| John Geddes MacGregor | |
| Birth Date: | 13 November 1909 |
| Birth Place: | Glasgow, Scotland |
| Death Date: | [1] |
| Death Place: | Los Angeles |
| 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) |
| Alma Mater: | University of Edinburgh (New College); University of Oxford (Queen's College) |
| Doctoral Advisor: | Austin Farrer |
| Workplaces: | Bryn Mawr College, University of Southern California |
John Geddes MacGregor (13 Nov. 1909–9 Oct. 1998)[1] was an author, scholar of philosophy, educator, and an ordained Episcopal priest.
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.[2] A few days after his Episcopal ordainment, he was named canon of Saint Paul's Cathedral in Los Angeles.[3]
From 1949 to 1955 MacGregor served as the first Rufus Jones Professor of philosophy and religion at Bryn Mawr College.[4] In 1957, he became an American citizen.[2] 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.[5] [4]
MacGregor has been described as "one of the most distinguished Christian theologians to defend the reincarnation concept."[6]
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.[7] [8]
MacGregor married Elizabeth Sutherland McAllister on August 14, 1941, at St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh.[9] [5] They had two children together, Marie Geddes (born 1944) and Martin Gregor Geddes (born 1946); Elizabeth predeceased her husband in 1994.[9] [5]
MacGregor stated in 1979 that he wrote only one "speculative novel":[9]