ABOUT THE LECTURES
The 2003 series | Where and when | The Gifford Lectures
Philosophy has been used to explore religion for centuries. But in recent decades, philosophers have been fascinated by one of the oldest concerns known to us - the problem of suffering.
How can we reconcile the fact that there is suffering in the world with the belief that there is a good God? What can we learn about suffering from reflecting on biblical narratives?
Eleonore Stump, a leading thinker on the philosophy of religion, addresses these questions in six thought-provoking lectures which look at suffering and evil in a new light.
The Gifford Lectures aim to 'promote and diffuse the study of Natural Theology in the widest sense of the term - in other words the knowledge of God'. Established under the will of Lord Gifford, a Senator of the College of Justice who died in 1887, theologians and scholars are invited to deliver lectures at the universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews.
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On August 21, 1885, Lord Gifford of Scotland signed his will. Contained in that will was a provision for a series of lectures to be held at each of the four Universities of Scotland. The topic was to be Natural Theology, or more specifically in the words of Lord Gifford himself...
"I having been for many years deeply and firmly convinced that the true knowledge of God, that is, of the Being, Nature, and Attributes of the Infinite, of the All, of the First and the Only Cause, that is, the One and Only Substance and Being, and the true and felt knowledge (not mere nominal knowledge) of the relations of man and of the universe to Him, and of the true foundations of all ethics and morals, being, I say, convinced that this knowledge, when really felt and acted on, is the means of man's highest well-being, and the security of his upward progress, I have resolved, from the 'residue' of my estate as aforesaid, to institute and found, in connection, if possible, with the Scottish Universities, lectureships or classes for the promotion of the study of said subjects, and for the teaching and diffusion of sound views regarding them, among the whole population of Scotland. ..."
Thus began the series of lectures (Word 97 - 25 Kb) which still carry on to this day. Since their inception, the Gifford Lectures have become the foremost intellectual event in the matter of religion. Lectures are given in the universities at Edinburgh, St.Andrews, Glasgow and Aberdeen. The first lectures were given in 1888-89. The lecturers have included a prestigious and broad cross section of scholars from such fields as religion, philosophy, physics, and history, and have included scholars such as Etienne Gilson, Arthur Eddington, William Temple, Karl Barth, Steven Runciman, Neils Bohr, Paul Tillich, and William Ramsay, to name just a few. The lectures are often published and achieve significant stature in the intellectual world.
