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Christian Tradition

Peter McCullough Introduced by Triona Adams

To Speake of Tears: A Sermon by John Donne
Lincoln College: Chapel 12:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event
Emma Wells

Heaven on Earth: The Lives and Legacies of the World’s Greatest Cathedral SOLD OUT
Weston Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event
Tom Holland Interviewed by Andrew Lownie

Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Wed 29 Wednesday, 29 March 2023 See this event
Catherine Pepinster Interviewed by Suzi Feay

Defenders of the Faith: The British Monarchy, Religion and the Next Coronation
Exeter College: Marquee 2:00pm Wed 29 Wednesday, 29 March 2023 See this event
John Barton

The Word: On the Translation of the Bible
Bodleian: Divinity School 6:00pm Wed 29 Wednesday, 29 March 2023 See this event
Peter Heather

Christendom: The Triumph of a Religion
Blackwell’s bookshop 10:00am Thu 30 Thursday, 30 March 2023 See this event
Michael Marshall

Edward King: Teacher, Pastor, Bishop, Saint
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 2:00pm Thu 30 Thursday, 30 March 2023 See this event
Elias Chacour Interviewed by Diarmaid MacCulloch

A Palestinian Christian Working for Peace and Reconciliation in Israel CANCELLED
Bodleian: Divinity School 2:00pm Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 2023 See this event
Alexander Stoddart Interviewed by Gregory Platten

Art and Christianity
Weston Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 2023 See this event
Zoë Coyle and George Carey Chaired by Nick Higham

Where the Light gets In: A Conversation about Assisted Dying
Blackwell’s bookshop 12:00pm Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event

Festival information:

The Oxford Literary Festival is intellectual Viagra.

A stimulating and rewarding on-stage conversation; a lively informed and tolerant audience; privileged access to the great treasures of the Bodleian, and finally, wonderfully interesting dinner companions to help me conclude the best day I have enjoyed at any festival – anywhere.

I came away buzzing and reassured that we still have in this century a wide ranging community fascinated not just by famous authors (I’ve rarely seen so many concentrated in one place) but by challenging ideas and questions.

It was a privilege for me to visit the festival to receive the Bodley Medal. As an incidental blessing I saw Oxford at its most mysterious and atmospheric. It was a day of piercing cold and as I walked through the twilight from the Sheldonian to Christ Church, the streets were empty and the whole city was shutting itself away. Christ Church was silent except for the footfall of unseen persons around corners and the sounds of evensong creeping from behind closed doors. For the first time I understood thoroughly the power of college ghost stories.

The night in Oxford was the most beautiful event I have ever done. Not just the spectacular setting (of the Sheldonian), but an unforgettable evening.

Every literary festival stays in an author’s mind for slightly individual reasons. I shall remember the Oxford festival for: - the size of the audience: at the top end of the range - their intelligence – this makes a huge difference for a speaker. In the Oxford audience I encountered many experts in the field my book covered and even one of the ambassadors I’d quoted - the beauty and the grace of the place itself – incomparable - the willingness of my hearers to buy books afterwards; I’ve never sold more.

I loved the whole atmosphere of the Oxford Literary Festival. From breakfast, alongside some of the attendees, who were talking books with each other a mile a minute, to the public event at The Sheldonian where everyone was lively and engaged – I felt I had arrived in a kind of literary heaven.