This summer, J.R.R. Tolkein and G.K. Chesterton enthusiasts will have the opportunity to study the lives and works of the influential British authors on the grounds of Oxford University.
The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack, N.H. – through its Center for Faith and Culture at Oxford – will give students the chance to explore the land, as well as the ideas, that shaped the Catholic Revival in England.
The course, which will take place August 7 – 21, will will examine the vocation of the writer as a witness to Christ in a hostile environment and the intellectual and cultural impact of the Reformation.
Students will spend two weeks studying the works of G.K. Chesterton, Bl. John Henry Cardinal Newman, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Hilaire Belloc and J.R.R. Tolkein to examine the question of Catholic identity against the historical backdrop of the Reformation while engaging in discussions and seminar-style lectures from a variety of instructors.
Intellectuals such as Fr. Ian Ker, biographer of Bl. John Henry Newman's, Lady Clare Asquith, author and an expert on the theory of Shakespeare as a Catholic, Stratford and Leonie Caldecott, directors of the Center, and a number of Oxford graduate students will deliver lectures as part of the course.
Guided tours of Thomas More's cell in the Tower of London, the Globe Theater, the pub where writers of the Inklings met, Mells Manor – the family home of lecturer Lady Clare Asquith – will allow students to explore the landscape and landmarks that helped shape these authors.