Lord
Gifford and His Lectures. A Centenary Retrospect.
S.L. Jaki
The Gifford Lectures are now one hundred years old. Established by
a
generous provision in Adam Lord Gifford's will, signed on August 21st
1885, those lectureships, entrusted to the Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow,
Aberdeen and St. Andrews, soon became a prominent forum for natural theology.
The author, himself a Gifford lecturer, explores
the background and
contents of Lord Gifford's will as an introduction to his main theme:
the
functioning of Gifford Lectures as a quasi-institutional framework
for natural theology across the broad spectrum of modern philosophical
trends.