The panel was at Pembroke College, which, incidentally was JR Tolkien's college when he was an undergraduate. The other panelists were each very distinguished, Janice Breidenbach from Ave Maria University, Zena Hitz from St. John's College, and Tom Smith from Villanova. I learned a lot from each of their papers. Janice spoke about Aristotle's biology and politics, Tom gave a very provocative paper about Aristotle's notion of the common good vs. individualism and identity politics, and Zena talked about Aristotle's notion of political education. As for me, I talked about Aristotle 's notion of the human good in Aquinas and then compared to Locke's conception of the human good. It was a very good exercise for me to write the paper, and it has actually helped me to see how to move forward on my larger academic goals, so all around the experience was a real blessing.
I stayed in Corpus Christi College. My room looked onto this courtyard:
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| Corpus Christi College, Oxford |
So I got to stay in this ancient building, with its sloping roofs and creaking floors. Here's the door to my staircase:
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| Staircase 5, Corpus Christi College |
Here's the entrance to Corpus:
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| Front entrance, Corpus Christi |
After the pressure of giving my paper was over, I was able to relax a bit more and enjoy Oxford. On Thursday morning I had a nice cup of hot chocolate with Gillian Evans, my PhD supervisor, just near the Bodelian Library. I was able to go in later that evening and get some work done. Here is the Duke Humphrey's part of the Bodelian:
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| Duke Humphrey's, Bodelian Library |
Here's the opposite side of the Duke Humphrey's quad:
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| Bodelian Library |
And I just had to take a picture of this door, of course!
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| School of Moral Philosophy! |
Here's the Radclilffe Camera, which is another library opposite the Duke Humphrey library. I love this building:
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| Radcliffe Camera |
My host, Paul Kerry, is, like me, a big C.S. Lewis fan, and, like Samuel, a big Tolkien fan. So on Wednesday night after the panel session, he drove me all around Oxford and took me to C. S. Lewis's house, his gravesite, the church where he worshipped, and Tolkien's Oxford home where he wrote Lord of the Rings. Unfortunately I did not have a good camera with me so I did not get pictures of those things, but I did get some great pictures of other Lewis/ Tolkien sites.
First, I suppose, is Magdalen College, which was Lewis's college. It is a truly beautiful place. Here is the courtyard that you see when you first walk in:
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| Magdalen College, Oxford |
And here is the Magdalen College chapel, and Lewis used to go to the services here and sit in these choir seats (apparently he sat near the top lefthand side):
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| Magdalen College Chapel |
Here is the building where Lewis had his office for about 30 years:
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| Magdalen College courtyard |
And here is the road that Lewis and Tolkien walked along where they had the 'how myth became fact' conversation that was instrumental in Lewis's conversion to Christianity.
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| Magdalen College |
Lewis also gave a very famous, now classic sermon, called 'The Weight of Glory' in the University Church, St. Mary's. Here is the church:
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| University Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford |
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| St. Mary's, Oxford |
And apparently the lamppost to Naria is in Oxford! I had no idea!
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| Narnia lamppost |
Tolkien taught at Merton college, another stunning place.
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| Merton College, Oxford |
On Friday I was privileged to talk to the Oxford Latter-Day Saints Student Association about parenting and striking a work/life balance. It was a bit daunting; indeed, I have never given any kind of a talk like that before. I met some really faithful, wonderful members of the church and I hope that they enjoyed the discussion as much as I did, although of course I don't really know.
Late Friday afternoon my time in Oxford, sadly, was at an end. But I had great things ahead: I took the train to High Wycombe and got to stay the night with Rosemary and Nigel Harding. It was so lovely to see them again and we had great food and great conversation, as per Nigel and Rosemary!
The next day I went into London and met Peter and Lynn for lunch. We went to this great little French restaurant just off of Bond street. Very posh! The bread was fabulous and I had a wonderful butternut squash, blue cheese and red onion tart. The conversation was very lively, as it always is with Peter. But I was just really pleased to see them both.
Then it was time to do some shopping for the kids! They miss England so much, so I tried to find them things that were both useful and would remind them of home - their home. I missed them when I was shopping, something that I thought would never happen! I thought of them especially when I saw all the Easter egg displays.
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| Selfridges, London |
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| Selfridges, London |
I couldn't help myself, I did have to buy something gourmet. This time it was a passion fruit confiture and I was overjoyed with my purchase. It is basically passion fruit in a jar and I used it to make passion fruit curd for our Easter brunch.
It was funny seeing this bus around London:
I ended my trip by seeing Grant and Margaret Curley. It was beyond wonderful to see them. We talked every minute that we had together, from Saturday night to Sunday morning to the moment they dropped me off at the airport. I am so blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life.
