Oxford Conversations
A collection of curated interviews with
leading Christian academics and scholars
at the University of Oxford
Oxford Conversations
A collection of curated interviews with
leading Christian academics and scholars
at the University of Oxford
The conversations are candid, sometimes technical, sometimes funny, always thoughtful and inspiring. They have been edited into short clips and categorised both by discussion topic and scholar. The videos can be accessed via the navigation at the top of the page.
The scholars' dialogue partners are fellow University of Oxford academics or doctoral researchers, some of whom are themselves world leaders in their fields.
The 16th century Christian academic Philip Melanchthon wrote that ‘true wisdom is the recognition of God and the zealous contemplation of nature’. Each participant in Oxford Conversations epitomises this ideal and offers a unique example of how ‘true wisdom’ can be pursued through an integrated life of mind and spirit.
Discussion Topics
Scholars are invited to recall their journeys
into academia, explain their research, offer
advice for academic flourishing, and reflect
on the theoretical and practical integration
of faith and scholarship
Discussion Topics
Scholars are invited to recall their journeys
into academia, explain their research, offer
advice for academic flourishing, and reflect
on the theoretical and practical integration
of faith and scholarship
Academic Journeys
The Path into Professional Academia
at the University of Oxford
Questions:
How did your academic journey bring you to the University of Oxford? How did you initially become interested in your field? When did you decide to pursue an academic career? What subjects have you explored over the course of your career?
Faith & Scholarship
The Intersection between a Life of Faith
and a Life of Scholarship
Questions:
How do your Christian faith and your academic scholarship illuminate each other? What is the relation between Christianity and your field of expertise? How do you relate your service to the academy to your service to the church? How does your religious faith and practice sustain your life as a scholar?
scholarly Research
Specific Areas of Research, Teaching, and Writing
Questions:
What questions does your research try to answer? What has been the focus of your recent writing projects? What are you currently working on? How has your research developed or changed?
Academic Advice
Counsel for Junior Scholars
Questions:
What skills, traits, and virtues are necessary to flourish as a specialist in your field? How do you balance your research, writing, and teaching with the other areas of your life? How has the academy changed since you entered it? What advice would you give to junior researchers in your field?
Scholars
They are legal theorists,
astrophysicists, theologians,
ornithologists, biblical scholars,
ethicists, pathologists, international
lawyers, priests, economists,
physicists, and so forth
Scholars
They are legal theorists,
astrophysicists, theologians,
ornithologists, biblical scholars,
ethicists, pathologists, international
lawyers, priests, economists,
physicists, and so forth
Sabina Alkire
Director of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), a research centre within the Department of International Development at the University of Oxford
Stephen Blundell
Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford and Professorial Fellow at Mansfield College, Oxford
Alister McGrath
Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion and Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science & Religion at the University of Oxford
Dapo Akande
Professor of Public International Law at the University of Oxford, Yamani Fellow at St. Peter's College, and Co-Director of the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict (ELAC) & the Oxford Martin Programme on Human Rights for Future Generations
Andy Gosler
University Research Lecturer in Ornithology & Conservation and Fellow in Human Sciences, Mansfield College, University of Oxford
John Finnis
Professor of Law and Legal Philosophy Emeritus at the University of Oxford, where he was a Tutorial Fellow of University College and a teaching member of the Faculty of Law from 1966 to 2010, and a member of the Sub-Faculty of Philosophy from 1987 to 2010
Paul Fairchild
University Lecturer in the Immunobiology of Stem Cells, Oxford Martin Senior Fellow, and Research Councils UK Academic Fellow within the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology
Nigel Biggar
Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology, and Director of the McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Life, at the University of Oxford
Katherine Blundell
Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford and Supernumerary Research Fellow in Astrophysics at St John's College
Megan Daffern
Chaplain at Jesus College and member of the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford