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The prestigious Gifford Lectureships were established by Adam Lord Gifford (1820–1887), a senator of the College of Justice in Scotland. The purpose of Lord Gifford’s bequest to the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, St. Andrews and Aberdeen was to sponsor lectures to “promote and diffuse the study of Natural Theology in the widest sense of the term—in other words, the knowledge of God”.

This website carries full information about the lecture series given at the University of St Andrews.


Prospectus of Lectures 2021

The missing object: the good – The missing frontier: time – The missing agent: the person – Creation and the Recovery of Reality – Law and the Recovery of History – Spirit and the justification of agency

Gifford lectures 2021

The Gifford Lectures (2021-2022) will be delivered by Oliver O’Donovan, Professor Emeritus of Christian Ethics and Practical Theology at the University of Edinburgh and Honorary Professor at St Andrews on the theme of “The Disappearance of Ethics”.

Prospectus of Lectures 2019

Why Reject Reductive Naturalism? – Is Hope for Another Life Rational? – Why Did the One Not Remain Within Itself? – “Ameliorism”: Is Reality Unimprovable? – How Did Evil Come Into the World?

Gifford Lectures 2019

The 2019 lectures will be on the theme of The Hard God: Ontotheology as an Antidote for Idolatry. The lecturer is Mark Johnston, The Henry Putnam University Professor, Princeton University.

Watch the 2017 lectures

Video of the six lectures by Professor Michael Rae.

Watch the 2015 Lectures

Five lectures by Prof. Linda Zagzebski, University of Oklahoma.

Watch the 2012 lectures

Video recordings of the 2012 Gifford lectures are available to view.

Listen to the 2010 lectures

Recordings and slides of the six 2010 Gifford lectures by Roger Scruton.