Pilgrimage and Light: The Azusa Oxford Semester
by James L. Hedges, Ph.D.
A side chapel at Keble College in Oxford, founded to honor one of the Oxford Reformers, displays Holman Hunt’s painting “The Light of the World.” A later copy by Hunt may be seen in the North transept at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Widely recognized, the painting shows Christ in a radiant glow, knocking at a door with no latch, reflecting the image from Revelation where Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” It is meant to be inspiring, and it is.
Hunt’s famous painting reminds me of another image of light, this one the oldest motto of Oxford University and its many colleges. Dominus Illuminatio Mea, inscribed on an image of an open book with three crowns also on an heraldic shield, may be seen everywhere in Oxford, over doorways of medieval buildings, on crests, seals, official clothing, and of course, on all manner of souvenirs. It is in fact the opening clause in Latin of Psalm 27: “The Lord is my light,” an enduring reminder of Oxford’s Christian foundation on the study of God’s Word.
I am inspired by a third light image in Oxford – the Martyrs’ Memorial in the center of Magdalen Street, just around the corner from the spot where Bishops Latimer and Ridley, and later Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer, were burned at the stake in 1555-56, for refusing to recant during Queen Mary’s persecution of Protestants during her brief reign. Latimer’s exhortation to Ridley as the flames consumed them became a prophecy: “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 I trust never shall be put out.” Their memorial contains a life-size icon of each of the three martyrs in niches high above the street, a reminder of their steadfast faith. Below them, the steps surrounding the memorial provide a convenient place for tourists to begin their walk through the medieval city.
As resident director of the Azusa Oxford Semester this year, I reflect on these three reminders of Oxford’s historic importance as a center of Christian faith and of learning in relation to its competing status as a “Heritage City” and major tourist destination. Part of my challenge as director includes separating the tourist appeal from the more fundamental importance of Oxford as a place of higher learning for students participating in APU’s study-abroad term.
In response to the tourism appeal, I chose John Bunyan’s classic Pilgrim’s Progress as a discussion text for the Faith-Integration Symposium each week. Ironically, Bunyan’s dissenting ministry, only an hour away in Bedfordshire, was not in conformity with Oxford’s orthodoxy during the years he wrote his allegory, and his limited education would not earn respect among the Oxford learned. But Bunyan’s imaginative description of life as pilgrimage provides an important challenge for students – to avoid being merely “tourists” – and to become pilgrims, seeking a deeper spiritual meaning to their experiences here by availing themselves of the endless resources the university and city provide, and by consciously becoming part of the long tradition of believers and learners who have also passed this way.
Some of this can happen in their tutorials with Oxford dons, or in their seminars on church history, C. S. Lewis or Shakespeare, or another subject. It can happen in our British Culture, History, and Society course with its 35 expert lecturers and field trips to such historic sites such as Westminster Abbey, Warwick Castle, Stonehenge, Bath, Winchester, and Portsmouth, virtually pilgrimage destinations in their own right. It can also happen when they utilize the rich resources of the Bodleian Library or one of the other hundred libraries in Oxford. It can happen as they experience Oxford the city, where C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien met with the other Inklings weekly to discuss their writing, or where Tolkien persuaded Lewis to embrace Christianity as they paced Addison’s Walk in Magdalen College. It can even happen when they cram into our flat to eat and share, or when the female students come for tea and conversation with my wife, Gwen. And it can still happen as we meet for our final symposium in the Old Library of the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin, where John Wesley first proclaimed his “heart strangely warmed,” where John Henry Newman inspired crowds to return to the central beliefs of Christianity, where the Christian charity Oxfam was founded during World War II. Oxford is full of inspiring reminders of Christian witness – able to challenge students as it does me. We can each become a pilgrim in the same way Christiana and her companions were inspired to follow the example of Christ through part two of Pilgrim’s Progress.
As associate members of Trinity or New College, our students are also encouraged to eat in the hall with other students, to attend Evensong in their college, and engage in other Christian service and worship at one of the many Oxford churches. One of these is Christ Church Cathedral, where a memorial marker in the floor just at the entrance to the nave commemorates John Locke (1632-1709). His inscription reads: “I know there is truth opposite to falsehood, that it may be found if people will, and is worth the seeking.”
Locke’s rock-solid conviction would remind student pilgrims studying and living in Oxford to resolutely seek truth, to recognize and resist falsehood even here where Christianity has been challenged most recently by the local best-selling author Richard Dawkins, scientist and fellow of New College, with his polemic The God Delusion, ably answered by Oxford professor Alister McGrath’s brief treatise The Dawkins Delusion. Where better than in this historic place can our students entertain Christ, “The Light of the World,” who seeks fellowship with them? Where better can they answer Bishop Latimer’s call to light the way for others, to find their “niche” – God’s place of service for them – not seeking martyrdom, but neither content to be tourists oblivious to the fidelity represented by the bishops carved in stone elevated above them on the imposing monument? Where better, finally, can the motto Dominus Illuminatio Mea, “The Lord Is My Light,” become a life verse, in Oxford and beyond? Such is my hope for the student participants in the Azusa Oxford Semester.
James Hedges, Ph.D., served in several capacities during his 33 years at APU, including professor and chair of the Department of English. His most recent post as resident director of the Azusa Oxford Semester found him living alongside his students, teaching a Shakespeare seminar, leading a weekly Faith-Integration Symposium, and assisting the administrators of the Oxford Study Abroad Programme in planning and carrying out the academic calendar, with its tutorials, lectures, and field trips. He and his wife, Gwen, also welcome students to their flat for food and conversation. All totaled, he has more than 45 years’ experience in higher education. jhedges@apu.edu
