rees, Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge University gave two Gifford lectures in March. The title of the lecture series was “21st Century Science: Cosmic Perspective and Terrestrial Challenges.”
University of Edinburgh – 2007
“Darwin’s Compass: How Evolution Discovers the Song of Creation” was the title of the six Gifford lectures presented by Professor Simon Conway Morris. Simon Conway Morris FRS, is Professor of Evolutionary Palaeobiology in the Department of Earth Sciences at Cambridge University. For abstracts of each of the lectures in this series go to: www.hss.ed.ac.uk/Admin/Gifford/documents/SimonConwayMorris.pdf.
Also presenting a Gifford lecture was Professor Jonathan Riley-Smith, Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Cambridge University. The title of his lecture was “The Crusades and Christianity.”
Multimedia
The video links here show both the morning and afternoon programs inaugurating the Gifford Lectures Web site sponsored by the Templeton Foundation and set up by the Templeton Foundation Press. These kick-off events were held in Edinburgh, Scotland on 15 August 2005.
The morning program held at the Edinburgh Book Festival features a panel discussion chaired by David Fergusson, Head of the School of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh. Panelists include Mary Midgley, a former Gifford lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Gordon Graham, former Regius Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen, and Larry Witham, veteran journalist and author of The Measure of God: Our Century-Long Struggle to Reconcile Science and Religion — The Story of the Gifford Lectures. After a welcome and introduction by Timothy O’Shea, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, the panelists discussed the purpose of the Gifford lectures and gave a wide-ranging overview of the types of issues addressed by the lecturers, and the continuing relevance of the lectures, particularly in relation to current interest in natural theology in the United States.
The afternoon program, held at the New College of the School of Divinity of the University of Edinburgh, focused on specific issues discussed in the Gifford lectures. John Polkinghorne, Fellow of Queens’ College, Cambridge, and Canon Theologian of Liverpool, spoke of the history and future of the Gifford lectures from the perspective of physics and his Gifford lectures at the University of Edinburgh (1993-1994). Responding to Prof. Polkinghorne was Prof. Mona Saddiqui, senior lecturer in Islamic Studies at the University of Glasgow. The Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at Oxford University and Gifford lecturer (Glasgow), John Hedley Brooke addressed the Gifford lectureship from the point of view of a historian of science. Larry Witham delivered a response to Professor Brooke. Finally, Professor of Philosophy at University of St. Andrews and 2003-2004 Gifford lecturer (Aberdeen), John Haldane talked about ethics and the Gifford lectures. Responding to Professor Haldane was Alexander Broadie, Professor of Logic and Rhetoric at the University of Glasgow.
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New Books Based on Gifford Lectures
Three new books derived from the Gifford Lectures are available . . . .
Marilyn McCord Adams’ Christ and Horrors: The Coherence of Christology published by Cambridge University Press in 2006, is based on her 1999 Gifford lectures delivered at the University of St. Andrews.
Who would the Savior have to be, what would the Savior have to do to rescue human beings from the meaning-destroying experiences of their lives? This book offers a systematic Christology that is at once biblical and philosophical. Starting with human radical vulnerability to horrors such as permanent pain, sadistic abuse or genocide, it develops what must be true about Christ if He is the horror-defeater who ultimately resolves all the problems affecting the human condition and Divine-human relations. Distinctive elements of the study are the defense of the two-natures theory, of Christ as Inner Teacher and a functional partner in human flourishing, and Adams’ arguments in favor of literal bodily resurrection (Christ’s and ours) and of a strong doctrine of corporeal Eucharistic presence. The book concludes that Christ is the One in Whom, not only Christian doctrine, but cosmos, church, and the human psyche hold together.
Christ and Horrors: The Coherence of Christology
Marilyn McCord Adams
$29.99
ISBN: 0–521–68600–8
J. Wentzel van Huyssteen’s Alone in the World? Human Uniqueness in Science and Theology published by Eerdmans is based on van Huyssteen’s 2004 Gifford lectures at the University of Edinburgh. The author develops the interdisciplinary dialogue that he set out in The Shaping of Rationality (1999), applying this methodology to the uncharted waters between theological anthropology and paleoanthropology.
Among other things, van Huyssteen argues that scientific notions of human uniqueness help us to ground theological notions of human distinctiveness in flesh-and-blood, embodied experiences and protect us from overly complex theological abstractions regarding the “image of God.” Focusing on the interdisciplinary problem of human origins and distinctiveness, van Huyssteen accesses the origins of the embodied human mind through the spectacular prehistoric cave paintings of western Europe, fifteen of which are reproduced in color in this volume.
Boldly connecting the widely separated fields of Christian theology and paleoanthropology through careful interdisciplinary reflection, Alone in the World? will encourage sustained investigation into the question of human uniqueness.
Alone in the World? Human Uniqueness in Science and Theology
J. Wentzel van Huyssteen
$ 40.00
ISBN: 0–8028–3246–6
December 2006 will be the tenth anniversary of Carl Sagan’s death, and Ann Druyan, his widow and longtime collaborator, will mark the occasion by releasing Sagan’s famous Gifford lectures published as The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God (Penguin).
In 1985, on the grand occasion of the centennial of the Gifford lectureship, Carl Sagan was invited to give them at the University of Glasgow. He took the opportunity to set down in detail his thoughts on the relationship between religion and science as well as to describe his own personal search to understand the nature of the sacred in the vastness of the cosmos.
The Varieties of Scientific Experience, edited, updated and with an introduction by Ann Druyan, is a bit like eavesdropping on a delightfully intimate conversation with the late great astronomer and astrophysicist. In his charmingly down-to-earth voice, Sagan easily discusses his views on topics ranging from manic depression and the possibly chemical nature of transcendence to creationism and so-called intelligent design to the likelihood of intelligent life on other planets to the likelihood of nuclear annihilation of our own to a new concept of science as “informed worship.” Exhibiting a breadth of intellect nothing short of astounding, he illuminates his explanations with examples from cosmology, physics, philosophy, literature, psychology, cultural anthropology, mythology, theology and more.
The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God
Carl Sagan
$ 27.95
ISBN: 1–5942–0107–2
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Gifford Lecture Online Project “Kick-off” Events Held August 15th
Two events were held in Edinburgh on August 15, 2005 signaling the official opening of the Gifford Lectures Online Project.
The first event addressing the topic “Science, Religion, and Ethics: The Gifford Lectures in Scotland” was held at the Edinburgh Book Festival. After a word of welcome from Mr. Timothy O'Shea, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, David Fergusson, Head of the School of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh, in his role as chair introduced the participants: Mary Midgley, Gordon Graham, and Larry Witham. Much of the discussion centered on the meaning of natural theology and whether Lord Gifford, according to the terms of his will, meant for atheists to be lecturers. The opinion was expressed that atheists could be Gifford lecturers as long as they took seriously the questions raised by natural theology.
“The Gifford Lectures: Retrospect and Prospects” was the theme of the second event held at the Divinity School of the University of Edinburgh. Participants explored the meaning of natural theology and its future significance from the perspective of physics (John Polkinghorne), history (John Hedley Brooke) and ethics (John Haldane). At least one participant in the afternoon session echoed a point made in the morning session that the concern over theology, natural or revealed, being expressed in America may help generate renewed interest in the Gifford lectures and natural theology.
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New Book on the Gifford Lectures
A new book on the story of the Gifford Lectures, The Measure of God: Our Century-Long Struggle to Reconcile Science & Religion, has been written by Larry Witham and published by HarperSanFrancisco. Publishers Weekly gives it a “starred review” and Library Journal calls it “a popular intellectual history commendable for its engaging style, thorough research, and neutral stance.” Both entertaining and informative, the book explores how the Giffords have tackled modern science’s challenge to religious belief.
Larry Witham is a prize-winning journalist and author of Where Darwin Meets the Bible and By Design: Science and the Search for God.
To purchase The Measure of God go to www.scienceandreligionbooks.org.
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Forthcoming Gifford Lectures at the University of Edinburgh
The great tradition of the Gifford lectures continues at the University of Edinburgh with the following:
2006/2007
Lecturer: Simon Conway Morris FRS, Professor of Evolutionary Palaeobiology, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge
Dates: 19, 20, 22, 26, 27 February, 1 March 2007
Location: Playfair Library Hall, Old College, Southbridge, Edinburgh
Topic: “What organic evolution tells us about our place in the universe, not least in terms of religious perspectives and natural theology.”
2007/2008
Lecturer: Alexander Nehamas, Edmund N. Carpenter II Class of 1943 Professor in Humanities, Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Comparative Literature, Princeton University
Dates: 10, 11, 13, 17, 18, 20 March 2008
Topic: to be confirmed
Lecturer: Professor Robert M. Veatch, Professor of Medical Ethics, Georgetown University
Topic: “Hippocratic, Religious and Secular Medical Ethics: The Point of Conflict”
2008/2009
Lecturer: Professor Diana Eck, Professor of Religion and Indian Studies, Frederic Wertham Professor of Law and Psychiatry, Harvard University
Topic: to be confirmed
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