The prestigious Gifford Lectureships were established by Adam Lord Gifford (1820 - 1887), a senator of the College of Justice in Scotland. The purpose of his bequest to the universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, St Andrews and Aberdeen was to sponsor lectures to "promote and diffuse the study of Natural Theology in the widest sense of the term - in other words, the knowledge of God". Since the first lecture in 1888, Gifford Lecturers have been recognized as pre-eminent thinkers in their respective fields.