Christianity & the life of the mind, An Introduction

Friday 7 - Saturday 8 February 2025

Hosted at Jesus College, Cheng Kar Shun Digital Hub, Oxford

Join other Oxford postgrads, postdocs, and faculty as we explore integrating our faith with our academic life through this conference. The event will include lectures by academics including Alister McGrath (Science & Religion), Ard Louis (Theoretical Physics), Elaine Storkey (Sociology & Philosophy), Jonathan Brant (Theology), Michael Lloyd (Theology), and more. There is also plenty of time for discipline based discussion. Registration includes discussion group dinners hosted by faculty around Oxford on the Friday evening.

*Early-bird Registration deadline Friday 24 January 2025: £20 and meals are included
*General Registration closes Friday 31 January 2025: £30 and meals are included
*DCM Alumni Registration: For capacity reasons, this year we are asking DCM alumni and those who are in continuing education programs to please fill out this interest form. Please note that if admission is granted then attendance is in-person and that one will need to arrange one’s own accommodations. 

**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 **

PROGRAMME 2025

FRIDAY 7 February 2025

This program is subject to change, please watch this space for updates:

1:00 p.m. Registration, coffee & tea

1:20 p.m. Welcome & introduction

1:30 p.m. Why it matters to develop a Christian mind - Alister McGrath (Science & Religion)

In this talk, Professor McGrath offers a vision for developing a Christian mind, and its importance for our personal faith and professional vocation. He will explore his own conversion to Christianity as a student at Oxford University, and how others at Oxford helped him to develop in his faith and gradually gain a sense of how he could find his own distinct place in the world.

2:30 p.m. The calling of Christian postgrad students and academics - Ard Louis (Theoretical Physics)

What does our calling to be disciples of Christ mean for our academic vocation (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)?

3:35 p.m. Discussion

4:15 p.m. Coffee & tea

4:45 p.m. Panel Discussion: Faith and scholarship – Session chaired by Mary Louis (Senior Fellow in Management Practice, Said Business School) with panelists including

  • Sophie Van Houtryve (Logos and Cosmos Initiative, IFES)

  • David Howey (Professor of Engineering, St Hilda’s College Oxford)

  • Kathy Tuan-Maclean (Director of Faculty Ministries, InterVarsity)

  • Elaine Storkey (Philosopher, Sociologist, and Theologian)

  • Donald Hay (Emeritus Fellow, Economics, Jesus College Oxford)

6:00 p.m. Prayer

6:35 p.m. Travel to dinner

7:00 p.m. Dinner and discussion of panel with faculty hosts

Dinner will be with your discussion group and will be hosted by various faculty members within their homes or colleges throughout Oxford.

SATURDAY 8 February 2025

10:00 a.m. Light breakfast, coffee & tea

10:30 a.m. It’s About Time - Katherine Blundell (Astrophysics) and Stephen Blundell (Physics)

We are creatures of space and time, and our ideas about what those terms “space" and “time" actually mean have evolved and changed rather radically over recent centuries, principally through advances in physical sciences. Professors Katherine and Stephen Blundell explore some biblical perspectives on space, time and the wonders of the Universe.

11:30 a.m. What does it mean to be human? - Elaine Storkey (Philosophy & Sociology)

This lecture discusses the various assumptions of what it is to be human that lie beneath the social sciences, and how they have fed into the development of disciplines. We will see how a Christian understanding of the human does not get trapped in the old dichotomies between individualism and collectivism, fatalism and personal freedom, or materialism and ‘idealism’, but is grounded instead in a biblical understanding of our creaturehood and the Trinitarian God.

12:25 p.m. Lunch

1:15 p.m. Discussion

1:55 p.m. The Crack in Everything - Jonathan Brant (Theology)

This lecture will draw on the humanities, particularly literature and film, to continue reflection on the human condition in light of the biblical doctrines of Sin and Fall.  How can Christians, especially postgraduates and academics, faithfully navigate and investigate a world horribly fallen and disfigured by sin (including our own) yet still loved by God in Christ and still alive with the good, the true and the beautiful.

2:45 p.m. Coffee & tea

3:00 p.m. Christian living and scholarship in light of the world to come* - Michael Lloyd (Theology),

Where you think we’re headed will shape what you think we’re for. And what you think we’re for will shape how you live in the meantime. So eschatology is foundational for meaning, ethics and hope. This talk indicates how the eschatological redemption affirms, challenges and directs the lives of Christians generally, and their vocations as scholars specifically.*
*Title and abstract subject to change

3:55 Discussion

4:35 Prayer

5:10 p.m. Drinks reception

6:00 p.m. Day closing