John Haught, Ph.D.
2008 D’Angelo Endowed Chair
John Haught, Ph.D., was the first person to hold the Peter and
Margaret D’Angelo Endowed Chair for the Humanities at St. John’s
University.
A Professor of Science and Religion at the Woodstock Theological
Center, Georgetown University, Dr. Haught spent the fall 2008
semester at St. John’s. In addition to teaching Philosophy 2320:
Science and Religion, he delivered a public lecture entitled
“Science, Religion and the Quest for Cosmic Purpose,” on October 16
at the Queens campus. On November 18, he delivered a lecture at the
Staten Island campus entitled “Science, Faith and the New
Atheism.”
Dr. Haught delivered two other lectures as well: “Einstein,
Religion and God” and “Is Nature Enough? Meaning and Truth in the
Age of Science.”
“It is hard to imagine how we could have had a more worthy or
successful person to be the first occupant of the D’Angelo Chair,”
said Paul Gaffney, Ph.D., Chairperson of the Philosophy Department.
“We have rarely if ever been privileged to have a person in our
College who combines such academic achievement and expertise with
such personal and pedagogical virtues,” said Dr. Gaffney. “ He [Dr.
Haught] represents the core values of our institution very well,
and many of us remarked how we members of the faculty could learn a
good lesson from his example.”