John Geddes MacGregor (13 Nov. 1909–9 Oct. 1998)[1] was an author, scholar of philosophy, educator, and an ordained Episcopal priest.
John Geddes MacGregor | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 9 October 1998[1] | (aged 88)
Nationality | British |
Citizenship | United States (naturalized in 1957) |
Occupation | Professor of philosophy |
Spouse | Elizabeth Sutherland McAllister |
Children | Marie Geddes (born 1944), Martin Gregor Geddes (born 1946) |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | University of Edinburgh (New College); University of Oxford (Queen's College) |
Doctoral advisor | Austin Farrer |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Bryn Mawr College, University of Southern California |
MacGregor was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1909, and his early life was spent in Edinburgh, Dundee, and in continental Europe.[2]
MacGregor received a Bachelor of Divinity degree from the University of Edinburgh (BD, 1939).[3][2][4] He later received a Bachelor of Laws from University of Edinburgh, New College (LLB, 1943),[4] and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Oxford (DPhil, 1945, supervised by Austin Farrer).[4][3] 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).[2][4] In 1978 he received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (LHD) degree from Hebrew Union College.[2]
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.[3] Later, after receiving his BD degree in Edinburgh in 1939, MacGregor was ordained to the ministry in the Church of Scotland.[2] In 1968, while in the United States, he was ordained deacon and priest in the Episcopal Church.[3] A few days after his Episcopal ordainment, he was named canon of Saint Paul's Cathedral in Los Angeles.[5]
From 1949 to 1955 MacGregor served as the first Rufus Jones Professor of philosophy and religion at Bryn Mawr College.[6] In 1957, he became an American citizen.[3] 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.[2][6]
MacGregor has been described as "one of the most distinguished Christian theologians to defend the reincarnation concept."[7]
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.[8][9]
MacGregor married Elizabeth Sutherland McAllister on August 14, 1941, at St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh.[4]: 984 [2]: 114 They had two children together, Marie Geddes (born 1944) and Martin Gregor Geddes (born 1946); Elizabeth predeceased her husband in 1994.[4][2]
MacGregor stated in 1979 that he wrote only one "speculative novel":[4]: 985