PASADENA--In August, Ralph Orr, director of in-service
education, attended the Oxford Summer School of Religion at Wadham College in Oxford,
England.
PASADENA--In August, Ralph Orr, director of in-service
education, attended the Oxford Summer School of Religion at Wadham College in Oxford,
England.
This privately organized summer school brings together some of the best lecturers in religious studies at Oxford University. Classes cover topics in theology, biblical interpretation, church history, Christian doctrine and comparative religion.
John MacQuarrie (whose theology textbook is a standard in Episcopalian seminaries) began with a series of lectures on Christology.
Sue Gillingham lectured on Psalms, its development and history of interpretation up to and through the New Testament.
Bishop Kallistos (Timothy Ware), the leading spokesman for Greek Orthodoxy in the English-speaking world, discussed the Christian doctrines of death and resurrection.
Canon Fenton described the gospel of Mark. Bishop Cragg, an international expert on Islam, discussed the Koran, its nature, development and present role in Islam.
N.T. "Tom" Wright, an internationally regarded evangelical New Testament scholar, gave four lectures on the Dead Sea Scrolls and their relevance to Christian origins.
When asked why he was a Christian, he quickly responded, "Because Jesus was raised from the dead."
Students also heard one lecture on how Christian theology made possible the origins of science, and another lecture on medieval English mysticism.
Afternoons were open for private sight-seeing. Many students filled their evenings with classical music concerts, Shakespeare's plays or a visit to C.S. Lewis' favorite pub, the Eagle and the Child.
There, Lewis and other Christian writers, such as J.R.R. Tolkien, Dorothy Sayres and G.K. Chesterton had gathered for conversation.
At Westminster Abbey and at Ely Cathedral, students worshiped at evensong, part of the daily liturgy of Anglicanism. Orr also took communion at a Eucharist service organized and led by the Episcopalian clergy attending the summer school.
Later, to get an another perspective of English Christianity, Orr worshiped with an independent evangelical congregation in a working class neighborhood of Oxford.
Orr believes his Oxford experiences should help him to develop further the WCG's distance learning classes for its pastors. He also thinks his time in Oxford can contribute to the ongoing doctrinal and liturgical discussions of the church.
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 1998