Cambridge Alumni Festival: Remembering John Neville Figgis Lecture

Figgis, was one of the figures associated with St Catharine’s in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who made a notable contribution to the nation’s intellectual life.  

Following a stellar undergraduate career, he published a prize-winning essay on The Divine Right of Kings that, together with his later work, From Gerson to Grotius, was to make a lasting mark on the history of political thought.  Ordained as a priest in 1895, he published prolifically in theology as well as history, and three times gave lectures in the United States. 

After being received into the Community of the Resurrection at Mirfield in 1907, he continued to return to St Catharine’s to teach and dine and was made an Honorary Fellow in 1909.  In advocating the devolution of power to units smaller than the nation-state, Figgis became a prominent participant in contemporary political debate; he has been described as “the leading pluralist of the early twentieth century.”  

The  venue will be the Ramsden Room, St Catharine’s College, where there will be a small exhibition of the materials relating to Figgis in the College Library.

The event will commence at 11 a.m. (with coffee available from 10.30.)

There will be two speakers:

Dr John Thompson will give an introductory talk on Figgis’ life and work, and his place in the history of St Catharine’s.

Professor Mark Goldie will give a lecture on “John Neville Figgis and the History of Political Thought”.

For further details and events in the Cambridge Alumni Festival 2019, please click here.