Cour de l'Université de St Andrews (Saint Salvator's College), en Écosse.
Les Gifford Lectures (de l'anglais lecture : « cours magistral ») sont une série de conférences fondées par la volonté testamentaire d'Adam Gifford (mort en 1887) et se tenant dans les universités écossaises : l'Université d'Aberdeen, l'Université d'Édimbourg, l'Université de Glasgow et l'Université de St Andrews. Elles furent établies pour « promouvoir et diffuser l'étude de la Théologie Naturelle au sens le plus large du terme — en d'autres termes, la connaissance de Dieu ». L'expression théologie naturelle, telle que Gifford l'emploie, signifie la théologie soutenue par la science.
Ces conférences se présentent en général comme un cycle couvrant une année universitaire et donné en vue d'être publié sous la forme d'un livre. Un certain nombre de ces travaux sont devenus des classiques dans les champs de la théologie ou de la philosophie et de leur relation à la science. Une nomination aux Gifford Lectures constitue l'un des honneurs les plus prestigieux dans le milieu universitaire écossais. Quelques grands auteurs français, tels que Raymond Aron, Henri Bergson et Gabriel Marcel, ont donné une série de conférences aux Gifford Lectures.
Conférences remarquables
1898–00 Josiah RoyceThe World and the Individual
1914-15 William Ritchie SorleyMoral Values and the Idea of God
1936–38 Karl BarthThe Knowledge of God and the Service of God according to the Teaching of the Reformation
1949-50 Gabriel Marcel The Mystery of Being , Faith and Reality
1951–52 Michael Polanyi Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy,
1953–54 Paul Tillich Systematic Theology (3 vols.): , ,
1963, 1965 Alister HardyThe Living Stream, The Divine Flame
1965-1967 Raymond Aron La Conscience historique dans la pensée et dans l'action
1973 Hannah Arendt Life of the Mind
1982–84 Richard Swinburne The Evolution of the Soul,
1984–85 Freeman Dyson Infinite In All Directions,
1989–91 Ian BarbourReligion in an Age of Science,
1992–93 Jaroslav Pelikan Christianity and Classical Culture: The Metamorphosis of Natural Theology in the Christian Encounter With Hellenism,
1994–95 John W. RogersonFaith and Criticism in the Work of William Robertson Smith, 1846-1894
1994–95 M. A. StewartNew Light and Enlightenment
1994–95 Peter JonesScience and Religion before and after Hume
1994–95 James H. BurnsThe Order of Nature
1994–95 Alexander BroadieThe Shadow of Scotus
1997–98 Russell Stannard The God Experiment
2000–01 John S. HabgoodThe Concept of Nature
2003–04 John HaldaneMind, Soul and Deity
2003 Eleonore StumpWandering in the Darkness
2007 Stephen PattisonSeeing Things: From Mantelpieces to Masterpieces
2009 Alister McGrath
1891 George Gabriel Stokes Natural Theology
1900–02 William James The Varieties of Religious Experience, (several editions in print)
1909–10 William Warde FowlerThe Religious Experience of the Roman People,
1911–12 Bernard BosanquetThe Principle of Individuality and Value,
1913–14 Henri Bergson The Problem of Personality
1915–16 William Mitchell Ramsay Asianic Elements in Greek Civilization,
1919–21 George StoutMind and Matter pub. 1931
1921–23 Andrew Seth Pringle-PattisonStudies in the Philosophy of Religion,
1928–29 John DeweyThe Quest for Certainty: A Study of the Relation of Knowledge and Action,
1934–35 Albert SchweitzerThe Problem of Natural Theology and Natural Ethics (unpublished)
1937–38 Charles Sherrington Man on His Nature,
1938–40 Reinhold Niebuhr The Nature and Destiny of Man : A Christian Interpretation , (2 vol set) :
1947–49 Christopher Dawson part 1:Religion and Culture part 2 : Religion and the Rise of Western Culture
1949–50 Niels BohrCausality and Complementarity: Epistemological Lessons of Studies in Atomic Physics,
1952–53 Arnold J. Toynbee An Historian's Approach to Religion,
1954–55 Rudolf Bultmann History and Eschatology: The Presence of Eternity,
1973–74 Owen ChadwickThe Secularisation of the European Mind in the 19th Century,
1974–76 Stanley JakiThe Road of Science and the Ways to God,
1978–79 Sir John EcclesThe Human Mystery, The Human Psyche,
1979–80 Ninian SmartThe Varieties of Religious Identity, published as Beyond Ideology : Religion and the Future of Western Civilisation,
1980–81 Seyyed Hossein NasrKnowledge and the Sacred,
1981–82 Iris Murdoch Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals,
1984–85 Jürgen Moltmann God in Creation: A New Theology of Creation and the Spirit of God,
1986–87 John Hick An Interpretation of Religion, (2nd ed.):
1987–88 Alasdair MacIntyre Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry:
1993–94 John PolkinghorneScience and Christian Belief : Theological Reflections of a Bottom-up Thinker,
1995-6 G. A. CohenIf you're an Egalitarian, how come you're so Rich?, published by Harvard University Press under the same title :
1997–98 Holmes Rolston IIIGenes, Genesis and God,
1998–99 Charles Taylor, Living in a Secular Age, published as A Secular Age:
1999–2000 David Tracy, This side of God
2000–01 Onora O'Neill, Autonomy and Trust in Bioethics
2001–02 Mohammed Arkoun, Inaugurating a Critique of Islamic Reason
2002–03 Michael Ignatieff The Lesser Evil - Political Ethics in an Age of Terror,
2003–04 J. Wentzel van HuyssteenAlone in the World? Human Uniqueness in Science and Theology,
2004–05 Margaret Anstee, Stephen Toulmin, et Noam Chomsky donnent une série de conférences dédiées à la mémoire d'Edward Said dont la présence était programmée avant sa mort survenue en 2003.
2005–06 Jean Bethke Elshtain, Sovereign God, Sovereign State, Sovereign Self
2006–07 Simon Conway Morris Darwin 's Compass: How Evolution Discovers the Song of Creation and Jonathan Riley-Smith, The Crusades and Christianity
2007–08 Alexander Nehamas, TBA and Robert M. Veatch, Hipprocratic, Religious and Secular Medical Ethics: The Point of Conflict
2008-09 Diana Eck and Michael Gazzaniga, Mental Life [scheduled for October 2009]
2009-10 Terry Eagleton, The God Debate [scheduled for March 2010]
2010-11 Peter Harrison (historian), Science, Religion and the Modern World [scheduled for October 2010]
2011-12 Diarmaid MacCulloch
1888–92 Friedrich Max Müller 1888: Natural Religion vol. 1 & 2; 1890: Physical Religion; 1891: Anthropological Religion: 1892: Theosophy or Psychological Religion
1892–96 John CairdThe Fundamental Ideas of Christianity Vol.1&2
1896–98 Alexander Balmain BruceThe Moral Order of the World, The Providential Order of the World
1914 Arthur Balfour Theism and Humanism
1916–18 Samuel Alexander Space, Time, and Deity, volume one: , volume two:
1922 Arthur Balfour Theism and Thought
1927–28 J. B. S. Haldane The Sciences and Philosophy,
1932–34 William Temple Nature, Man and God
1952-54 John MacmurrayThe Form of the Personal vol 1: The Self as Agent vol 2: Persons in Relation