Venue

The RZIM Zacharias Trust Summer School will be held in one of the oldest colleges of Oxford University – Oriel College. It is said that the college was named after ‘Le Oriole’, a substantial house that once stood where the first quad is now, owned by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the twelfth century and Queen Eleanor, wife of Edward I, in the thirteenth.

This quintessential Oxford College is situated in the heart of the city, in a charming secluded square renowned for its timeless beauty. Here, quiet alleys and cobbled streets lead to a number of the University’s most spectacular sights, whilst the main shopping area is only three minutes walk from the college. The magnificent Radcliffe Camera, Sheldonian Theatre, Bodleian Library and Bridge of Sighs are all just a few minutes walk away, as is the beautiful Christ Church Meadow, where many congregate in the summer.

It was in 1326 that Oriel was founded by King Edward II and became only the fifth college of Oxford University. Although many of the buildings were rebuilt in the 17th century, the college retains much of its old charm. The intimate dining hall is particularly impressive, as is the chapel, which was erected in 1373 and has subsequently been rebuilt twice. The present chapel building was consecrated in 1642 and in spite of successive restorations it has retained much of its original appearance. Within its walls, generations of notable Christians have worshipped including: John Henry Newman and many other leaders of the ‘Oxford Movement’; Samuel Wilberforce, well known for attacking Darwin’s Origin of the Species; and James Hannington, a missionary bishop martyred with others in Uganda in 1885

For further information about Oriel College, please visit their website: www.oriel.ox.ac.uk.

A virtual tour is available on www.chem.ox.ac.uk/oxfordtour/orielcollege/.

Location

Oxford – the location for our Summer School – hardly needs any introduction. Oxford University is the oldest university in the English-speaking world and lays claim to nine centuries of continuous existence. Academic teaching existed here in some form in 1096 and developed rapidly after 1167, when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris. Throughout its history, the University has produced gifted men and women in every sphere of human endeavour. These include six Kings, forty-six Nobel Prize winners, twenty-five UK Prime Ministers, six current holders of the Order of Merit, three Roman Catholic saints, eighty-six Archbishops and eighteen Cardinals.

Oxford is a city of learning, and scholarship seeps into most of its activities. The city is built upon books – books being read, written, published; books in the numerous bookshops of the city; books scattered throughout a maze of libraries. The central library of the University – the Bodleian – sits upon a network of underground tunnelled vaults which have, since the 12th century, been a necessary means of housing the hundreds of thousands of books in the Library’s possession.

Passions frequently run high in places of learning and Oxford is certainly no exception. In the fourteenth century John Wycliffe suffered the wrath of the Pope for arguing that the Bible should be translated into the vernacular. Two centuries later, protestant bishops Cranmer, Latimer and Ridley were all tried and burned at the stake in Oxford for heresy. John and Charles Wesley worshipped here and they endured the hostility of the University authorities for their weekly prayer meetings, as did George Whitefield following his conversion as a student at the University. Passions again ran high in 1860, when the University Museum housed the famous debate between Thomas Huxley and Bishop Wilberforce on Darwin’s Origin of the Species.

As well as its academic reputation, Oxford is renowned for its architectural beauty. It is known as “The City of Dreaming Spires”, and poet John Keats thought it to be the finest city in the world. The Radcliffe Square, Sheldonian Theatre and Christ Church College are but a few examples of the striking and breath-taking sights that are commonplace in Oxford.

Yet for all its beauty, to discover the real charm of Oxford you must look beyond her appearance and remember all that this city has meant to the world. These are the streets upon which many of the great figures of our time have walked. Within these same surroundings authors, such as C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein, wrote the books that would become classics throughout the world. There is so much here to excite the imagination; when you come to Oxford, expect to be inspired!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

" This was an OUTSTANDING WEEK, life changing for me in many ways! "

Endorsement by Summer School 2006 attendee