An Oxford Weekend -- and The Open

Our seminar schedule has been juggled a bit by Tisha b'Av falling on Tuesday this week, so Friday we had a "full" day that ran until 3 pm. Then out to dinner at the local Turnpike Inn, where our server was the same young woman who had helped Dad get his bearings the previous evening as he searched for Yarnton Manor. Great food -- very pleasant, warm surroundings -- and a most congenial staff. We should go back.

Saturday we headed into Oxford city center with Dad, got him the basic bearings on where things are, had lunch in The Kings Arms -- Oxford's oldest pub at 403 years and counting -- and then took in the Oxford Theatre Company's community theatre production of Antony and Cleopatra. Pretty impressive "amateur" theatre -- staged outdoors in the Trinity College Gardens. The tech booth was particularly cute....

Today we worshipped at Christ Church College chapel, which is also the Anglican cathedral in Oxford. Beautiful setting with terrific acoustics, and even though the cathedral choir is on tour, the volunteer choir did a very fine job with a sung Eucharist. Then found The Duke's Cut near the RR station, where they kindly tuned the bar/lounge big-screen to BBC-Two and we watched most of Louis Oosthuiven's front nine in the final round of his victory at The Open Championship in St. Andrew's. Drool, drool....

We find that the days turn quite lovely in the mid-afternoon, almost regardless of the weather predominating through the day. The only way I can describe it is to say that the weather softens at that time of day, as the light also takes on a softer, warmer glow into the evening, and the wind stills a bit. This evening as we walked over to Dad's cottage after supper we caught a glimpse of two horse riders, with a couple of scraggly dogs scampering along as companions, on Church Lane as they passed right in front of the Manor. In that time of day the image was nearly perfect. We've discovered some "footpaths" that cross Church Lane and have decided we need to take the trekking shoes and go explore them more fully one afternoon soon.

Back into it tomorrow with the seminar, as Sara Lipton finishes up her fascinating study of Jewish representations in art from 1000-1500 -- upending quite a few "settled results of scholarship" and introducing us to some wonderful images and ideas. Lynn will be off to Swindon, which sounds quite charming, and Dad will be taking the walking tour of Oxford -- or the red, open-top Sightseeing bus. And then we'll see what comes after that....

Dad's Here -- New Adventures

Dad arrived last evening after a travel day (or day-and-a-half) that included delayed flights and an unmarked shuttle, a withdrawn rental car and duplicate motorway exits, together with a local population that seems remarkably unaware of the local geography. But he's here safely and we're looking forward to the next two weeks to share with him in merry Olde England.

Lynn was in town earlier this week and took some shots at the local cake-decorating emporium, where they do remarkable things with sugar, butter, and magic.

The weather has gone English -- low scudding clouds with intermittent rain, sometimes quite heavy but never hard. It merely becomes very wet air, apparently, without any of the feeling of being pelted by drops that we experience. Curious.

The picture of medieval Christian representations of Jews is getting bleaker, and today we turn to art history with manuscript illuminations and church decoration. What a rich feast this is, however distasteful the menu in some respects!

What week is this?

Our time here in Oxford is a bit odd, as the "weeks" of the institute run from Thursday through Wednesday (if we assume that the day of rest is the 7th day of the week, a la Genesis). So last Thursday as I set myself up to take notes after lunch, I typed: Monday. 'Cause it felt like a Monday!

But then we also get Saturday and Sunday free (yeah -- these summer institutes are just killers!). So this morning it was easier to realize it's a Monday, except that the date isn't the 15th, as it will be a week after that first "Monday" of the session. And just when I figure this out, I'm sure we'll be about to leave. Alas!

The mix in the institute is fair, though we have a very limited number of Asians, Blacks, and Hispanics. Age and gender diversity is pretty wide, though, with an predominance, if anything, of early- to mid- 30s and female. Jeremy Cohen, the first-week leader, commented on the likelihood that we wouldn't get over our politeness in time for him really to begin to enjoy the session -- and he seems to be just about right! We've been a bit tentative so far, exploring how much we can each bring from our very diverse backgrounds to engage the conversation, hopefully without hijacking it in any one direction. We've moved from the New Testament through the early church theologians and Augustine's paradigmatic doctrine of Jewish witness, to the first crusade with its violence and now into the meaty center of our focus -- the High Middle Ages of the 12th and 13th century. There is no dearth of interesting questions, substantive and methodological, to keep us busy.

On Thursday last we headed into Oxford for the evening and found a quieter town than in the daytime. Had some good traditional pub food at The Red Lion right off Gloucester Green, and have learned to navigate pretty well on public transportation (the Stagecoach bus service). Friday Lynn took the walking tour of Oxford and got some nice pix, along with a lot of info. I headed off after lunch to North Oxford Golf Course and teed it up for the first time in four weeks. Nice enough track -- on the short side at par 67 but narrow and demanding. Played with a couple of nice young programmers who try to get out regularly on Fridays at about 2 pm when twilight" rates come in -- that despite the fact that twilight had only begun to arrive when we finished playing about 6:15 pm. My two-bus connection back to Yarnton missed by 8 minutes, so I walked the 3 miles or so and learned that it isn't any quicker walking than it would have been waiting 50 minutes for the next bus.

Up on Saturday early and off to "That Other Place" (as each of the major university towns is known in the other one). Arrived about noon and found the Railway Lodge Guest House. We had been fortunate to charm the owner into releasing an unsecured reservation for us, as the city was packed -- an air show nearby, a Formula One race, and the annual city summer festival all were going on. Lovely afternoon in the Fitzwilliam Museum exhibitions and then early supper at The Eagle, where one day Francis Crick announced from the bar that he and James Watson had discovered "the secret of life" -- the double helix of DNA -- just 'round the corner at the Cavendish Lab. That lab is a center of the universe, as it was also the location for the discovery of the electron and the neutron, the first splitting of an atom, and the first fully functional stored-program electronic digital computer. And now all the relevant departments have been moved to other locations, so who knows what might come next from this omphalos?

After supper walked the "Whistlestop Tour" of Cambridge, round and round, to get a taste of the whole town and university. Stopped by the town fair on the way back to a welcome bed, albeit in a hot third-floor garret with a very noisy cooler that ran all night.

Sunday breakfast courtesy of Mr. Tony King and his staff was most ample, then off to the 10 am Eucharist at St. Bene't's (abridgment of Benedict -- he of Nursia), with its 11th-c. stone tower, the oldest structure in Cambridge. Also the parish home of the Rev. Deborah Ford and her husband, Dr. David Ford, Regius Professor of Theology at the university. David and I have worked together and known one another through the Hartman Institute and his scriptural reasoning project for a good decade, and it was good to catch up again after the service. Also to catch up with Ed Kessler of the Cambridge Centre for Jewish-Christian Studies at a local Caffe Nero. Then to Kings' College where the line and one-hour total opening time finally precluded our visiting, and back on the X5 direct bus to "That Other Place."

Off to visit new friends whom we met in Istanbul and who live here in Oxford. More soon! --p&l

Finally Starting!

Can it be this long that we have been on our summer adventure, and finally the blog is getting going? Absolutely!

The first week of conferences in Istanbul was intense work, short nights, and terrific sight-seeing. The Byzantine cisterns and the spectacular tile work of the Blue Masjid were some of the highlights on the tourist side, and a fresh reading and understanding of possible connections among those who have often talked past one another about the Israel-Palestine conflict is the promise emerging from the hard work. Breakfasts on the terrace overlooking the Bosphorus every morning were the compensation for the short nights!

In Oberammergau, our Passion Play experience was shaped strongly by our time with the associate director and scriptmaster, Otto Huber. Those titles hardly do justice to the way in which Otto embodies the life, the tradition, the energy, the commitment, and the vision of the whole phenomenon. If he seems to be tearing out his hair, it may be that he has reason to do so.

And the south of France -- where it is vineyards as far as the eye can see. Well, that and chateaux and the Mediterranean beaches and canals. A delightful, relaxing, refreshing time topped off with the final concert of a Lluis Claret cello masterclass performed in the Abbaye Fontfroide dormitory. Luscious!

We've settled into Oxford now, and there will be more opportunity to post more regularly and extensively. Thanks for your patience as we get it going -- we look forward to sharing more in the days to come.