The Ingersoll Lectures is a series of lectures presented annually at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

on the subject of

immortality Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some species possess "biological immortality" due to an apparent lack of the Hayflick limit. From at least the time of the Ancient Mesopotamian religion, ancient Mesopotamians, there has been a con ...

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 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 religious studies, academic study of religion or for leadership role ...

, 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 , , "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 vocalize it as ...

Company of Boston and New York. From 1914 to 1935

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

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 and psychologist. The first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States, he is considered to be one of the leading thinkers of the late 19th c ...

— 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 Pragmatism, pragmatist and objective idealism, objective idealist philosopher and the founder of American idealism. His philosophical ideas included his joining of pragmatis ...

— 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 speci ...

— Science and Immortality *1905:

Samuel McChord Crothers Samuel McChord Crothers (June 7, 1857 in Oswego, IllinoisCROTHERS, Samuel McChord< ...

— The Endless Life *1906:

Charles Fletcher Dole Charles Fletcher Dole (1845–1927) was a Unitarianism, Unitarian Minister (Christianity), minister, speaker, and writer in the Jamaica Plain section of Boston, Massachusetts, and Chairman of the Association to Abolish War. He authored a substant ...

— The Hope of Immortality: Our Reasons for it *1906B:

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

— Individuality and Immortality *1908:

William Sturgis Bigelow William Sturgis Bigelow (April 4, 1850 in Boston, MassachusettsBIGELOW, William Stur ...

— Buddhism and Immortality *1909: G. Lowes Dickinson — Is Immortality Desirable? *1911:

George Andrew Reisner George Andrew Reisner Jr. (November 5, 1867 – June 6, 1942) was an American archeologist of Ancient Egypt, Nubia and Palestine. Early life Reisner was born on November 5, 1867, in Indianapolis. His parents were George Andrew Reisner Sr. and M ...

— The Egyptian Conception of Immortality *1914:

George Foot Moore George Foot Moore (October 15, 1851 – May 16, 1931) was an American historian of religion, author, professor, and Presbyterian minister. Life Moore was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, the son of Rev. William Eves Moore and Harriet Foot Moor ...

— Metempsychosis *1918:

Clifford Herschel Moore Clifford Herschel Moore (1866–1931) was an American Latin scholar. Biography Clifford Herschel Moore was born in Sudbury, Massachusetts on March 11, 1866. He married Lorena Leadbetter on July 23, 1890. He was educated at Harvard ( A.B., 1889 ...

— 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, West Virginia. He graduated at the University of Iowa in 1883 and studied theology in Boston University. He le ...

— 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 Biblical scholar, scholar, Church history, Church historian, Palaeography#Greek Palaeography, Greek palaeographer, and Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Harvard ...

— Immortality and the Modern Mind *1923:

George Edwin Horr George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Giorgi ...

— The Christian Faith and Eternal Life *1924:

Philip Cabot Philip, also Phillip, is a male 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 popularized the n ...

— The Sense of Immortality *1925: Edgar S. Brightman — 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 cart ...

— 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 * Gene Eugene, stage name of Canadian born actor, record producer, engineer, composer and musi ...

— 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 Julius Seelye Bixler (April 4, 1894 – March 28, 1985) was the 16th President of Colby College, Maine, United States, from 1942–1960. Early life Born Julius Seelye Bixler in New London, CT, to James William Bixler and Elizabeth J. Seelye Bi ...

— Immortality and the Present Mood *1932:

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

— The Chances of Surviving Death *1933:

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

— 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 (7 April 1884 – 21 September 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 ...

— 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 int ...

— 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 in ...

— 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 — The Implications of Selfhood *1941:

Alfred North Whitehead Alfred North Whitehead (15 February 1861 – 30 December 1947) was an English mathematician and philosopher. He created the philosophical school known as process philosophy, which has been applied in a wide variety of disciplines, inclu ...

— Immortality *1942: Douglas V. Steere — Death's Illumination of Life *1943:

Rufus M. Jones Rufus Matthew Jones (January 25, 1863 – June 16, 1948) was an American religious leader, writer, magazine editor, philosopher, and college professor. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Haverford Emergency Unit (a precursor to ...

— 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) Finkel ...

— The Jewish Doctrine of Human Immortality *1945:

Hu Shi Hu Shih ( zh, t=胡適; 17 December 189124 February 1962) was a Chinese academic, writer, and politician. Hu contributed to Chinese liberalism and language reform, and was a leading advocate for the use of written vernacular Chinese. He partici ...

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 29, ...

— The Affirmation of Immortality *1947:

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

— 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 (7 April 1884 – 21 September 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 ...

— Eternal Life *1951:

Georges Florovsky Georges Vasilievich Florovsky (; – August 11, 1979) was a Russian Orthodox priest, theologian, and historian. Born in the Russian Empire, he spent his working life in Paris (1920–1949) and New York (1949–1979). With Sergei Bulgakov, V ...

— 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 and education Stefansson, born William Stephenson, was born at Arnes, Manitoba, Canada, in 1879. ...

— 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 Luthe ...

— 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 Hans Hofmann (March 21, 1880 – February 17, 1966) was a German-born American painter, renowned as both an artist and teacher. His career spanned two generations and two continents, and is considered to have both preceded and influenced Abstrac ...

— 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 i ...

— 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 an ...

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

John Knox John Knox ( – 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 Church of Scotland. Born in Giffordgate, a street in Haddington, East Lot ...

— The Hope of Glory *1961:

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

— Immortality and the Modern Temper *1962:

Paul Tillich Paul Johannes Tillich (; ; August 20, 1886 – October 22, 1965) was a German and American Christian existentialist philosopher, religious socialist, and Lutheran theologian who was one of the most influential theologians of the twenti ...

— 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 D ...

— Immortal Man and Mortal God *1964: Amos Niven Wilder — Mortality and Contemporary Literature *1965:

Eric Voegelin Eric Voegelin (born Erich Hermann Wilhelm Vögelin, ; January 3, 1901 – January 19, 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 ass ...

— 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 ...

— Eternal Life *1967:

Jürgen Moltmann Jürgen Moltmann (; 8 April 1926 – 3 June 2024) was a German Reformed theologian who was a professor of systematic theology at the University of Tübingen and was known for his books such as the ''Theology of Hope'', ''The Crucified God'', ''G ...

— 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, author, and developer of the five stages of grief, also known as the "Kübler-Ross model". In 1970, Kübler-Ross deli ...

— 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 rite of passage, rites of passage. His work, along with that of Clifford Geertz and others, is often ...

— 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 (February 5, 1928 – February 25, 2025) was an American Lutheran religious scholar who wrote extensively on religion in the United States. Biography Early life Marty was born on February 5, 1928, in West Point, Nebraska, ...

— Hell Disappeared. No One Noticed. A Civic Argument *1985: Robert J. Lifton — The Future of Immortality *1987: John B. Cobb 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 — (title unavailable, but se

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

Marian Wright Edelman Marian Wright Edelman ( Wright; 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, an ...

— Leave No Child Behind *1994: Jonathan Mann — Health, Society and Human Rights *1995: Steven Katz — The Shoah and Historical Memory *2000:

Carol Zaleski Carol Zaleski is an American religious scholar and writer. Zaleski previously taught at Harvard University, where she received her PhD in the study of religion, and is the professor of world religions at Smith College. She is the author of several ...

&mdash
In Defense of Immortality
*2001:

Huston Smith Huston Cummings Smith (May 31, 1919 – December 30, 2016) was a 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, ''The World's R ...

— 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 ser ...

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

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

— 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 Methodist minister and theologian. He is best known for his advocacy of black theology and black liberation theology. His 1969 book ''Black Theology and Black Power'' provided ...

—

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 Protest song, protests the Lynch ...

: 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 — 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 and editor. Her first novel, ''The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically accl ...

— Goodness: Altruism and the Literary Imagination *2014:

Russell Banks Russell Earl Banks (March 28, 1940 – January 8, 2023) was an American writer of fiction and poetry. His novels are known for "detailed accounts of domestic strife and the daily struggles of ordinary often-marginalized characters". He drew from ...

— 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 th ...

— Old Souls, New World *2018:

Terry Tempest Williams Terry Tempest Williams (born September 8, 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 Book series Lectures on religion and science Lecture series at Harvard University Immortality 1896 establishments in Massachusetts Recurring events established in 1896