John Geddes MacGregor (13 Nov. 1909–9 Oct. 1998) was an author, scholar of philosophy, educator, and an ordained Episcopal priest.

Biography

MacGregor was born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in 1909, and his early life was spent in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

, and in continental Europe. MacGregor received a Bachelor of Divinity degree from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

(BD, 1939). He later received a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from

, New College (LLB, 1943), and a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

(DPhil, 1945, supervised by Austin Farrer). For published work, he received a Doctorat ès lettres from the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

(Dr ès l, 1951, Summa Cum Laude), and a

Doctor of Divinity A Doctor of Divinity (DD or DDiv; ) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity (academic discipline), divinity (i.e., Christian theology and Christian ministry, ministry or other theologies. The term is more common in the Englis ...

from

(DD, 1959). In 1978 he received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (LHD) degree from

Hebrew Union College Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language until ...

. MacGregor was raised

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

, but as a young man in

he converted to Roman Catholicism under the influence of Canon John Gray of Saint Peter's, Morningside. Later, after receiving his BD degree in Edinburgh in 1939, MacGregor was ordained to the ministry in the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

. In 1968, while in the United States, he was ordained deacon and priest in the Episcopal Church. A few days after his Episcopal ordainment, he was named

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

of Saint Paul's Cathedral in Los Angeles. From 1949 to 1955 MacGregor served as the first Rufus Jones Professor of philosophy and religion at

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh language, Welsh: ) is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as a ...

. In 1957, he became an American citizen. In 1960 MacGregor was appointed Dean of the Graduate School of Religion at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

, where he taught until 1975, having been appointed Distinguished Professor in 1966. MacGregor has been described as "one of the most distinguished Christian theologians to defend the reincarnation concept." In 1967, the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco honored MacGregor's book, ''The Hemlock and the Cross: Humanism, Socrates and Christ'', as the year's best nonfiction work by a California author.

Family life

MacGregor married Elizabeth Sutherland McAllister on August 14, 1941, at

St Giles' Cathedral St Giles' Cathedral (), or the High Kirk of Edinburgh, is a parish church of the Church of Scotland in the Old Town, Edinburgh, Old Town of Edinburgh. The current building was begun in the 14th century and extended until the early 16th century; ...

. They had two children together, Marie Geddes (born 1944) and Martin Gregor Geddes (born 1946); Elizabeth predeceased her husband in 1994.

Selected works

* MacGregor, Geddes (1989). ''Dictionary of Religion and Philosophy''
Description.
Paragon House, New York. * * **Also published as: * * * *

Speculative

MacGregor stated in 1979 that he wrote only one "speculative novel": *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:MacGregor, John Geddes 1909 births 1998 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford 20th-century Scottish theologians Naturalized citizens of the United States 20th-century American Episcopal priests Scottish emigrants to the United States Bryn Mawr College faculty University of Southern California faculty 20th-century American Protestant theologians Writers from Dundee Writers from Edinburgh