Humanities Stream
Friday 21 March (1:00 pm to 9:00 pm) and Sat 22 March (9:00 am to 4:00 pm) 2025
Magdalen College, Oxford
Convener: Laura Higgins, Senior Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Drama, Oxford Brookes University
Student Convener: Shelby Knighten, DPhil, Education
What does it mean to be a follower of Christ in the world of academia and within the humanities in particular? How is our scholarship and creativity inspired by our faith in the Creator God? What are the implications of faith in Christ for assurance in our identity, motivation in our studies, and freedom as a scholar? How can we respond with intellectual humility to the challenges of academic life? Join us as we grapple with these questions, encourage one another in prayer, and share experiences of how our faith impacts our academic life as researchers, lecturers, colleagues, and writers.
**Please note our eligibility criteria: This event is for University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes postgraduates, postdocs, academic staff. If you do not fit this criteria, are DCM Alumni, or in a continuing education program, please complete this form and we will review your request **
*** Please note: the conference dinner is currently full and we are running a waiting list, though we expect more places will become available. We will contact registrants on the waiting list on the day of the conference if this is the case.***
Friday 21st March
1:00 pm Registration in Magdalen College’s Old Kitchen Bar with coffee & tea
1:30 pm Welcome and Introductions
2:00 pm The Intellectual Life - Anna Nickerson, Associate Professor and Tutor in Poetry, Christ Church College
What is the purpose of the intellectual life? To answer this question, we need to think about ontology (the nature of the real) and epistemology (the nature of our encounter with the real). In this talk I want to set out how the Christian understanding of the real, and of the individual’s place within the real, must stand as the foundation for a coherent account of the intellectual life. With such a foundation in place, I suggest, we can begin to think about some of the more immediate questions confronting the humanities scholar: What should I work on? How should I write? What are my responsibilities? Is anything off limits?
3:30 pm Coffee & tea in the Old Kitchen Bar
4:00 pm ‘It is required / You do awake your faith’: Apprehending Moments of Grace and Hope in Shakespeare Text and Performance - Laura Higgins, Senior Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Drama, Oxford Brookes University
At the end of The Winter’s Tale, Paulina urges the company assembled in her chapel ‘It is required / You do awake your faith.’ These words are a prelude to the moment when the statue of Hermione, whose death Paulina has reported some sixteen years earlier, comes to life. In this talk, I explore the journey towards this moment of wonder that the final act stages by looking for the traces of Hermione in the extra-perceptual places of the dramatic narrative from her demise to her reappearance. I consider her role as a figure of redemption who makes the play’s ending a threshold of hope from which the characters can step into a space where the work of transformation that the play dramatizes can continue. Whilst focusing principally on The Winter’s Tale, I set this study alongside other instances where paying attention with the lens of faith has enabled me to apprehend fleeting images of grace and hope as they emerge from Shakespeare’s texts and through the materialities of theatrical performance. In the last part of the session, we will reflect together on the joys and difficulties of bringing our Christian faith to our research and teaching: How do we sustain our own sense of wonder in our inquiries into the texts and materialities of our disciplines? How do we present our discoveries in ways that affirm the empowering and counter-cultural perspectives of faith whilst also acknowledging the complexities and ambiguities of the subjects/objects that inspire us?
The following events are held jointly with all streams at New College.
6:00 pm Prayer in New College Chapel
6:30 pm Drinks at the New College Bar
7:30 pm Dinner in the New College Dining Hall - Please note we are currently running a waiting list for the dinner
Saturday 22nd March
9:00 am Registration in Magdalen College’s Old Kitchen Bar with coffee & tea
9:05 am Prayer in Magdalen College Chapel
9:30 am Recovering Belief in History; An Exploratory Lecture on Method and Practice - Sarah C. Williams, Research Professor, History of Christianity, Regent College
In this session we will explore the ways in which the methodologies we use to analyse the past are shaped by implicit theoretical assumptions concerning the relegation of religious belief in the modern world—what David Martin once called, ‘methodological atheism’. What would it mean for Christians to recover confidence in history as an integrated and relevant academic discipline? As scholars, how can we do justice to the intangible and complex realm of religious belief as we go about our work with intellectual and spiritual integrity? What is the relationship between religious belief and human agency in history? And how can we unearth the role of belief in the interpretive process? Drawing on a recent study of feminist philosopher and social activist, Josephine Butler, we will look together at an example of religious belief embodied in political practice—in the practices of historical actors and in our own practices as we study them.
11:00 am Coffee & tea in the Old Kitchen Bar
11:30 am Small Group Reflection on Readings
Participants will break into small groups to discuss and reflect together on provided readings. Readings will focus on prayer, contemplation and scholarly practice. Groups will share collective wisdom on common challenges at distinct vocational stages.
1:00 pm Lunch in the Old Kitchen Bar
2:00 pm Panel on Spiritual Disciplines, the Vocation of the Christian Humanities Scholar, and Resisting Cynicism in the Humanities
Panelists will discuss the major themes of the two days including: spiritual disciplines, the vocation of the Christian humanities scholar, and resisting cynicism in the humanities as well as the crisis of the humanities.
Panelists include:
Andrew Dunning, R.W. Hunt Curator of Medieval Manuscripts
Laura Higgins, Senior Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Drama, Oxford Brookes University
Alicia Smith, Lecturer in English, Somerville, and Lecturer in Medieval Literature and Culture, Birkbeck College, University of London
Sarah C. Williams, Research Professor, History of Christianity, Regent College
Chaired by Jonathan Brant, Dean for Research and Culture, Wycliffe Hall
3:30 pm Synthesis
4:00 pm Closing