In 1928, Miss Edith Zweybruck established the Foerster Lectureship to honor the memory of her sister Agnes A. Foerster and her brother-in-law Constantine E. A. Foerster. Miss Zweybruck requested that lectures be given "on the immortality of the soul or other kindred subjects. Such lecture is not to form a part of the regular college course and shall be delivered by some person especially qualified therefore and especially appointed for the purpose."

TitleLecturerYear
On Uncertainty: Wittgenstein: Habits of Thought and Thoughts of Habit Jane Taylor2019
Souls in Other Selves, and the Immortality of the Body Marilyn Strathern2018
Embodied Souls — Lessons from Neurology V.S. Ramachandran2016
Immortality of the Soul – An Ancient Egyptian Invention? Jan Assmann2015
A Neanderthal Perspective on Human Origins Svante Pääbo2014
Considering Dogs Alexandra Horowitz2013
The Quest for Heaven is Local: How Spiritual Experience is Shaped by Social Life Tanya Luhrmann2013
Happiness and Ultimate Good Peter Singer2012
A Passion for Waiting: Messianism, History, and the Jews Leon Wieseltier2012
From Salvation to Spirituality Susumu Shimazono2010
Explaining Transformation: Material Miracles and Their Theorists in the Later Middle Ages Carolyn Walker Bynum2009
God’s Problem and Human Solutions: How the Bible Explains Suffering Bart Ehrman2008
Thinking about Religion, Belief, and Politics Talal Asad2008
The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach Christof Koch2006
Equal Liberty of Conscience: Roger Williams and the Roots of a Constitutional Tradition Martha Nussbaum2006
The Soul of Brutes: A Sixteenth Century Debate Carlo Ginzburg2004
Being No One: Consciousness, the Phenomenal Self, and the First-Person Perspective Thomas Metzinger2004
Trobriand Rebirth and the Fate of the Soul: An Old Debate Revisited Gananath Obeyesekere2003
The Hope of Heaven: A Spiritual Universe Robert Merrihew Adams2002
Body and Soul in Plato and Descartes Sarah Broadie2000
The Place of Consciousness Robert Nozick1998
Composing Life after Death Jonathan Harvey1998
Virtue, Deed and Word – Confucian Paths to Immortality Tu Weiming1996
Awakenings Revisited Oliver Sacks1994
Sacrifice, Surplus and the Soul Romila Thapar1992
Heaven Is No Holiday – Eternal Life in the View of the Sufis and of Muhammad Iqbal Annemarie Schimmel1991
Physical Theory, Brain Theory, Theories of Everything Gerald Edelman1989
Christian Platonism Henry Chadwick1987
How to Become Immortal without Really Trying: Taoism and the Nature of Ritual Kristofer M. Schipper1985
Ancient Near Eastern Concepts of Life after Death: A Background of the Judeo-Christian Tradition Wilfred Lambert1984
The Immortality of the Soul Among North American Indians Ake Hultkranz1983
Former Lives, or the Man Who Met the People in His Dream Wendy O'Flaherty1982
Personality Post-Mortem: Psychological States Attributed to the Deceased George Devereux1981
The Spirituality of Man’s Nature Elizabeth Anscombe1979
Mortal Neurons, Immortal Monads Jerome Y. Lettvin1979
Ancient Egyptian Ideas on the Reunion of Soul and Body Erik Hornung1978
The Soul and the Land of the Dead: South Asian Views Christoph von Furer-Haimendorf1978
Reflections on Science and Human Rationality Stefan Amerdamski1976
Does Knowledge Grow? Thomas S. Kuhn1976
Space as an Image of Time Rudolf Arnheim1975
Computers and the Mind Seymour Papert1973
The Makropoulos Case Bernard A. Williams1972
Participatory Evolution, the Drive of Creation Charles Birch1971
The Brain and the Soul Sir John C. Eccles1969
The Biology of Dreaming as an Approach to the Mind Michel Jouvet1969
Eternal Life and Social Action Now James A. Pike1963
Mind Fossils, Human Culture, and Eternity Loren C. Eiseley1962
The Meaning of Resurrection Jacques Courvoisier1961
Symbols of Eternal Life Paul J. Tillich,1960
Matter, Mind, and the Question of Survival Aldous Huxley1960
Platonic Trends in Christian Thought and Mysticism Paul Henry1956
Immortality H. J. Paton1955
Human Personality and the Possibility of Its Survival C. D. Broad1954
The Teaching of Immortality in Buddhism G. P. Malalasekera1953
Pantheism and Personal Immortality Radoslav A. Tsanoff1951
The Hindu View of Eternal Life T. M. P. Mahadevan1949
Is a Future Life Possible? Curt John Ducasse1947
Immortality and Fulfillment Edward Lambe Parsons1945
Imagination and Immortality Arthur Cushman McGiffert1944
The Human Soul and the Cosmic Mind William Pepperell Montague1943
Immortality: The Relativity of Death William Ernest Hocking1942
Earliest Traces of the Belief in Our Civilization Axel W. Persson1941
The Immortality of the Soul in Greek Religion and Philosophy Martin P. Nilsson1940
The Spiritual Character of Man and Its Relation to the Philosophy of Politics Fulton J. Sheen1938
The Belief in Immortality and the Triumph of Christianity Henri Grégoire1938
The Hope of Immortality Douglas Clyde McIntosh1937
The Experience of Immortality Harold E. B. Speight1936
The Premises of Our Faith in Immortality Willard Learoy Sperry1935
The Life of the Spirit Walter Goodnow Everett1934
The Meaning of Death Ralph Barton Perry1933