The ‘Pantonian Professorship of Divinity’ is the legacy of Miss Kathryn Panton of Fraserburgh, who initiated trust deeds for the endowment of a ‘Theological Institute’ and a ‘Professor of Divinity’ in 1810. The Theological Institute has undergone many iterations, including Glenalmond College, Edinburgh Theological College (Coates Hall), the Theological Institute of the Scottish Episcopal Church and, now, the Scottish Episcopal Institute. The Professorship of Divinity has waxed and waned in those iterations, eventually taking Kathryn’s surname as its prefix. Among the requirements for the Professor is to give lectures to theological students. The SEI honours Miss Panton’s generosity with an Annual Lecture in her name by the Professor. The Professor from July 2023 is the Rev Canon Dr Michael Hull.
Pantonian Lecture 2025: The Holy Spirit in the Nicene Creeds
The Holy Spirit is given short shrift in the original Nicene Creed (325). Whilst belief in the Holy Spirit is surely affirmed in it, little is said of the Holy Spirit in comparison to what is said of the Father and the Son. Moreover, the Nicæno-Constantinopolitan Creed (381), the Nicene Creed we normally recite on Sundays at the Holy Eucharist, says much more insofar as it expands its words on the Holy Spirit from an original five to twenty-eight in Greek. This Lecture, first, casts into relief credal articulations of belief in the Son to illustrate their impact on articulations of belief in the Holy Spirit in the earlier and later Nicene Creeds to show, second, that the expanded articulation of belief in the Holy Spirit – credalised in 381 yet dormant in 325 – set the sails for Pneumatology as we have it today.
The Lecture will be delivered via Zoom as the ‘O Antiphons’ commence on Wednesday 17 December 2025 at 5pm GMT.
Online via Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84018604233?pwd=rZa39XbGlEbtUSVypx3MrotFj7dLu1.1
View meeting insights with Zoom AI Companion:
https://us02web.zoom.us/launch/edl?muid=cf1d406d-ddb8-4293-896d-0ce0651d32ad
Pantonian Lecture 2024:‘Lead us not into temptation’: On translating the Lord’s Prayer
This Lecture exposes temptations to distort Holy Scripture in translation and claims the literal sense as the sine qua non for authentic translation with reference to the Lord’s Prayer, especially Matt. 6.13 and Lk. 11.4. The Lord’s Prayer, indeed, all texts, biblical or otherwise, should be translated accurately and without prejudice insofar as possible, no matter how confounding or confusing we may find those texts to be, even in translation. We should resist the temptation to polish, to smooth the putative rough edges, of the original text of the Holy Scriptures in translation, not only as hubris, but as a sin against Holy Spirit (Matt. 12.31).
The Lecture was delivered at St Vincent’s Chapel, Edinburgh, on St Ternan’s Day, Wednesday 12 June 2024. Resources to accompany the Lecture can be found here.
Pantonian Lecture 2023: St Jerome and the Quest for the Holy Word
The quest for the Holy Word, or the Divine Logos, is primarily the quest for a Person, Jesus Christ, in the mystery of God, for Jesus is Revelation Himself; and secondarily it is the quest for the texts that embody God’s own words and deeds. God speaks to us distinctively in the Holy Scriptures. Translations of the Holy Scriptures into other tongues are a boon of utility rather than betrayal of meaning. Jerome’s quest for the Holy Word is a model for our continuing ministerial development insofar as Jerome sought to share Christ with others. Jerome sought to make Christ known by means of his talents, and we are called to do the same, even if our talents lie elsewhere.
This Lecture, Prof Hull’s Inaugural Lecture as Pantonian Professor of Divinity, was delivered on St Jerome’s Day, Saturday 30 September 2023, at St Mary’s Monastery, Kinnoull, Perth.
