John Edmund Hare was born 26 July 1949 the son of British utilitarian philosopher and Oxford professor R. M. Hare. Dr. Hare is a classicist ethicist and currently Noah Porter Professor of Philosophical Theology at Yale Divinity School.
Professor Hare received BA honours in Literae Humaniores from Balliol College Oxford in 1971 and then completed the PhD program in classical philosophy at Princeton University. Prior to teaching at Yale he taught at Calvin College and at Lehigh University. He has been visiting fellow in the humanities at the Medical College of Pennsylvania and visiting assistant professor at the University of Michigan. Additionally he has been a Congressional Fellow of the American Philosophical Association and staff associate for the House Foreign Affairs Committee of the United States House of Representatives. Professor Hare has held the senior fellowship at the Center for Philosophy of Religion and Erasmus Institute at the University of Notre Dame.
Among his many writings are the following books: Why Bother Being Good (2002) God’s Call (2001) The Moral Gap (1997) Ethics and International Affairs (with Carey B. Joynt) (1982) and Plato’s Euthyphro (1981). He has authored numerous articles book reviews and papers.
Professor Hare has created an ethical theory integrating Kantian deontological ethics with utilitarian consequentialism. His philosophy is specifically Christian and includes elements of divine command theory. He argues that God’s assistance is necessary to meet the moral demand of which God is the source. His interests include ancient philosophy medieval Franciscan philosophy Kant Kierkegaard contemporary ethical theory the theory of the atonement medical ethics international relations and aesthetics.
In addition to being the Gifford Lecturer (2005) he has been the Calvin Lecturer (1999–2000) and the Stob Lecturer (1999). In 1997 Dr. Hare was the recipient of the Institute for Advanced Christian Studies Book Prize; in 1991–1992 he received the Pew Evangelical Fellowship. He received the Junior Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching (1981) and was elected an honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa (1979).
