Christian Tradition

Diarmaid MacCulloch and Christopher Clark

Sex and the Church and the Scandal in Königsberg
Department for Continuing Education: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Mon 23 Monday, 23 March 2026 See this event
Jamie Franklin, Bijan Omrani and Nick Spencer chaired by Jane Shaw

Ignoring Christianity at our Peril: How Christian Faith can Save West
Pusey House: Chapel 2:00pm Tue 24 Tuesday, 24 March 2026 See this event
Jan McFarlane

Festival Evensong
Pusey House: Chapel 6:00pm Fri 27 Friday, 27 March 2026 See this event
Michael Collins and Christopher Lamb

American Hope: Leo XIV Builder of Bridges
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 3 4:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Melanie McDonagh

Converts: From Oscar Wilde to Muriel Spark. Why So Many Became Catholic in the 20th Century
Weston Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event

Festival information:

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.

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.

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.

Often as an author, I only occasionally get to meet the public who buy and read my books. The Oxford Literary Festival was a special opportunity for me and certainly one of the highlights of my career – it was an honour I will never forget.

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.

The Oxford Literary Festival is intellectual Viagra.

The Oxford festival is the most elegant and atmospheric of literary festivals. It’s a pleasure to both attend and perform there.

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.