Daily schedule
Academic timetable
The programme provides a minimum of 18.5 contact hours per week, comprising:
- 12.5 hours of seminar meetings
- 4 x 1.5 hour lectures each week.
Morning seminars run 9am-12pm, Monday-Friday, with a mid-session break of 30 minutes for refreshments. Classes will usually contain no more than 18 students.
All students attend afternoon lectures, from 1.30-3pm, Monday-Thursday. Delivered by leading theologians, the lectures approach the summer school theme from different aspects. Each session includes time for questions and is followed by refreshments.
Meals
All meals included in the programme take place in Christ Church’s spectacular dining hall. Details of which meals are included in the residential and non-residential options can be found in the 'accommodation' section below.
Social programme
We warmly invite all participants to take part in the optional social programme. These activites, at no extra cost, include a welcome reception on the Sunday of your arrival, a walking tour of Oxford's religous history, and a formal gala dinner to close each week of the programme.
Beyond the summer school, Oxford is a vibrant and diverse city with a busy cultural and social scene offering a wide variety of activities, and the weekend in the middle of the course is free for you to explore all it has to offer.
Seminar options
Applicants choose one seminar per week from the list below.
Week 1: 2 - 8 August 2026
The Economy of Francesco: From St. Francis to Pope Francis
Rev. Dr. Kenneth J Barnes
When Francesco di Bernardone famously renounced his life of wealth and privilege (c. 1206) few would have imagined that 800 years later his embrace of ‘Lady Poverty’ and veneration of nature would become the impetus for a global economic movement known as ‘The Economy of Francesco’. In this class, we will explore Pope Francis’s (c. 2020) invitation to economists and entrepreneurs to imagine ‘a different kind of economy: one that brings life not death, one that is inclusive and not exclusive, humane and not dehumanizing, one that cares for the environment and does not despoil it'.
Tutor: Rev. Dr. Kenneth J. Barnes is Mockler-Phillips Professor of Workplace Theology and Business Ethics and the Director of the Mockler Center for Faith and Ethics in the Public Square, at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. His main area of research and teaching is the intersection of faith, work, and economics. His recent book projects include: Redeeming Capitalism (Eerdmans, 2018), ‘Religion and Business Ethics: Religious Perspectives on Business’ in Routledge Companion to Business Ethics (Routeldge, 2018), ‘Faith, Work and Economics: A Mission of the Church, a Mission to the Church’ in Transforming Work (Brill, 2024), and Sabbath as Resilience (ed.) (Wipf & Stock, 2025).
What is the Value of a Rule of Life?
Dr Anne Holmes
With its origins in the monastic traditions, the idea of living according to a Rule of Life has gained popularity in recent times. This series of seminars will reflect on the value of living according to the discipline of a Rule of Life. Participants will be introduced to the concept of a Rule of Life and the grounding which it can offer for a serious commitment to spiritual practice. The tutor will reflect on her experience of living this Rule as an Anglican Franciscan for over forty years. Those who wish to draw up a simple Rule of Life for themselves will be encouraged to do so.
Tutor: The Revd Dr Anne C Holmes, a former NHS mental health chaplain, is a practising group analytic psychotherapist and an Anglican priest serving a benefice in central Oxford. She is currently the Area Minister for Oxford Area of Tertiaries for the Society of St Francis (TSSF).
Laudato si: Franciscan Theology of Creation
Dr Hilary Pearson
Francis was not the sentimental animal lover of popular culture. Although not a theologian, he had an instinctive theology of creation. God is the source of all creation, so all creation is interconnected; and creation is a ladder to God. Bonaventure expressed Francis’ thought in formal academic theology. In this seminar we will first examine this Franciscan theology of creation through Francis and Bonaventure. We will then consider its relevance today. After a brief look at its relationship to modern understanding of matter, we will consider how it should inform our approach to the environment.
Tutor: Dr Hilary Pearson read physics at Oxford. After a year in the Middle East doing Christian outreach work and a brief spell as a research scientist, she studied law and was called to the Bar, specialising in intellectual property law. She spent the 1980s as a lawyer in the US, including three years in Silicon Valley, before returning to the UK. Her legal practice concentrated on information technology. A growing interest in theology led to a Cert HE course at St John’s Nottingham, followed by an MA in theology and spirituality from Heythrop College. She then returned to Oxford to do a DPhil on the writings of a 15th century Spanish nun, involving the theology of disability. She has been a professed member of the Anglican Franciscan Third Order since 2004.
Week 2: 10 - 16 August 2026
The Spiritual Legacy of St Francis: Medieval Women Mystics of Central Italy
Dr Paula Clifford
In the 13th century, Franciscan monasteries welcomed women whom the Church regarded with suspicion, offering a safe place where, following the example of St Francis and St Clare, women could learn, pray, develop their own spirituality, serve local communities and sometimes found their own religious Orders. This seminar will focus on the mystical experiences of three Franciscan tertiaries: St Margaret of Cortona, St Clare of Montefalco and St Angela of Foligno. We will discuss how we understand mysticism and its significance for the Church and the monastic Orders, and examine how mystics would later be portrayed by writers and artists.
Tutor: The Revd Dr Paula Clifford was a university lecturer in Medieval Studies, before spending 14 years as a writer and theologian working in overseas development. She is a widely published author in both medieval literature and applied theology and has also worked in religious broadcasting. As an Anglican priest she has worked in the Diocese in Europe and in the Diocese of Oxford where she now lives. Her most recent book is Tuscany’s Noble Treasures: conceptualizing female religious life in medieval Italy (Sacristy, 2021).
Apostles of Science: Oxford’s Franciscans and the New Experience of Nature
Dr Shaun Henson
In this seminar, we shall explore the works and contemporary legacies of several medieval Oxford University Franciscans whom we might call ‘Apostles of Science’: Roger Bacon (1220-1292), his teacher Robert Grosseteste (1168-1253), John Duns Scotus (1265-1308), and William of Ockham (1287-1347). They each made prescient early contributions to what eventually became modern scientific methods and research. St Francis of Assisi’s (1181-1226) celebration of nature as an arena for worship doubtless inspired the unique milieu that set the stage for their explorations. Originally suspicious of books and academic pursuits, Francis changed his mind upon encountering Anthony of Padua (1195-1231), appointing him the first teacher to the original Franciscan friars. Thereafter, some friars became among the most significant philosophers, theologians, and proto-scientists of their time. After exploring each figure and their contributions, we shall consider their legacy for our world today.
Tutor: Dr Shaun Henson is Departmental Lecturer in Science and Religion and Researcher on the Quantum Worldviews Project in Oxford University’s Faculty of Theology and Religion. He teaches and supervises undergraduate, masters and doctoral students. His research and writing usually centres on topics where physics, philosophy, and religion intersect, and lately also on the so-called rise of no religion and nonreligion. Shaun was ordained in Christ Church Cathedral in the Oxford Diocese of the Church of England at the end of his Oxford DPhil. He is a Professed Member of the Third Order of the Society of Saint Francis, European Province.
The Biblical Foundations of Francis’ Theology
Dr Nicholas Turner
What inspired Francis’s intense understanding of the Incarnation and its echoes in all creation? Francis was a radical theologian who knew his Bible. His vision draws from the moral universe of Amos and Proverbs, the majesty of God’s creativity in Deutero-Isaiah, and the spiritual legacy of the Kingdom of David. His insistence on poverty leads us from Mount Sinai to the crib at Bethlehem, to the Psalms which speak of the crucifixion, to St Paul’s exposition of the Body of Christ. The course requires no specialist knowledge, but would appeal to those who enjoy close study of the biblical text.
Tutor: After reading Philosophy at Cambridge and Theology at Oxford, Nicholas was ordained in the Church of England, and then returned to teach Old Testament here in Oxford. Since then, he has served as a parish priest in Leeds, on Ascension Island, in south London, and finally in the Yorkshire Dales, with his wife, Ann, a deacon. Now retired, he was the author of Handbook for Biblical Studies (1982) and Living Wisdom (1995), and is currently working on a study guide to all the questions in the four gospels.
Programme Director
Dr Jonathan Brant is the Dean for Research and Cultural Development and the Director of the Renaissance Project at Wycliffe Hall, University of Oxford. He has served as programme director for the Theology Summer School since 2022.
