The Ingersoll Lectures is a series of lectures presented annually at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

on the subject of

immortality Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some modern species may possess biological immortality. Some scientists, futurists, and philosophers have theorized about the immortality of the human body, with some suggesting that human immorta ...

Endowment

''The Ingersoll Lectureship'' was established by a bequest by Caroline Haskell Ingersoll, who died in 1893, leaving $5000 for the institution of a series of lectures to be read annually in memory of her father, George Goldthwait Ingersoll. The lectures were to take place at

on the subject of "the immortality of man". The lectures were initiated by Harvard president

Charles W. Eliot Charles William Eliot (March 20, 1834 – August 22, 1926) was an American academic who was president of Harvard University from 1869 to 1909the longest term of any Harvard president. A member of the prominent Eliot family of Boston, he transfo ...

in 1896. They are now generally known as ''The Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality''. On May 21, 1979, the Ingersoll Lecture Fund was transferred to the endowment of

Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, gov ...

, which continues to organize and host the lectures. The lectures were to be published. From 1896 to 1912 they were issued by the

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

Company of Boston and New York. From 1914 to 1935

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...

published them. Since then, the lectures have been published primarily in the ''

Harvard Divinity Bulletin Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, gov ...

'' or the ''

Harvard Theological Review The ''Harvard Theological Review'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1908 and published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Harvard Divinity School. It covers a wide spectrum of fields in theological and rel ...

''.

Lecturers and subjects (incomplete)

The chosen lecturers were as follows The Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality: Centenary Notes by Herbert F. Vetter
/ref> *1896: George A. Gordon — Immortality and the New Theodicy *1897:

William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...

— Human Immortality: Two Supposed Objections to the Doctrine *1898:

Benjamin Ide Wheeler Benjamin Ide Wheeler (July 15, 1854– May 2, 1927) was a professor of Greek and comparative philology at Cornell University, writer, and President of the University of California from 1899 to 1919. Life and career Early years Benjamin ...

— Dionysos and Immortality *1899:

Josiah Royce Josiah Royce (; November 20, 1855 – September 14, 1916) was an American objective idealist philosopher and the founder of American idealism. His philosophical ideas included his version of personalism, defense of absolutism, idealism and his ...

— The Conception of Immortality *1900: John Fiske — Life Everlasting *1904:

William Osler Sir William Osler, 1st Baronet, (; July 12, 1849 – December 29, 1919) was a Canadian physician and one of the "Big Four" founding professors of Johns Hopkins Hospital. Osler created the first Residency (medicine), residency program for spec ...

— Science and Immortality *1905:

Samuel McChord Crothers Samuel McChord Crothers (June 7, 1857–November 1927) was an American Unitarian minister with The First Parish in Cambridge. He was a popular essayist.Editorial (November 13, 1927). Dr. Crothers As Essayist. ''New York Times''Eliot, Frederick Ma ...

— The Endless Life *1906: Charles Fletcher Dole — The Hope of Immortality: Our Reasons for it *1906B:

Wilhelm Ostwald Friedrich Wilhelm Ostwald (; 4 April 1932) was a Baltic German chemist and German philosophy, philosopher. Ostwald is credited with being one of the founders of the field of physical chemistry, with Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, Walther Nernst, ...

— Individuality and Immortality *1908:

William Sturgis Bigelow William Sturgis Bigelow (1850–1926) was a prominent American collector of Japanese art. The art collection trips he funded in the 1880s helped to form the standards by which Japanese art and culture were appreciated in the West. In 1909, Bigelo ...

— Buddhism and Immortality *1909:

G. Lowes Dickinson Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson (6 August 1862 – 3 August 1932), known as Goldie, was a British political scientist and philosopher. He lived most of his life at Cambridge, where he wrote a dissertation on Neoplatonism before becoming a fellow. H ...

— Is Immortality Desirable? *1911:

George Andrew Reisner George Andrew Reisner Jr. (November 5, 1867 – June 6, 1942) was an American archaeologist of Ancient Egypt, Nubia and Palestine. Biography Reisner was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. His parents were George Andrew Reisner I and Mary Elizabet ...

— The Egyptian Conception of Immortality *1914:

George Foot Moore George Foot Moore (October 15, 1851 – May 16, 1931) was an eminent historian of religion, author, Presbyterian minister, 33rd Degree Mason of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, and accomplished teacher. Life Moore was born in West Chester, ...

— Metempsychosis *1918: Clifford Herschel Moore — Pagan Ideas of Immortality during the Early Roman Empire *1920:

Charles Reynolds Brown Charles Reynolds Brown (October 1, 1862 – November 28, 1950) was an American Congregational clergyman and educator, born in Bethany, W. Va. He graduated at the University of Iowa in 1883 and studied theology in Boston University. He lectured ...

— Living Again *1921:

William Wallace Fenn William Wallace Fenn (February 12, 1862 – March 6, 1932) was a Unitarian minister and a dean of Harvard Divinity School. He served the First Unitarian Church of Chicago from 1890–1901. He gave the 1921 The Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immorta ...

— Immortality and Theism *1922:

Kirsopp Lake Kirsopp Lake (7 April 187210 November 1946) was an English New Testament scholar, Church historian, Greek Palaeographer, and Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Harvard Divinity School. He had an uncommon breadth of interests. His mai ...

— Immortality and the Modern Mind *1923:

George Edwin Horr George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

— The Christian Faith and Eternal Life *1924:

Philip Cabot Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

— The Sense of Immortality *1925:

Edgar S. Brightman Edgar Sheffield Brightman (September 20, 1884 – February 25, 1953) was an American philosopher and Christianity, Christian theologian in the Methodism, Methodist tradition, associated with Boston University and Liberal Christianity, liberal ...

— Immortality in Post-Kantian Idealism *1926:

Gustav Kruger Gustav, Gustaf or Gustave may refer to: * Gustav (name), a male given name of Old Swedish origin Art, entertainment, and media * ''Primeval'' (film), a 2007 American horror film * ''Gustav'' (film series), a Hungarian series of animated short car ...

— The Immortality of Man According to the Views of the Men of the Enlightenment *1927:

Harry Emerson Fosdick Harry Emerson Fosdick (May 24, 1878 – October 5, 1969) was an American pastor. Fosdick became a central figure in the Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy within American Protestantism in the 1920s and 1930s and was one of the most prominen ...

— Spiritual Values and Eternal Life *1928:

Eugene William Lyman Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Eugene (actress) (born 1981), Kim Yoo-jin, South Korean actress and former member of the sin ...

— The Meaning of Selfhood and Faith in Immortality *1929: W. Douglas Mackenzie — Man's Consciousness of Immortality *1930: Robert A. Falconer — The Idea of Immortality and Western Civilization *1931: Julius Seelye Bixler — Immortality and the Present Mood *1932:

William Pepperell Montague William Pepperell Montague (11 November 1873 – 1 August 1953) was a philosopher of the New Realist school. Montague stressed the difference between his philosophical peers as adherents of either "objective" and " critical realism". Montague w ...

— The Chances of Surviving Death *1933:

Shailer Mathews Shailer Mathews (1863–1941) was an American liberal Christian theologian, involved with the Social Gospel movement. Career Born on May 26, 1863, in Portland, Maine, and graduated from Colby College. Mathews was a progressive, advocating soci ...

— Immortality and the Cosmic Process *1934:

Walter Eugene Clark Walter Eugene Clark (September 8, 1881 – September 30, 1960), was an American philologist. He was the second Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University and editor of the volumes 38-44 of the Harvard Oriental Series. He translated th ...

— Indian Conceptions of Immortality *1935:

C. H. Dodd Charles Harold Dodd (1884–1973) was a Welsh New Testament scholar and influential Protestant theologian. He is known for promoting "realized eschatology", the belief that Jesus' references to the kingdom of God meant a present reality rathe ...

— The Communion of Saints *1936:

William Ernest Hocking William Ernest Hocking (August 10, 1873 – June 12, 1966) was an American idealist philosopher at Harvard University. He continued the work of his philosophical teacher Josiah Royce (the founder of American idealism) in revising idealism to integ ...

— Meanings of Death *1937:

George Lyman Kittredge George Lyman Kittredge (February 28, 1860 – July 23, 1941) was a professor of English literature at Harvard University. His scholarly edition of the works of William Shakespeare was influential in the early 20th century. He was also involved i ...

— The Old Teutonic Idea of the Future Life *1938: Michael Ivanovich Rostovtzeff — The Mentality of the Hellenistic World and the Afterlife *1940:

James Bissett Pratt James Bissett Pratt (June 22, 1875 – January 15, 1944) held the Mark Hopkins Chair of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy at Williams College. He was president of the American Theological Society from 1934 to 1935. Born in Elmira, New York, ...

— The Implications of Selfhood *1941:

Alfred North Whitehead Alfred North Whitehead (15 February 1861 – 30 December 1947) was an English mathematician and philosopher. He is best known as the defining figure of the philosophical school known as process philosophy, which today has found applicat ...

— Immortality *1942:

Douglas V. Steere Douglas Van Steere (August 31, 1901 – February 6, 1995) was an American Quaker ecumenist. Biography He served as a professor of philosophy at Haverford College from 1928 to 1964 and visiting professor of theology at Union Theological Seminary ...

— Death's Illumination of Life *1943: Rufus M. Jones — The Spell of Immortality *1944:

Louis Finkelstein Louis Finkelstein (June 14, 1895 in Cincinnati, Ohio – 29 November 1991) was a Talmud scholar, an expert in Jewish law, and a leader of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS) and Conservative Judaism. Biography Louis (Eliezer) Fin ...

— The Jewish Doctrine of Human Immortality *1945:

Hu Shi Hu Shih (; 17 December 1891 – 24 February 1962), also known as Hu Suh in early references, was a Chinese diplomat, essayist, literary scholar, philosopher, and politician. Hu is widely recognized today as a key contributor to Chinese libera ...

h — The Concept of Immortality in Chinese Thought *1946:

John Haynes Holmes John Haynes Holmes (November 29, 1879 – April 3, 1964) was an American Unitarian minister, pacifist, and co-founder of the NAACP and the ACLU. He is noted for his anti-war activism. Early life Holmes was born in Philadelphia on November 2 ...

— The Affirmation of Immortality *1947:

Howard Thurman Howard Washington Thurman (November 18, 1899 – April 10, 1981) was an American author, philosopher, theologian, mystic, educator, and civil rights leader. As a prominent religious figure, he played a leading role in many social justice movements ...

— The Negro Spiritual Speaks of Life and Death *1948: Clyde K. M. Kluckhohn — Conceptions of Death Among Southwestern Indians *1949: Edwin Ewart Aubrey — Immortality and Purpose *1950:

Charles Harold Dodd Charles Harold Dodd (1884–1973) was a Wales, Welsh New Testament scholar and influential Protestant theologian. He is known for promoting "realized eschatology", the belief that Jesus' references to the kingdom of God meant a present reality ...

— Eternal Life *1951:

Georges Florovsky Georges Vasilievich Florovsky (Russian: Гео́ргий Васи́льевич Флоро́вский; – August 11, 1979) was a Russian Orthodox priest, theologian, and historian. Born in the Russian Empire, he spent his working life in Pari ...

— The Resurrection of Life *1952:

Vilhjalmur Stefansson Vilhjalmur Stefansson (November 3, 1879 – August 26, 1962) was an Arctic explorer and ethnologist. He was born in Manitoba, Canada. Early life Stefansson, born William Stephenson, was born at Arnes, Manitoba, Canada, in 1879. His parents had ...

— The Mackenzie River Coronation Gulf Eskimos: Their Concept of the Spirit World and of Immortality *1953: Willard L. Sperry — Approaches to the Idea of Immortality *1954: Theodore Otto Wedel — The Community of Faith as the Agent of Salvation *1955:

Oscar Cullmann Oscar Cullmann (25 February 1902, Strasbourg – 16 January 1999, Chamonix) was a French Lutheran theologian. He is best known for his work in the ecumenical movement and was partly responsible for the establishment of dialogue between the Luther ...

— Immortality of the Soul and Resurrection of the Dead: The Witness of the New Testament *1956: Harry A. Wolfson — Immortality and Resurrection in the Philosophy of the Church Fathers *1957: Hans Hoffman — Immortality of Life *1958:

Werner Jaeger Werner Wilhelm Jaeger (30 July 1888 – 19 October 1961) was a German-American classicist. Life Werner Wilhelm Jaeger was born in Lobberich, Rhenish Prussia in the German Empire. He attended school in Lobberich and at the Gymnasium Thomaeum in ...

— The Greek Ideas of Immortality *1959:

Henry J. Cadbury Henry Joel Cadbury (December 1, 1883 – October 7, 1974) was an American biblical scholar, Quaker historian, writer, and non-profit administrator. Life A graduate of Haverford College, Cadbury was a Quaker throughout his life, as well as ...

— Intimations of Immortality in the Thought of Jesus *1960:

John Knox John Knox ( gd, Iain Cnocc) (born – 24 November 1572) was a Scottish minister, Reformed theologian, and writer who was a leader of the country's Reformation. He was the founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Born in Giffordgat ...

— The Hope of Glory *1961:

Hans Jonas Hans Jonas (; ; 10 May 1903 – 5 February 1993) was a German-born American Jewish philosopher, from 1955 to 1976 the Alvin Johnson Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York City. Biography Jonas was born ...

— Immortality and the Modern Temper *1962:

Paul Tillich Paul Johannes Tillich (August 20, 1886 – October 22, 1965) was a German-American Christian existentialist philosopher, religious socialist, and Lutheran Protestant theologian who is widely regarded as one of the most influential theologi ...

— Symbols of Eternal Life *1963:

Jaroslav Pelikan Jaroslav Jan Pelikan Jr. (December 17, 1923 – May 13, 2006) was an American scholar of the history of Christianity, Christian theology, and medieval intellectual history at Yale University. Early years Jaroslav Jan Pelikan Jr. was born on Dec ...

— Immortal Man and Mortal God *1964:

Amos Niven Wilder Amos Niven Wilder (September 18, 1895 – May 4, 1993) was an American poet, minister, and theology professor. Life Wilder was born in Madison, Wisconsin. He studied for two years at Oberlin College (1913–1915), but volunteered in the AF ...

— Mortality and Contemporary Literature *1965:

Eric Voegelin Eric Voegelin (born Erich Hermann Wilhelm Vögelin, ; 1901–1985) was a German-American political philosopher. He was born in Cologne, and educated in political science at the University of Vienna, where he became an associate professor of poli ...

— Immortality: Experience and Symbol *1966:

Wilfred Cantwell Smith Wilfred Cantwell Smith (July 21, 1916 – February 7, 2000) was a Canadian Islamicist, comparative religion scholar, and Presbyterian minister. He was the founder of the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University in Quebec and later th ...

— Eternal Life *1967:

Jürgen Moltmann Jürgen Moltmann (born 8 April 1926) is a German Reformed theologian who is Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology at the University of Tübingen and is known for his books such as the ''Theology of Hope'', ''The Crucified God'', ''God in Creat ...

— Resurrection as Hope *1968: Walter N. Pahnke — The Psychedelic Mystical Experience in the Human Encounter with Death *1970:

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American psychiatrist, a pioneer in near-death studies, and author of the internationally best-selling book, '' On Death and Dying'' (1969), where she first discussed her the ...

— On Death and Dying *1971: Liston O. Mills — ? *1977: Jane I. Smith — Reflections on Aspects of Immortality in Islam *1981:

Victor Turner Victor Witter Turner (28 May 1920 – 18 December 1983) was a British cultural anthropologist best known for his work on symbols, rituals, and rites of passage. His work, along with that of Clifford Geertz and others, is often referred to as ...

— Images of Anti-Temporality: An Essay in the Anthropology of Experience *1983:

Wolfhart Pannenberg Wolfhart Pannenberg (2 October 1928 – 4 September 2014) was a German Lutheran theologian. He made a number of significant contributions to modern theology, including his concept of history as a form of revelation centered on the resurre ...

— Constructive and Critical Functions of Christian Eschatology *1984:

Martin E. Marty Martin Emil Marty (born on February 5, 1928) is an American Lutheran religious scholar who has written extensively on religion in the United States. Early life and education Marty was born on February 5, 1928, in West Point, Nebraska, and raised ...

— Hell Disappeared. No One Noticed. A Civic Argument *1985: Robert J. Lifton — The Future of Immortality *1987:

John B. Cobb John Boswell Cobb, Jr. (born 9 February 1925) is an American theologian, philosopher, and environmentalist. Cobb is often regarded as the preeminent scholar in the field of process philosophy and process theology, the school of thought associ ...

Jr. — The Resurrection of the Soul *1988:

— Transcendence *1989:

Caroline Walker Bynum Caroline Walker Bynum, FBA (born May 10, 1941, in Atlanta, Georgia)Caroline Walker Bynum short CV
at < ...

— Bodily Miracles and the Resurrection of the Body in the High Middle Ages *1990:

Stephen J. Gould Stephen Jay Gould (; September 10, 1941 – May 20, 2002) was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was one of the most influential and widely read authors of popular science of his generation. Gould sp ...

— (title unavailable, but se

for summary) *1991: Lawrence Sullivan — Death at Harvard and Death in America *1993:

Marian Wright Edelman Marian Wright Edelman (born June 6, 1939) is an American activist for civil rights and children's rights. She is the founder and president emerita of the Children's Defense Fund. She influenced leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Hillary ...

— Leave No Child Behind *1994: Jonathan Mann — Health, Society and Human Rights *1995: Steven Katz — The Shoah and Historical Memory *2001:

Huston Smith Huston Cummings Smith (May 31, 1919 – December 30, 2016) was an influential scholar of religious studies in the United States, He authored at least thirteen books on world's religions and philosophy, and his book about comparative religion, ' ...

— Intimations of Immortality: Three Case Studies *2002:

Daniel Callahan Daniel John Callahan (July 19, 1930 – July 16, 2019) was an American philosopher who played a leading role in developing the field of biomedical ethics as co-founder of The Hastings Center, the world's first bioethics research institute. He serv ...

— The Desire for Eternal Life: Scientific versus Religious Visions *2005:

Karen Armstrong Karen Armstrong (born 14 November 1944) is a British author and commentator of Irish Catholic descent known for her books on comparative religion. A former Roman Catholic religious sister, she went from a conservative to a more liberal and m ...

— Is Immortality Important? Religion is about Inhabiting the Eternal Here and Now *2006:

James Hal Cone James Hal Cone (August 5, 1938 – April 28, 2018) was an American theologian, best known for his advocacy of black theology and black liberation theology. His 1969 book ''Black Theology and Black Power'' provided a new way to comprehensively de ...

—

Strange Fruit "Strange Fruit" is a song written and composed by Abel Meeropol (under his pseudonym Lewis Allan) and recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939. The lyrics were drawn from a poem by Meeropol published in 1937. The song protests the lynching of Black ...

: The Cross and the Lynching Tree *2008: Leora Batnitzky — From Resurrection to Immortality: Theological and Political Implications in Modern Jewish Thought *2009: François Bovon — The Soul’s Comeback: Immortality and Resurrection in Early Christianity *2010:

Albert Raboteau Albert Jordy "Al" Raboteau II (September 4, 1943 – September 18, 2021) was an American scholar of African and African-American religions. Since 1982, he had been affiliated with Princeton University, where he was Henry W. Putnam Professor of R ...

— Memory Eternal: The Presence of the Dead in Orthodox Christian Piety *2011: Robert R. Desjarlais – Cessation and Continuity: Poiesis in Life and Death among Nepal's Yolmo Buddhists. *2012:

Toni Morrison Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist. Her first novel, ''The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed '' So ...

— Goodness: Altruism and the Literary Imagination *2014:

Russell Banks Russell Banks (born March 28, 1940) is an American writer of fiction and poetry. As a novelist, Banks is best known for his "detailed accounts of domestic strife and the daily struggles of ordinary often-marginalized characters". His stories usua ...

— Feeding Moloch: The Sacrifice of Children on the Alter of Capitalism *2017:

Marilynne Robinson Marilynne Summers Robinson (born November 26, 1943) is an American novelist and essayist. Across her writing career, Robinson has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005, National Humanities Medal in 2012, and ...

— Old Souls, New World *2018:

Terry Tempest Williams Terry Tempest Williams (born 8 September 1955), is an American writer, educator, conservationist, and activist. Williams' writing is rooted in the American West and has been significantly influenced by the arid landscape of Utah. Her work foc ...

— The Liturgy of Home * 2019: The lectures were paused due to the COVID pandemic.

References

Harvard Divinity School Library website for the Ingersoll Lectures
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality Series of books Lecture series Lectures on religion and science Harvard University