Gates Lectures were established in 1913 by faculty, alumni, and friends of Grinnell College in memory of the college's second president, George A. Gates "to bring to the campus the very best of modern thought." Gates was president from 1887-1900 and died in 1912.
| 2008 | Juan Cole (P. Mitchell Distinguished University Professor of History at the University of Michigan) Obstacles to Democracy in the Middle East |
| 2007 | Anne E. Monius (Professor of South Asian Religions, Harvard University) Humor and Salvation?: The Aesthetics of Religious Identity in Medieval South India |
| 2006 | Catherine Bell (Bernard J. Hanley Professor, Santa Clara University) Religion: Conventional Models, Unintended Consequences |
| 2005 | Stanley M. Hauerwas (Gilbert T. Rowe, Professor of Theological Ethics, Divinity School of Duke University) No One Wants to Die in America |
| 2004 | Robert Orsi (Charles Warren Professor of the History of Religion in America, Harvard Divinity School) Passionate Citizens: Catholics and American Democracy |
| 2002 | Jonathan Z. Smith (Robert O. Anderson Distinguished Service Professor of the Humaniteis, University of Chicago) Here, There, and Anywhere: Generalizing Ancient Religions and God Save This Honourable Court: Religion and Civic Discourse. 2002 |
| | More 2002 details |
| 2001 | Daniel Boyarin (Professor of Talmudic Studies, University of California at Berkeley and Berlin Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin) The Prologue to John as a Jewish Sermon and Shattering the Logos: A Midrashic Genealogy. |
| 2000 | Diana Eck (Professor of Religious Studies, Harvard Divinity School) Pluralism, the University, and the New Religious Landscape of America and The New Religious America: Public Issues for a New Era. |
| 1999 | Sharon Welch (Professor of Religious Studies, University of Missouri, Columbia) 'Lush Life': Reflections on Jazz, Spirituality and Social Change and Sweet Dreams in America: Challenges of Multicultural Education. |
1998
| Dr. Barbara Rosenow von Schlegell, April. (Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania), Hagar, Mother of Islam, and the Abrahamic Presence in Mecca, and Feminism, Fundamentalism, and Islamic Mysticism in the Modern Middle East. |
| 1998 | John Dominic Crossan., October (Professor Emeritus, Department of Religion, DePaul University) Method and History: How Do You Construct the Historical Jesus? and History and Faith: Why Do You Reconstruct the Historical Jesus? |
| 1996 | Dr. Marcia Falk. (A university professor for many years, she now lectures widely and is one of Judaism's foremost poets, translators, and scholars), Spirituality and Sensuality in the Voices of Jewish Women, and The Book of Blessings: A Feminist Approach to Jewish Prayer. |
| 1995 | Associate Professor Katie G. Cannon. (Associate Professor of Religion, in the College of Arts and Sciences, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), A Taste of Paradise: Womanist Norms for Emancipatory Praxis, and Black Women's Literature as Sacred Text. |
| 1994 | Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, April. (University Professor of Islamic Studies at George Washington University, Washington, D.C.), Contemporary Islam, and Islam and the Environment. |
| 1994 | Professor Carter Heyward, October. (Howard Chandler Robbins Professor of Theology at Episcopal Theological Seminary, Cambridge, Massachusetts), What is Feminist Liberation Theology? and Sex, Spirit, and Power in Feminist Liberation Theological Perspective. |
| 1992 | Professor Paul B. Courtright. (Professor of the History of Religions at Emory University), Colonial Knowledge, and The Horrors of Perfection |
| 1991 | Professor H. Byron Earhart. (Professor of Religion at Western Michigan University), An Inside View of Japanese Religion: The Healing Power of Ancestors and Gods, and Fuji: Sacred Mountain of Japan |
| 1990 | Professor Riffat Hassan. (Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Louisville), Trialogue of the Abrahamic Faiths: Problems and Possibilities and Women in the Islamic Tradition |
| 1989 | William Sloane Coffin, Jr. (President, SANE/FREEZE), Spirituality and Politics and Disarmament, Social Justice and the Environment |
| 1988 | John Hick |
| 1987 | Gordon D. Kaufman. (Mallinckrodt Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School), Nuclear Eschatology and Reconceiving God for a Nuclear Age |
| 1986 | Phyllis Trible, March. (Baldwin Professor of Sacred Literature Union Theological Seminary, New York City), Feminism and Biblical Faith and Eve and Adam: The Garden Revisited |
| 1986 | Edwin Scott Gaustad, September. (Professor of History at the University of California, Riverside), Religion, the Constitution, and the Founding Fathers and The Enlightenment Religion |
| 1985 | Paul van Buren |
| 1984 | Professor Fazlur Rahman. (Professor of Islamic Thought at the University of Chicago), Religion in Today's World: Brokenness and Healing--A Muslim View |
| 1984 | Professor Seymour Siegel. (Ralph Simon Professor of Theology and Ethics at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America), Religion in Today's World: Brokenness and Healing--A Jewish View |
| 1984 | Professor Martin Marty. (Fairfax Cone Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Modern Christianity at the University of Chicago), Christ's Sword and Christ's Peace |
| 1982 | Rosemary R. Ruether, February. (Georgia Harkness Professor of Theology Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary), Conflict in the Church |
| 1982 | Arthur Green, September. (Associate Professor of Religion University of Pennsylvania), Gershom Scholem and his Legacy for the History of Judaism and The kabbalist as Symbolmaker |
| 1980 | Dr. Robert A. F. Thurman. (Amherst College), Emptiness: The Buddha's Miracle Medicine and The Bodhisattvas' Great Compassion: Celebration of Magnificence |
| 1979 | Dr. Vine Deloria. The Need for a Planetary History and American Indian Contributions Toward a Planetary History. |
| 1978 | Dr. Christine Downing. (San Diego State University), Religion, Myth, and the Psyche |
| 1977 | Dr. Robert McAfee Brown. (Union Theological Seminary, New York City), Theology in a New Key |
| 1976 | Professor Maurice Friedman. (San Diego State University), The Hidden Human Image & Touchstones of Reality |
| 1975 | Dr. William R. Jones. (Yale Divinity School), Secular Humanism as Religion |
| 1974 | Mary Daly. (Professor of Philosophy, Boston College), Feminist Futurism: The Qualitative Leap |
| 1973 | Isma'il R. al Faruqi, Heart of Islam. |
| 1972 | Dr. Emil L. Fackenheim |
| 1971/72 | Dr. Michael Novak. The Meaning of Education |
| 1970/71 | Dr. Huston Smith. (Professor of Philosophy, MIT), Tao Now: An Ecological Testament |
| 1969 | Rabbi Richard L. Rubenstein. Religion After the Death of God |
| 1968 | Dr. B. Davie Napier. (Professor of Religion, Stanford University), On New Creation |
| 1967 | Dr. Ninian Smart. (Professor of Theology, University of Birmingham, England), The Social Creativity Theory of Free Will |
| 1966 | Professor Ernan McMullin |
| 1965 | Professor John Smith. (Department of Philosophy, Yale) |
| 1964 | Dr. Samuel H. Miller. (Dean, Harvard Divinity School), Images of State |
| 1963 | Rollo May, March. |
| 1963 | Nathaniel Lawrence, November. (Williams College), An Anatomy of Time |
| 1962 | Dr. John Wild. (Northwestern), Existence & the World of Freedom |
| 1961 | Rollo May cancelled because of illness |
| 1960 | Dr. J. V. Langmead Casserley. Revelation & the Philosophy of History |
| 1959 | Paul Weiss. (Professor of Philosophy, Yale) |
| 1958 | Albert C. Outler |
| 1957 | E. Harris Harbison |
| 1956 | Theodore M. Greene. (Scripps College), The Crucial Problem of Our Times |
| 1955 | Dr. Joseph Sittler. (Chicago Lutheran Theological Seminary), Structure of Christian Ethics |
| 1954 | Joseph Haroutounian |
| 1953 | Dr. J. Richard Sneed. (First Methodist Church, Los Angeles), Convictions for Times of Confusion |
| 1952 | Ronald Bridges. Some Aspects of Truth |
| 1951 | Dr. Samuel E. Stumpf. (Vanderbilt University) |
| 1950 | Nels Ferre |
| 1949 | Dr. Georgia Harkness. Our Faith in God |
| 1948 | Dr. Archibald T. Davison. (Harvard University), The Place of Music in Worship |
| 1947 | Allen G. Wehrli. (Eden Theological Seminary), Religion Discovering the Individual |
| 1946 | Dr. Arnold Nash. (McCormick Seminary, Chicago), Christian Thought in the College World of Today |
| 1945 | Dr. Harold A. Ehrensperger. (Nashville, Tennessee), Drama & Religion |
| 1944 | Reverend Paul E. Scherer. (Evangelical Lutheran Church Holy Trinity, New York City), The God Who Would Be Man |
| 1943 | Reverend Harold C. Phillips. (First Baptist Church, Cleveland), Life's Unanswered Questions |
| 1942 | John Coleman Bennett |
| 1941 | Reverend Bernard Iddings Bell. (Episcopalian Clergyman & Lecturer, New York City), Christian Convictions in a World of Strain |
| 1940 | Reverend Henry Hitt Crane. (Central Methodist Church, Detroit), The Christian in the Modern World |
| 1939 | Halford E. Luccock. (Yale Divinity School), American Mirror; Ethical & Religious Aspects of American Literature, 1929-39 |
| 1938 | Reverend Albert Edward Day. (First Methodist Episcopal Church, Pasadina, California), Utopian Dreams & Kingdom Realities |
| 1937 | Professor Edward Scribner Ames. (Divinity School, Chicago University), This Human Life |
| 1936 | Reverend George A. Buttrick. (Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York City), Christ & the Changing World |
| 1935 | Dr. John Haynes Holmes. (Community Church, New York City), Protestantism, Capitalism & the Future |
| 1934 | Dr. Ernest Fremont Tittle. (First Methodist Church, Evanston, Illinois), Tensions in Religion |
| 1933 | Wilhelm Pauck |
| 1932 | Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr. (Union Theological Seminary, New York), The Christian Religion in an Industrial Civilization |
| 1931 | Dr. Harry F. Ward. (Professor of Christian Ethics, Union Theological Seminary, New York), The Demand of Contemporary Civilization upon Religion |
| 1930 | Dr. Raymond Cummings Brooks |
| 1929 | Rufus Jones |
| 1928 | Reverend Charles Whitney Gilkey. (Hyde Park Baptist Church, Chicago), The Compass of the Christian Gospel |
| 1927 | Bishop F. R. McConnell. (Pittsburgh) |
| 1926 | Dr. Naboth Osborne. (Burlington) |
| 1925 | Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick. (Union Theological Seminary, New York) |
| 1924 | Dean Willard R. Sperry. (Harvard Theological School), Applied Christianity |
| 1923 | Professor Shailer Mathews. (Chicago University) Social Aspects of Christian Doctrine |
| 1922 | Reverend Carl S. Patton. (Los Angeles, California) Christ in the World Today |
| 1921 | Henry Churchill King. (President, Oberlin College), Christ in the New World |
| 1920 | Professor F. H. Giddings. Our Inherited Social Order |
| 1919 | |
| 1918 | |
| 1917 | Professor George Albert Coe. Religious Education & the Social Problem |
| 1916 | Professor Edward A. Ross. (Professor of Political Economy, University of Wisconsin), Undercurrents in American Society |
| 1915 | Dr. Charles E. Jefferson. (Broadway Tabernacle Church, New York City), Christianity & International Peace |
| 1914 | Walter Rauschenbusch |
| 1913 | Hugh Black |
| 1913 | Theodore G. Soares |
