THE famous philosopher of religion, Professor Alvin Plantinga of the University of Notre Dame, began the 2005 Gifford Lectures yesterday when he gave his first talk on the subject ‘Evolution and Design.’

Plantinga is well known around the intellectual world as perhaps the foremost philosophical proponent of Christianity, especially his free will defence in response to John Mackie’s logical argument on the problem of evil as well as his use of ontological argument using modal logic.

“Professor Plantinga is arguably the most distinguished philosopher of religion alive today,” said Alan Torrance, the beloved Professor of Systematic Theology in St. Mary’s College here in St Andrews.

“In addition to his level of distinction,” Torrance continued, “he is devoting the final years of his academic career to completing the particularly significant research he has undertaken on the relationship between religion and science. Professor Plantinga is a uniquely gifted and entertaining public lecturer who peppers rigorous yet lucid analysis with amusing references and aside.’

The distinguished Gifford Lectures were established in the 1880’s, endowed by the will of Adam Lord Gifford to “promote and diffuse the study of natural theology in the widest sense of the term – in other words, the knowledge of God.” They are shared among the four ancient universities in Scotland: our own St Andrews, as well as Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen.

Lord Gifford also endowed the Gifford Research Fellow at St. Mary’s College in St Andrews; the post is currently held by Dr. John Lamont.

A number of past Gifford lectures have proved quite notable, including William James on ‘The Varieties of Religious Experience’ in 1901-02, Albert Schweitzer’s ‘The Quest for the Historical Jesus’ in 1908, and Alfred North Whitehead’s 1927 ‘Process and Reality’. Other Gifford lecturers include Reinhold Niebuhr, Dame Iris Murdoch, and, in 2001, Stanley Hauerwas.

The lectures will be held in School III of St. Salvator’s Quadrangle at 5.15pm on the following dates: April 12, 14, 19, 21, 26, 28, May 3, and 5.