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Oxford

City of saints, scholars and dreaming spires

Christian Oxford

OXFORD — CITY OF SAINTS, SCHOLARS AND DREAMING SPIRES
By Andrew Atherstone
Day One. 128 pages. £10.00
ISBN 978-1-84625-115-3

Over the years, I have become increasingly wearied by the ‘Bible people bad, free-thinkers good’ mantra which dominates almost all popular presentations of England’s Christian history. The wild-eyed, Bible-spouting, hymn-singing figure of Abel Corbould in the BBC’s adaptation of Children of the New Forest, is for many people the authentic portrayal of Bible believing Christians.

In fact, it seems to me that the popular understanding of the history of Christianity in Britain is actually an elaborate collage of half-truths and myths roughly cobbled together to inoculate us against taking biblical Christianity seriously. ‘The Reformers executed the Catholics as heretics’, ‘Cromwell banned Christmas because he didn’t like people enjoying themselves’, ‘the Victorian evangelicals were obscurantists, blindly opposed to Darwin’. The way in which history has been rewritten in the popular imagination ranges from the sloppy to the sinister.

So it was with a deep sense of appreciation that I devoured Andrew Atherstone’s little pocket guide to the Christian history of Oxford. Here are rich and faithful biographical sketches of Wycliffe, Latimer, Ridley, Cranmer, Laud, Cromwell, Owen, Newman, Lewis and many others and all in the form a guide book to the city of Oxford. The book is not an entirely neutral guide, displaying at times a clear evangelical sympathy. This may irritate non-evangelicals who are wary of propaganda, but it is hardly strident or ill informed.

If you live in Oxford, or visit it, this is an essential for your bookshelf. And if, like me, you have numerous friends who believe the most ridiculous myths about our Christian history, why not take them to Oxford with this book in hand. You will have a great day out in a beautiful city, and who knows what conversations may ensue.

Peter Comont,
Magdalen Road Church, Oxford