Dwight H. Terry Lectureship
Encyclopedia
The Dwight H. Terry Lectureship, also known as the Terry Lectures, was established at Yale University
in 1905 by a gift from Dwight H. Terry of Bridgeport, Connecticut
. Its purpose is to engage both scholars and the public in a consideration of religion from a humanitarian point of view, in the light of modern science and philosophy. The subject matter has historically been similar to that of the Gifford Lectures
in Scotland, and several lecturers have participated in both series.
Although commitment to the gift was made in 1905 it did not mature until 1923, which is when the first Terry lectures were held.
, and remain in print to this day (see below) Since 1999, the lectures have been recorded and archived on the Terry Lectures website as audio and/or video streams.
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1905 by a gift from Dwight H. Terry of Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Located in Fairfield County, the city had an estimated population of 144,229 at the 2010 United States Census and is the core of the Greater Bridgeport area...
. Its purpose is to engage both scholars and the public in a consideration of religion from a humanitarian point of view, in the light of modern science and philosophy. The subject matter has historically been similar to that of the Gifford Lectures
Gifford Lectures
The Gifford Lectures were established by the will of Adam Lord Gifford . They were established to "promote and diffuse the study of Natural Theology in the widest sense of the term — in other words, the knowledge of God." The term natural theology as used by Gifford means theology supported...
in Scotland, and several lecturers have participated in both series.
Establishment of the Lectureship
The 1905 deed of gift establishing the lectureship states:Although commitment to the gift was made in 1905 it did not mature until 1923, which is when the first Terry lectures were held.
Lecture format
The lectures are free and open to the public. A single installment generally consists of four lectures by the same visiting scholar, given over the course of a month or less. Many of the lectures have been edited into books published by the Yale University PressYale University Press
Yale University Press is a book publisher founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day. It became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but remains financially and operationally autonomous....
, and remain in print to this day (see below) Since 1999, the lectures have been recorded and archived on the Terry Lectures website as audio and/or video streams.
Past Terry Lectureships
- 2012 Keith Stewart ThomsonKeith Stewart ThomsonKeith Stewart Thomson is currently a senior research fellow of the American Philosophical Society and an emeritus professor of natural history at the University of Oxford. He was appointed director of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History in July 1998...
Jefferson and Darwin: Science and Religion in Troubled Times - 2010 Joel PrimackJoel PrimackJoel R. Primack is a professor of physics and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz and is a member of the Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics. Dr. Primack received his A.B. from Princeton University in 1966 and his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1970. According to...
and Nancy Ellen Abrams Cosmic Society: The New Universe and the Human Future : ISBN 978-0-300-16508-1 - 2009 Marilynne RobinsonMarilynne Robinson-Biography:Robinson was born and grew up in Sandpoint, Idaho, and did her undergraduate work at Pembroke College, the former women's college at Brown University, receiving her B.A., magna cum laude in 1966, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She received her Ph.D...
Absence of Mind: The Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of the Self : ISBN 978-0-300-17147-1 - 2008 Donald S. Lopez, Jr.Donald S. Lopez, Jr.Donald Sewell Lopez, Jr. is currently the Professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies at the University of Michigan, in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures....
The Scientific Buddha: Past, Present, Future : ISBN 978-0-226-49312-1 - 2008 Terry EagletonTerry EagletonTerence Francis Eagleton FBA is a British literary theorist and critic, who is regarded as one of Britain's most influential living literary critics...
Faith and Fundamentalism: Is Belief in Richard Dawkins Necessary for Salvation? : ISBN 978-0-300-15179-4 - 2007 Ahmad Dallal Islam, Science, and the Challenge of History : ISBN 978-0-300-17771-8
- 2006 Barbara Herrnstein SmithBarbara Herrnstein SmithBarbara Herrnstein Smith is an American literary critic and theorist, best known for her work Contingencies of Value: Alternative Perspectives for Critical Theory...
Natural Reflections: Human Cognition at the Nexus of Science and Religion " ISBN 978-0-300-14034-7 - 2006 (Centennial Conference) Robert WuthnowRobert WuthnowRobert Wuthnow is the Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor of Sociology at Princeton University, where he is also the Chair of the Department of Sociology and Director of the Princeton University Center for the Study of Religion....
No Contradictions Here: Science, Religion, and the Culture of All Reasonable Possibilities - 2006 (Centennial Conference) Lawrence M. KraussLawrence M. KraussLawrence Maxwell Krauss is an American theoretical physicist who is professor of physics, Foundation Professor of the School of Earth and Space Exploration, and director of the Origins Project at the Arizona State University. He is the author of several bestselling books, including The Physics of...
Religion vs. Science? From the White House to Classroom - 2006 (Centennial Conference) Alvin PlantingaAlvin PlantingaAlvin Carl Plantinga is an American analytic philosopher and the emeritus John A. O'Brien Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. He is known for his work in philosophy of religion, epistemology, metaphysics, and Christian apologetics...
Science and Religion: Why Does the Debate Continue? - 2006 (Centennial Conference) Kenneth R. MillerKenneth R. MillerKenneth Raymond Miller is a biology professor at Brown University. Miller, who is Roman Catholic, is particularly known for his opposition to creationism, including the intelligent design movement...
Darwin, God, and Dover: What the Collapse of 'Intelligent Design' Means for Science and for Faith in America - 2006 (Centennial Conference) Ronald L. Numbers Aggressors, Victims, and Peacemakers: Historical Actors in the Drama of Science and Religion
- 2004 David Sloan WilsonDavid Sloan WilsonDavid Sloan Wilson is an American evolutionary biologist and a Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences and Anthropology at Binghamton University. He is a son of the author Sloan Wilson.-Academic career:...
Evolution for Everyone - 2003 Mary DouglasMary DouglasDame Mary Douglas, DBE, FBA was a British anthropologist, known for her writings on human culture and symbolism....
Writing in Circles: Ring Composition as a Creative Stimulus: ISBN 978-0-300-11762-2 - 2003 H.C. Erik Midelfort Exorcism and Enlightenment: Johann Joseph Gassner and the Demons of 18th-Century Germany: ISBN 978-0-300-10669-5
- 2001 Francisco J. AyalaFrancisco J. AyalaFrancisco José Ayala Pereda is a Spanish-American biologist and philosopher at the University of California, Irvine. He is a former Dominican priest, ordained in 1960, but left the priesthood that same year. After graduating from the University of Salamanca, he moved to the US in 1961 to study for...
From Biology to Ethics: An Evolutionist's View of Human Nature - 2000 Peter SingerPeter SingerPeter Albert David Singer is an Australian philosopher who is the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University and Laureate Professor at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the University of Melbourne...
One World: The Ethics and Politics of Globalization: ISBN 978-0-300-10305-2 - 1999 Bas C. Van FraassenBas C. van FraassenBastiaan Cornelis van Fraassen is a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at San Francisco State University, teaching courses in philosophy of science, the role of models in scientific practice and philosophical logic...
The Empirical Stance: ISBN 978-0-300-10306-9 - 1998 David HartmanDavid Hartman (rabbi)David Hartman is an American and Israeli rabbi and philosopher of contemporary Judaism, founder of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, Israel, and a Jewish author.- Early life :...
Struggling for the Soul of Israel: A Jewish Response to History: ISBN 978-0-300-08378-1 - 1996–1997 Rev. John PolkinghorneJohn PolkinghorneJohn Charlton Polkinghorne KBE FRS is an English theoretical physicist, theologian, writer, and Anglican priest. He was professor of Mathematical physics at the University of Cambridge from 1968 to 1979, when he resigned his chair to study for the priesthood, becoming an ordained Anglican priest...
Belief in God in an Age of Science: ISBN 978-0-300-07294-5 - 1993–1994 Walter J. Gehring Genetic Control of Development: ISBN 978-0-300-07409-3
- 1988–1989 Joshua LederbergJoshua LederbergJoshua Lederberg ForMemRS was an American molecular biologist known for his work in microbial genetics, artificial intelligence, and the United States space program. He was just 33 years old when he won the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering that bacteria can mate and...
Science and Modern Life - 1986–1987 Eric R. KandelEric R. KandelEric Richard Kandel is an American neuropsychiatrist who was a recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research on the physiological basis of memory storage in neurons...
Cell and Molecular Biological Explorations of Learning and Memory - 1985–1986 Stephen Jay GouldStephen Jay GouldStephen Jay Gould was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation....
Darwin and Dr. Doolittle: ‘Just History’ as the Wellspring of Nature’s Order - 1979–1980 Hans JonasHans JonasHans Jonas was a German-born philosopher who was, from 1955 to 1976, Alvin Johnson Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York City.Jonas's writings were very influential in different spheres...
Technology and Ethics: The Imperative of Responsibility: ISBN 978-0-226-40597-1 - 1978–1979 Adin SteinsaltzAdin SteinsaltzRabbi Adin Steinsaltz or Adin Even Yisrael is a teacher, philosopher, social critic, and spiritual mentor, who has been hailed by Time magazine as a "once-in-a-millennium scholar". He has devoted his life to making the Talmud accessible to all Jews...
- 1977–1978 Hans KüngHans KüngHans Küng is a Swiss Catholic priest, theologian, and prolific author. Since 1995 he has been President of the Foundation for a Global Ethic . Küng is "a Catholic priest in good standing", but the Vatican has rescinded his authority to teach Catholic theology...
Freud and the Problem of God: ISBN 978-0-300-04723-3 - 1976–1977 Philip RieffPhilip RieffPhilip Rieff was an American sociologist and cultural critic, who taught sociology at the University of Pennsylvania from 1961 until 1992. He was the author of a number of books on Sigmund Freud and his legacy, including Freud: The Mind of the Moralist and The Triumph of the Therapeutic: Uses of...
- 1975–1976 David Baken And They Took Themselves Wives: Male Female Relations in the Bible
- 1973–1974 Father Theodore M. Hesburgh The Humane Imperative: A Challenge for the Year 2000: ISBN 978-0-300-13579-4
- 1971–1972 James HillmanJames HillmanJames Hillman was an American psychologist. He studied at, and then guided studies for, the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich, founded a movement toward archetypal psychology and retired into private practice, writing and traveling to lecture, until his death at his home in Connecticut on October 27,...
Re-Visioning Psychology: ISBN 978-0-06-063931-0 - 1968–1969 Albert J. Reiss Jr. Civility and the Moral Order: The Police and the Public: ISBN 978-0-300-01646-8
- 1967–1968 Clifford GeertzClifford GeertzClifford James Geertz was an American anthropologist who is remembered mostly for his strong support for and influence on the practice of symbolic anthropology, and who was considered "for three decades...the single most influential cultural anthropologist in the United States." He served until...
In Search of Islam: Religious Change in Indonesia / Islam Observed: Religious Development in Morocco and Indonesia: ISBN 978-0-226-28511-5 - 1966–1967 Loren EiseleyLoren EiseleyLoren Eiseley was an American anthropologist, educator, philosopher, and natural science writer, who taught and published books from the 1950s through the 1970s. During this period he received more than 36 honorary degrees and was a fellow of many distinguished professional societies...
- 1964–1965 James Munro Cameron Images of Authority: A Consideration of the Concept of Regnum and Sacerdotium: ISBN 978-0-300-13580-0
- 1963–1964 Walter J. OngWalter J. OngFather Walter Jackson Ong, Ph.D. , was an American Jesuit priest, professor of English literature, cultural and religious historian and philosopher. His major interest was in exploring how the transition from orality to literacy influenced culture and changed human consciousness...
The Presence of the Word: Some Prolegomena for Cultural and Religious History: ISBN 978-0-300-09973-7 - 1962–1963 Michael PolanyiMichael PolanyiMichael Polanyi, FRS was a Hungarian–British polymath, who made important theoretical contributions to physical chemistry, economics, and the theory of knowledge...
Man and Thought: A Symbiosis / The Tacit Dimension: ISBN 978-0-8446-5999-2 - 1961–1962 Norbert WienerNorbert WienerNorbert Wiener was an American mathematician.A famous child prodigy, Wiener later became an early researcher in stochastic and noise processes, contributing work relevant to electronic engineering, electronic communication, and control systems.Wiener is regarded as the originator of cybernetics, a...
The Philosopher Before Symbols - 1961–1962 Paul RicoeurPaul RicoeurPaul Ricœur was a French philosopher best known for combining phenomenological description with hermeneutic interpretation...
Freud and Philosophy: An Essay on Interpretation: ISBN 978-0-300-02189-9 - 1958–1959 Hermann Dörries Constantine and Religious Liberty: ISBN 978-0-300-13653-1
- 1957–1958 Margaret MeadMargaret MeadMargaret Mead was an American cultural anthropologist, who was frequently a featured writer and speaker in the mass media throughout the 1960s and 1970s....
Continuities in Cultural Evolution: ISBN 978-0-7658-0604-8 - 1956–1957 Errol Eustace Harris The Idea of God in Modern Thought / Revelation Through Reason: Religion in the Light of Science and Philosophy: ISBN 978-0-317-27547-6
- 1955–1956 Rebecca WestRebecca WestCicely Isabel Fairfield , known by her pen name Rebecca West, or Dame Rebecca West, DBE was an English author, journalist, literary critic and travel writer. A prolific, protean author who wrote in many genres, West was committed to feminist and liberal principles and was one of the foremost public...
The Court and the Castle: Some Treatments of a Recurrent Theme - 1954–1955 Pieter GeylPieter GeylPieter Catharinus Arie Geyl was a Dutch historian, well-known for his studies in early modern Dutch history and in historiography.-Background:...
Use and Abuse of History: ISBN 978-0-300-13651-7 - 1953–1954 Gordon Willard Allport Becoming: Basic Considerations for a Psychology of Personality: ISBN 978-0-300-00002-3
- 1951–1952 Jerome Clarke HunsakerJerome Clarke HunsakerJerome Clarke Hunsaker was an American airman born in Creston, Iowa, and educated at the Naval Academy and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.-Life:...
Aeronautics at the Mid-Century: ISBN 978-0-300-13577-0 - 1950–1951 Paul Johannes Tillich The Courage to Be: ISBN 978-0-300-08471-9
- 1949–1950 Erich FrommErich FrommErich Seligmann Fromm was a Jewish German-American social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. He was associated with what became known as the Frankfurt School of critical theory.-Life:Erich Fromm was born on March 23, 1900, at Frankfurt am...
Psychoanalysis and ReligionPsychoanalysis and ReligionPsychoanalysis and Religion is a 1950 psychoanalytic treatise that attempts to explain the purpose and goals of psychoanalysis in relation to ethics and religion...
: ISBN 978-0-300-00089-4 - 1948–1949 George Gaylord SimpsonGeorge Gaylord SimpsonGeorge Gaylord Simpson was an American paleontologist. Simpson was perhaps the most influential paleontologist of the twentieth century, and a major participant in the modern evolutionary synthesis, contributing Tempo and mode in evolution , The meaning of evolution and The major features of...
The Meaning of Evolution: ISBN 978-0-300-00229-4 - 1947–1948 Alexander Stewart Ferguson
- 1946–1947 Charles HartshorneCharles HartshorneCharles Hartshorne was a prominent American philosopher who concentrated primarily on the philosophy of religion and metaphysics. He developed the neoclassical idea of God and produced a modal proof of the existence of God that was a development of St. Anselm's Ontological Argument...
The Divine Relativity: A Social Conception of God: ISBN 978-0-300-02880-5 - 1946–1947 Henri FrankfortHenri FrankfortHenri 'Hans' Frankfort was a Dutch Egyptologist, archaeologist and orientalist.-Biography:Born in Amsterdam, Frankfort studied history at the University of Amsterdam and then moved to London, where in 1924, he took an MA under Sir Flinders Petrie at the University College. In 1927 he gained a...
- 1945–1946 James Bryant ConantJames Bryant ConantJames Bryant Conant was a chemist, educational administrator, and government official. As thePresident of Harvard University he reformed it as a research institution.-Biography :...
On Understanding Science: ISBN 978-0-300-13655-5 - 1944–1945 Julius Seelye Bixler Conversations with an Unrepentant Liberal: ISBN 978-0-300-13584-8
- 1943–1944 George Washington Corner Ourselves Unborn: An Embryologist's Essay on Man: ISBN 978-0-300-13578-7
- 1942–1943 Jacques MaritainJacques MaritainJacques Maritain was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised as a Protestant, he converted to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive St. Thomas Aquinas for modern times and is a prominent drafter of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights...
Education at the Crossroads: ISBN 978-0-300-00163-1 - 1942–1943 Alexander Dunlop Lindsay Religion, Science, and Society in the Modern World: ISBN 978-0-8369-2604-0
- 1941–1942 Reinhold NiebuhrReinhold NiebuhrKarl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr was an American theologian and commentator on public affairs. Starting as a leftist minister in the 1920s indebted to theological liberalism, he shifted to the new Neo-Orthodox theology in the 1930s, explaining how the sin of pride created evil in the world...
- 1940–1941 Alan GreggAlan GreggAlan Gregg is a New Zealand musician, originally from Palmerston North, now based in London. Originally a keyboard player, Alan has mainly played Bass Guitar in his professional life. After moving to Auckland, New Zealand, Alan was a member of the Dribbling Darts of Love before joining The Mutton...
The Furtherance of Medical Research - 1939–1940 Henry Ernest Sigerist Medicine and Human Welfare: ISBN 978-0-300-13574-9
- 1938–1939 Te Rangi Hīroa Anthropology and Religion: ISBN 978-0-208-00950-0
- 1937–1938 Carl Gustav Jung Psychology and Religion: ISBN 978-0-300-00137-2
- 1936–1937 Joseph BarcroftJoseph BarcroftSir Joseph Barcroft CBE, FRS was a British physiologist best known for his studies of the oxygenation of blood....
The Brain and Its Environment - 1935–1936 John MacmurrayJohn MacmurrayJohn Macmurray MC was a Scottish philosopher. His thought moved beyond the modern tradition begun by Descartes and continued in Britain by Locke, Berkeley and Hume. He made contributions in the fields of political science, religion, and philosophy of education in a long career of writing,...
The Structure of Religious Experience: ISBN 978-0-300-13566-4 - 1934–1935 Joseph NeedhamJoseph NeedhamNoel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham, CH, FRS, FBA , also known as Li Yuese , was a British scientist, historian and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1941, and as a fellow of the British...
Order and Life: ISBN 978-0-300-13654-8 - 1933–1934 John DeweyJohn DeweyJohn Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey was an important early developer of the philosophy of pragmatism and one of the founders of functional psychology...
A Common Faith: ISBN 978-0-300-00069-6 - 1932–1933 Herbert Spencer JenningsHerbert Spencer Jennings-External links:**]]...
The Universe and Life: ISBN 978-0-300-13652-4 - 1931–1932 Arthur Holly Compton The Freedom of Man: ISBN 978-0-300-13570-1
- 1930–1931 Hermann WeylHermann WeylHermann Klaus Hugo Weyl was a German mathematician and theoretical physicist. Although much of his working life was spent in Zürich, Switzerland and then Princeton, he is associated with the University of Göttingen tradition of mathematics, represented by David Hilbert and Hermann Minkowski.His...
The Open World: ISBN 978-0-918024-71-8 - 1929–1930 William Pepperell MontagueWilliam Pepperell MontagueWilliam Pepperell Montague was a philosopher of the New Realist school. Montague stressed the difference between his philosophical peers as adherents of either "objective" and "critical realism"....
Belief Unbound: A Promethean Religion for the Modern World: ISBN 978-0-300-13575-6 - 1928–1929 James Young SimpsonJames Young SimpsonSir James Young Simpson was a Scottish doctor and an important figure in the history of medicine. Simpson discovered the anaesthetic properties of chloroform and successfully introduced it for general medical use....
Nature: Cosmic, Human, and Divine: ISBN 978-0-300-13565-7 - 1927–1928 William BrownWilliam Brown-Academics:*William Jethro Brown , Australian jurist and professor of law*William E. Brown , president of Cedarville University*William Arthur Brown, , academic, Master of Darwin College, Cambridge...
Science and Personality: ISBN 978-0-8434-0076-2 - 1926–1927 Robert Andrews Millikan Evolution in Science and Religion: ISBN 978-0-300-13568-8
- 1925–1926 William Ernest HockingWilliam Ernest HockingWilliam Ernest Hocking was an American idealist philosopher at Harvard University. He continued the work of his philosophical teacher Josiah Royce in revising idealism to integrate and fit into empiricism, naturalism and pragmatism...
The Self: Its Body and Freedom: ISBN 978-0-404-59191-5 - 1924–1925 Henry Norris RussellHenry Norris RussellHenry Norris Russell was an American astronomer who, along with Ejnar Hertzsprung, developed the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram . In 1923, working with Frederick Saunders, he developed Russell–Saunders coupling which is also known as LS coupling.-Biography:Russell was born in 1877 in Oyster Bay, New...
Fate and Freedom: ISBN 978-0-300-13569-5 - 1923–1924 John Arthur Thomson Concerning Evolution: ISBN 978-0-300-13567-1