Oxford Conversations is a project of Developing a Christian Mind. The project is directed by Dr. Brian A. Williams (Departmental Lecturer in Christian Ethics) in consultation with Prof. Ard Louis (Professor of Theoretical Physics). The website presents interviews with leading academics at Oxford University who stand in a long tradition of Christian scholars and educators in Oxford. This tradition includes eminent academics like John Wyclif, Duns Scotus, William of Ockham, Roger Bacon, William Tyndale, Desiderius Erasmus, Christopher Wren, John Wesley, Jethro Tull, John Locke, Robert Boyle, Robert Hooke, Edmund Halley, John Henry Newman, Edwin Hubble, C. S. Lewis, Dorothy Sayers, J. R. R. Tolkien, and others.

Each of these Oxford academics illustrates John Henry Newman’s claim that ‘such is the constitution of the human mind that any kind of knowledge, if it be really such, is its own reward.’ Therefore, ‘there is great pleasure … in proceeding from particular facts to principles, in generalising, discriminating, reducing to order and meaning the maze of phenomena which nature presents to us.’ In our pursuit of knowledge, ‘we have His blessing upon us.’

The goal of the project is to inspire postgraduate students and younger academics to pursue excellence in academic research and to consider ways to integrate their work and Christian faith. Over time, interviews with other scholars will be added in order to build up a rich and diverse archive of Christian reflection and counsel on scholarly life. 

This project was made possible through financial support from the Issachar Fund. The interviews were filmed by Luke Harrison of Imago Video. The website was designed by Nick Gulliver of Gulliver Design. Setting compliments of Rev. Dr. George Westhaver and Pusey House.