conferences

Scholarship and the Sovereignty of Love: In Conversation with Oliver O'Donovan

Friday 6th June 2025, 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM

A one-day conference for post-docs and faculty, held at Yarnton Manor. DCM is co-sponsoring this conference with the Global Faculty Initiative, the Oxford Pastorate, and Yarnton Manor.

This workshop for faculty is part of a Dialogue on Faith and Scholarship initiative by the Global Faculty Initiative, a network of 180+ Christian professors in secular universities on six continents. Eminent theologian, Oliver O’Donovan, follows his Theology Brief Preview and GFI responses with a Theology Brief on Love. This workshop is a first reading and set of responses to the Brief by disciplinary scholars from diverse faculties of the university. The workshop seeks to discern O’Donovan’s evocative new thought on this core Christian doctrine and to consider informally and collaboratively how it may reach to scholarship, the university, wider academic life, and into the wider culture and society. The event will be convened by Terry Halliday, Tom Simpson and Donald Hay.

Please follow this link for more information and to reserve your place at the conference. For a ticket access code, email admin@dcmoxford.org. Please note that registrations are subject to confirmation by the event organisers.

Developing a Christian Mind: CHRISTIANITY & THE LIFE OF THE MIND, AN INTRODUCTiON

Fri 7 - Sat 8 February 2025

What does our calling to be disciples of Christ mean for our academic life, whether temporary as students or longer term as a career? What are some of the promises and pitfalls of the scholarly life? How can academics and postgraduate students serve and relate to the wider body of Christ, the Church? Considering these questions is a matter of Christian discipleship for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and academics.

DEVELOPING A CHRISTIAN MIND: SEEKING WISDOM

Fri 21 – Sat 22 March 2025

How can postgraduates, postdocs, and academics at the University of Oxford approach their academic disciplines as Christians? What does it mean to respond to a Christian vocation and to honour God in university life? Oxford academics and postgraduates speak and lead discussion for each stream. Past attendees are encouraged to come, listen to new talks, and take part in discussion with new attendees.

featured resources 

What went wrong with humankind?
Lecture given by Elaine Storkey

The social sciences in particular have implicit or explicit convictions about what is wrong with the world, and many individual scholars are driven by the desire to improve society and to alleviate suffering. How do these understandings relate to the Christian understanding of sin and evil?

What are Universities for?
Article by Nigel Biggar

In an article for Standpoint Magazine, Nigel Bigger asks, '...how have we become the kind of people who, presented with the claim that university teachers bear responsibility for the moral formation of their students, would typically snap back: "So who made me my brother's moral keeper?" 

Oxford Conversations
Website to visit

A collection of curated interviews with leading Christian academics and scholars at the University of Oxford.