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Regular readers of this column know I’m a frequent traveler to England. My wife’s brothers live near Portsmouth, and since 2016, we’ve made several trips to visit them—either all of us together, or my wife on her own or with a couple of our kids, or just me, or me with our oldest son.
Along the way, I’ve sought to incorporate elements of spiritual pilgrimage into these trips, whether through a family lunch at the Eagle and Child in honor of the Inklings, or a birthday spent at Chesterton’s house, or a tour of various sites in London and Oxford. In fall 2022, I was a scholar-in-residence at The Kilns, the storied home of C. S. Lewis. Late last month, our family made the trek across the ocean so my wife and our two younger children could spend the week with her brothers, and my oldest son could rejoin me in Oxford, where I was due to visit Wycliffe Hall to deliver another series of lectures, for a “Christianity and Contemporary Culture” course.
I enjoy exploring new aspects of Oxford, the “city of dreaming spires,” a place of such historical significance because of all the influential pastors, scholars, scientists, and theologians who have studied in that marvelous town of colleges. Even now, after four visits, I feel I’ve barely scratched the surface of all there is to see.
I always enjoy my interactions with students at Wycliffe Hall, who often come from different countries, representing a wide range of backgrounds and denominational traditions. Currently, the Talbot School of Theology of Biola University, led by Ed Stetzer, has a partnership with Wycliffe that offers American students the opportunity to attend a course in Oxford. I find the cross-cultural conversations between Wycliffe and Talbot students to be sharpening: In the same classroom, you might find a catalytic church-planting pastor from Australia, who sits next to a female scholar from Nigeria, across from an East Asian pastor serving in a pro-life organization, and on and on it goes.
On this recent trip, my youngest brother joined my son and me for several days, and part of the fun was showing him around. Below, I’m sharing a few pictures from our visit for the enjoyment of fellow Anglophiles!
Evensong is a long-standing tradition in Oxford—a time for evening prayer, usually sung by a choir in a beautiful church. Since I was staying just down the street from Christ Church Cathedral, I made my way there twice during the week. The first time, we sang a hymn written by Charles Wesley (who studied at Christ Church College with his brother John Wesley), and then prayed for Methodists all over the world.
Having my youngest brother along with me for a few days made this visit special. We spent a few moments here in the chapel of Magdalen College, where C. S. Lewis would attend Morning Prayer.
Oxford is known for its pubs, especially Turf Tavern, found at the end of a narrow, winding alley. This year, I was able to introduce my son to this renowned establishment, but—as teetotaling Baptists—only for fish and chips and a burger!
My son snapped this picture and claims it’s the most stunning he’s ever taken. Granted, it’s at Magdalen College with the famous tower in the background on a beautiful day, so that doesn’t hurt.
One of the highlights this trip was a tour given by Simon Horobin, who today holds the same chair that Lewis did: professor of English language and literature at Magdalen College. He is also the author of the new book, C. S. Lewis’s Oxford, a must-read for Lewis fans.
Addison’s Walk, this beautiful footpath at Magdalen College, was the setting for a pivotal conversation between Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Hugo Dyson that challenged Lewis’s skepticism and opened him to the reality of Christianity as the “true myth.”
At Wycliffe Hall, I led several sessions laying out various cultural challenges and opportunities facing the church in Western contexts: expressive individualism, the personalization and privatization of the gospel, Christianity’s moral vision, and the rise of pseudo-religions and spiritualities.
I walked several miles with my brother and my son to Wolvercote Cemetery, where we visited Tolkien’s grave. No, we aren’t weeding the grave! We’re looking at the items and notes people leave as tributes expressing gratitude for Tolkien’s imagination.
I love St. Michael at the North Gate, the oldest building in Oxford, built around 1000–1050. John Wesley preached there in 1726, and the pulpit is still on display. In the back, I found a selection of evangelistic tracts written by J. I. Packer on what it means to be a Christian.
On my last morning in Oxford, before a last visit to Blackwell’s (the best bookstore in the world), I enjoyed a hot drink on Broad Street, just a few yards away from the cobblestoned cross on the street, where Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer, and Nicholas Ridley were burned at the stake for their Protestant beliefs (the spot is just in front of that row of bikes in the distance). “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace in England as shall never be put out.”
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Trevin Wax is vice president of resources and marketing at the North American Mission Board and a visiting professor at Cedarville University. A former missionary to Romania, Trevin is a regular columnist at The Gospel Coalition and has contributed to The Washington Post, World, and Christianity Today. He has taught courses on mission and ministry at Wheaton College and has lectured on Christianity and culture at Oxford University. He is a founding editor of The Gospel Project, has served as publisher for the Christian Standard Bible, and is currently a fellow for The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics. He is the author of multiple books, including The Gospel Way Catechism,The Thrill of Orthodoxy, The Multi-Directional Leader, This Is Our Time, and Gospel Centered Teaching. His podcast is Reconstructing Faith. He and his wife, Corina, have three children. You can follow him on X or Facebook, or receive his columns via email.
