Geddes MacGregor
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox academic
| honorific_prefix =
| name = John Geddes MacGregor
| honorific_suffix =
| image =
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1909|11|13|df=y}}
| birth_place = Glasgow, Scotland
| death_date = {{death date and age|1998|10|09|1909|11|13|df=y}}{{cite news |last1=Anonymous |title=George W. Leisz; Former Head of Aerojet |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-oct-19-mn-34074-story.html |access-date=25 September 2019 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=19 October 1998}}
| death_place = Los Angeles
| death_cause =
| region =
| nationality = British
| citizenship = United States (naturalized in 1957)
| residence =
| other_names =
| occupation = Professor of philosophy
| period =
| known_for =
| home_town =
| title =
| boards =
| spouse = Elizabeth Sutherland McAllister
| partner =
| children = Marie Geddes (born 1944), Martin Gregor Geddes (born 1946)
| parents =
| relatives =
| awards =
| website =
| education =
| alma_mater = University of Edinburgh (New College); University of Oxford (Queen's College)
| thesis_title =
| thesis_url =
| thesis_year =
| school_tradition =
| doctoral_advisor = Austin Farrer
| academic_advisors =
| influences =
| era =
| discipline =
| sub_discipline =
| workplaces = Bryn Mawr College, University of Southern California
| doctoral_students =
| notable_students =
| main_interests =
| notable_works =
| notable_ideas =
| influenced =
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| signature_size =
| footnotes =
}}
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, Scotland in 1909, and his early life was spent in Edinburgh, Dundee, and in continental Europe.
MacGregor received a Bachelor of Divinity degree from the University of Edinburgh (BD, 1939).
He later received a Bachelor of Laws from University of Edinburgh, New College (LLB, 1943), and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Oxford (DPhil, 1945, supervised by Austin Farrer).
For published work, he received a Doctorat ès lettres from the University of Paris (Dr ès l, 1951, Summa Cum Laude), and a Doctor of Divinity from University of Oxford (DD, 1959).
In 1978 he received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (LHD) degree from Hebrew Union College.
MacGregor was raised Presbyterian, but as a young man in Edinburgh 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. In 1968, while in the United States, he was ordained deacon and priest in the Episcopal Church.{{cite journal |last1=Campbell |first1=Allan W. |title=Professor Geddes MacGregor [Obituary] |journal=The Scotsman |date=October 29, 1998 |page=22 |issn=0307-5850 |location=Edinburgh, United Kingdom}} A few days after his Episcopal ordainment, he was named canon of Saint Paul's Cathedral in Los Angeles.{{cite news |last1=Anonymous |title=USC Aide Ordained as Episcopal Priest; Dr. MacGregor Also Appointed Canon of St. Paul's Cathedral; Will Preach Sunday |work=Los Angeles Times |page=16 (Part I) |date=30 November 1968}}
From 1949 to 1955 MacGregor served as the first Rufus Jones Professor of philosophy and religion at Bryn Mawr College.{{cite web |last1=Dostal |first1=Robert |title=History of the Department |url=https://www.brynmawr.edu/philosophy/history |website=www.brynmawr.edu |publisher=Bryn Mawr College |access-date=25 September 2019}}
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, where he taught until 1975, having been appointed Distinguished Professor in 1966.{{cite journal |last1=Family of John Geddes MacGregor |title=John Geddes MacGregor, 1909-1998 |journal=Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association |date=2000 |volume=74 |issue=2 |pages=113–114 |issn=0065-972X|jstor=3219692 }}
MacGregor has been described as "one of the most distinguished Christian theologians to defend the reincarnation concept."{{cite book |last1=McClelland |first1=Norman C. |title=Encyclopedia of Reincarnation and Karma |date=2010 |publisher=McFarland |location=Jefferson, NC |isbn=978-0-7864-4851-7 |page=162 |url=https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Reincarnation-Karma-Norman-McClelland-ebook/dp/B06WGMT2CS/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_1?keywords=mclelland+encyclopedia+of+reincarnation&link_code=qs&qid=1571636333&sourceid=Mozilla-search&sr=8-1-fkmr2#reader_B06WGMT2CS |language=en |chapter=MacGregor, Geddes |oclc=770861087}}
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.{{cite news |last1=Anonymous |title=Professor at USC to be Yale Fellow |work=Los Angeles Times |page=B6 |date=29 April 1967}}{{cite book |last1=MacGregor |first1=Geddes |title=The hemlock and the cross: humanism, Socrates, and Christ. |date=1963 |publisher=Lippincott |location=Philadelphia |oclc=1021301854 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iksOAQAAIAAJ |language=en}}
Family life
MacGregor married Elizabeth Sutherland McAllister on August 14, 1941, at St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh.{{cite book |last1=Reginald |first1=R. |title=Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature Vol 2 |date=1979 |publisher=Wildside Press LLC |isbn=9780941028776 |pages=984–985 |chapter=Geddes MacGregor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L25ycEzuXxIC |language=en}}{{rp|984}}{{rp|114}}
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. [https://books.google.com/books?id=N6c_0yC3cVkC&q Description.] Paragon House, New York. {{ISBN|1-55778-441-8}}
- {{cite book |last1=MacGregor |first1=Geddes |title=The Nicene creed, illumined by modern thought |date=1980 |publisher=Eerdmans |location=Grand Rapids |isbn=0802818552 |oclc=1056603736 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N6c_0yC3cVkC |language=en}}
- {{cite book |last1=MacGregor |first1=Geddes |title=Scotland, an intimate portrait |date=1980 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |location=Boston |isbn=9780395562369 |oclc=229200688 |language=en |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/scotlandintimate00macg }}
- Also published as: {{cite book |last1=MacGregor |first1=Geddes |title=Scotland forever home: an introduction to the Homeland for American and other Scots |date=1980 |publisher=Dodd, Mead |isbn=9780396078043 |oclc=5706550 |language=en |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/scotlandforeverh00macg }}
- {{cite book |last1=MacGregor |first1=Geddes |title=Reincarnation in Christianity: a new vision of the role of rebirth in Christian thought |date=1978 |publisher=Theosophical Publishing House |location=Wheaton, Illinois |isbn=9780835605045 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k6gYHu1bRGwC |oclc=3345339 |language=en}}
- {{cite book |last1=MacGregor |first1=Geddes |title=A literary history of the Bible: from the Middle Ages to the present day |date=1968 |publisher=Abingdon Press |location=Nashville |oclc=1089517366 |language=en}}
- {{cite book |last1=MacGregor |first1=Geddes |title=God beyond doubt: an essay in the philosophy of religion |date=1966 |publisher=Lippincott |oclc=378785 |language=en}}
- {{cite book |last1=MacGregor |first1=Geddes |title=The hemlock and the cross: Humanism, Socrates, and Christ. |date=1963 |publisher=Lippincott |location=Philadelphia |oclc=1021301854 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iksOAQAAIAAJ |language=en}}
=Speculative=
MacGregor stated in 1979 that he wrote only one "speculative novel":{{rp|985}}
- {{cite book |last1=MacGregor |first1=Geddes |title=From a Christian Ghetto: Letters of Ghostly Wit, Written A.D. 2453 |date=1954 |publisher=Longmans, Green |location=London, New York |oclc=2772825 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lw84vQEACAAJ&q=geddes+macgregor+from+a+christian+ghetto |language=en}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Internet Archive author |sname=Geddes MacGregor}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:MacGregor, John Geddes}}
Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Category:Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford
Category:20th-century Scottish theologians
Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States
Category:20th-century American Episcopal priests
Category:Scottish emigrants to the United States
Category:Bryn Mawr College faculty
Category:University of Southern California faculty