Deconstruction as Old Testament midrash, with New Testament implications.

Valentine Cunningham is a University Lecturer (CUF) in English, Professor of English Language and Literature and Vice-President of Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford. He has previously served as Dean of Corpus as well as Chair of the Oxford English Faculty, and was made a titular Professor of English Language and Literature in 1996. He works widely across literary-historical-cultural periods, areas and genres, as well as in literary theory. Originally and still a Victorianist, he has edited the Blackwells Anthology of Victorian Poetry and Poetics, Adam Bede (Oxford World Classics) and Reading Victorian Poetry Now (forthcoming, 2011). He maintains a strong interest in fiction, especially more recent fiction including Joyce, Virginia Woolf and Iris Murdoch. A main research interest has been and remains the literature of the 1930s, not least the writing of the Spanish Civil War. In more recent times, he has published extensively on musico-literary topics, on Theology- and Bible-and-Literature, as well as in literary theory.

Upstairs, in the function room, at the Mitre. 7:30pm with drinks and nibbles served from 7pm.

Please share the event with anyone who might be interested.

Professor of Caribbean Literature and Culture at Goldsmiths University, Joan Anim-Addo brings us her voice on Black Women’s Writing and the place of the Black figure in the Humanities. This event will be hosted in connection with Oxford ACS.

In the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, a persistent interest in technology emerged in both avant-garde and mainstream literature, and this multimedia presentation by Dr Eric White (Oxford Brookes University) and collaborators examines how radical reading and writing pushed the boundaries of technology into fascinating, and sometimes disturbing, new spaces (ages 12+).
Part of the Oxford Brookes University OutBurst festival at Pegasus, 6-10 May 2014. #OutBurst2014

We are delighted to welcome Anushka Asthana to Oxford on the 6th of May!

She is the Political Correspondent for Sky News, the Policy Editor at The Observer and was formerly the Chief Political Correspondent at The Times. In 2006 she won the Lawrence Stern fellowship for journalism.

This will be an incredibly interesting event for anyone interested in journalism, politics or media.

Writer of autobiography, poetry, fiction and journalism and Professor of Creative and Life Writing at Goldsmiths University Blake Morrison brings some of his latest work and interesting discussion to St. Anne’s.

Professor Roger Griffin (Oxford Brookes University), author of ‘Terrorist’s Creed’, will draw upon actual examples of terrorist attacks and a number of films in this talk to help explain why ‘ordinary’ individuals carry out violent attacks, and what possibilities might exist for deradicalization (for years 14+).
As part of the Oxford Brookes University Festival, Outburst, at Pegasus, 6-10 May 2014. #OutBurst2014

Join English PEN (the literary network which works to defend and promote free expression) for an evening of poetry and debate, with discussion about how publishing and human rights campaigns can join forces to help writers from across the world (ages 15+).
As part of the Oxford Brookes University Festival, Outburst, at Pegasus, 6-10 May 2014. #OutBurst2014

Novelist Ali Smith, author of Artful, Hotel World, and The Accidental, returns to St. Anne’s after holding the Weidenfeld Visiting Professorship in European Comparative Literature in 2012.

William Kelly: Artist of Conscience
Thursday 8 May 2014, 6.30-7.30pm (drinks from 6.15pm)

Ashmolean Museum Education Centre
(Evening entrance via St Giles)

Internationally acclaimed US artist William Kelly talks about his life and work. Kelly’s varied career has seen him work as a taxi driver and a welder, before he went on to become a Fulbright Scholar and Dean at the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne. Today Kelly is known as a painter and printmaker and an artist of conscience, committed to a humanist approach in his creative practice. Part of the Why Art Matters series.

Booking essential – £8/£7
http://www.oxfordplayhouse.com/ticketsoxford/#search=Conscience

The spiritual and second-order sense of scripture, according to which, for example, the crossing of the Red Sea denotes Baptism, and Jacob’s ladder denotes the cross, presents at least two epistemological challenges. First, the history of interpretation suggests that some kind of collective judgment has been made between acceptable and unacceptable interpretations, but the rules for making these judgments are unclear. Second, for a variety of reasons, spiritual interpretations of specific persons, objects or events in scripture cannot add to theological knowledge through argumentation. A further challenge, that the spiritual sense depends on belief in providential special divine action (SDA), ought not to exclude the study of this interpretation according to its own principles but may have contributed to a comparative neglect of this topic. Despite its historical popularity and influence, recent academic work on the spiritual sense has therefore been limited.

In this seminar, I examine the spiritual sense in the light of recent work in neuroscience. I argue that although particular spiritual interpretations are dependent on a body of pre-existing theological propositions, and cannot add to these propositions directly, this does not mean that these interpretations lack cognitive value. On the contrary, the spiritual sense is the fruit of a kind of insight most commonly associated with the right hemisphere of the brain, associating embodied experiences with otherwise abstract theological statements and integrating such statements within shared narratives. I further examine work on partial brain dysfunction to underline the risks involved from a neglect of the spiritual sense, and consider practical implications for religious life.

Dr Pinsent is Research Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion, a member of the Theology and Religion Faculty at Oxford University and a research fellow of Harris Manchester College. He was formerly a physicist at CERN, has degrees in philosophy and theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University and a second doctorate, in philosophy, from St Louis University. He is the author of The Second-Person Perspective in Aquinas’s Ethics: Virtues and Gifts, and a wide range of other publications on virtue ethics, neurotheology, science and religion, the philosophy of the person, divine action, and the nature of evil.

THIS SEMINAR WILL BE HELD AT THE SUTRO ROOM, TRINITY COLLEGE AT 8:30PM, PRECEDED BY DRINKS AT 8:15PM.

Between the artist and the museum

Friday 9 May 2014, 5-6.30pm (doors will open at 4.45pm)

Ashmolean Museum Headley Lecture Theatre

A symposium with Michael Govan (Humanitas Visiting Professor in Museums, Galleries & Libraries at Oxford University) and Vik Muniz (Artist). Chaired by Paul Hobson (Director, Modern Art Oxford).

Free admission but booking is essential.
http://www.humanities.ox.ac.uk/humanitas/museums-galleries-libraries

Led by David Aldridge, an academic philosopher, educationalist and experienced role-playing enthusiast, this evening is intended for curious or experienced gamers alike to sample Dungeons and Dragons, celebrating collaborative storytelling and raising serious questions about ethics, metaphysics, and our own potential as human beings (ages 16+).
Part of the Oxford Brookes University festival, Outburst, at Pegasus, 6-10 may 2014. #OutBurst2014

A collaboration between the Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre and the Archway Foundation (an Oxford-based mental health charity), this event will feature writing produced by the Archway Foundation’s services during workshops with Brookes’ creative writing students.

In this lecture series, Naomi Richman explores the evolution of the ideas central to major global belief-systems such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism and Marxism, and their status in the modern world from a social-scientific and secular perspective.

6 Lectures run on Mondays starting the 12th May.
6-7pm, Roy Griffiths Room. ARCO Building, Keble College.
Free, open to all, and followed by discussion.

Weeks 1 and 2: Christianity and Secularisation. Week 3: Buddhism. Week 4: Judaism. Week 5: Islam. Week 6: Marxism, Nationalism and Scientific Humanism

For more information, contact Dr Bea Prentiss,

A view from the Pacific: re-envisioning the art museum

Tuesday 13 May 2014, 5-6.30pm (doors will open at 4.45pm)

Ashmolean Museum Headley Lecture Theatre

A lecture by Michael Govan (Humanitas Visiting Professor in Museums, Galleries & Libraries at Oxford University). Chaired by Professor Christopher Brown (Director, Ashmolean Museum). The event will be followed by a drinks reception to which members of the audience are warmly invited.

Free admission but booking is essential.
http://www.humanities.ox.ac.uk/humanitas/museums-galleries-libraries

Why is laughter such an important human social tool? Neuroscientist and stand-up comedian Prof Sophie Scott will discuss her research on laughter (and apparently rats laugh too!).

Magnificence, Love and Scaffolds: Politics at the Court of Henry VIII, With Dr Suzannah Lipscomb
Saturday 17 May, 11am–12pm, Ioannou Centre

Historian, author, and broadcaster Dr Suzannah Lipscomb will speak on the politics of spectacle, persuasion, magnificence, and the politics of love at the court of Henry VIII. The court revolved around the splendid person of the king himself. And although politics was the only game worth playing, it was a dangerous game, ‘for the most part’, Sir Thomas More observed, ‘played on scaffolds’.

Tickets £8/£7
http://www.oxfordplayhouse.com/ticketsoxford/#search=Magnificence

How does the brain work?
And how can we switch on and off specific neurons?
Join us for a Pint of Science with top academics from Oxford University.

You ever wanted to understand more about climate change? Is it real? what are the consequences?
Come join us for an expert panel from Oxford University who will shed some light on this highly debated subject

When is a volcano going to erupt and how do you measure that?
What is Magma and how can we start studying it?

These questions and more will be explained by top academics from Oxford University.
More details on our website.

In “The Soul of the World”, renowned philosopher Roger Scruton defends the experience of the sacred against today’s fashionable forms of atheism. He argues that our personal relationships, moral intuitions, and aesthetic judgments hint at a transcendent dimension that cannot be understood through the lens of science alone. Join us for what is sure to be a fascinating, thought provoking evening with one of our most high profile philosophers.

How can we rewild animals to today’s environment?
How does the future of lethal viruses is going to be? Are they going to stick around with us as long as humanity exists

Self-confessed social media anorak Catherine Warrilow of Seriously PR will discuss why some brands stand out online and how you can use social media to make sure you’re noticed – and remembered. Catherine will provide an introduction to social media for craft businesses, giving you tips and advice to build your brand online as an independent creative. Before the talk begins at 19.00, you are invited to grab a glass of wine and get networking!

event is free

Speaker: Judy Webb

The Lye Valley, formally known as Hogley Bog, is a surprising and little known hot spot of wildlife biodiversity, a habitat for stunning wildflowers and spectacular insects in the centre of the City of Oxford. Beautiful marsh helleborine orchids are thriving here, within just a few metres of housing, and an important, historic, population of Grass-of-Parnassus is recovering to good numbers. Oxford botanists since the 1650s have loved this site and it was a favorite of photographer Henry Taunt, whose description of the Grass of Parnassus is quoted in the title. This is the story of a rare, ancient, wetland fen community, which has been fed by lime-rich spring water for thousands of years. It is one of the most important heritage sites within the city.

All Summer Lectures start at 6.30pm in the Daubeny Lecture Theatre (at
 the front of the Botanic Garden) and are followed by a drinks reception in the Botanic Garden. Ticket cost £8 per talk or £36 for the series of 5.
For more details, visit: http://www.botanic-garden.ox.ac.uk/whatson

You are warmly welcome to attend a film showing and after-talk about a spiritual community in Germany, living life with a focus on meditation, and the true nature of our reality as human beings. You are invited with any questions or sharings to put to residents of this community who are making a UK tour this month.
We would love to see you there.

The questions that will be addressed are those that are dearest to us all: How can we lead a life in serenity and peace? How can we maintain a state of contentment even in the face of trial and hardship? Professor Ramadan will elucidate how the Qur’an manages to engage with the exclusive needs of every single reader and how it guides him or her to true happiness – far beyond mere moments of well-being.

All are welcome to attend.
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About the speaker:

Professor Ramadan is currently Professor of Islamic Studies at Oxford University, Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Islamic Studies (Qatar), Director of the Research Centre of Islamic Legislation and Ethics (CILE) (Doha, Qatar), and president of the think tank European Muslim Network (EMN) amongst others.

The 2014 Roger Moorey Memorial Lecture
Ancient Egyptian Biographies: From Living a Life to Creating a Memorial
With Professor John Baines, University of Oxford

Friday 30 May, 5.30–6.30pm, Wolfson College

More than in most civilizations, ancient Egyptians had themselves depicted in tomb decoration, on stelae, and in statuary. Thousands of examples survive, providing a rich source for studying what mattered to people in their lives and how they wished to be remembered. This lecture makes suggestions about the institutions that sustained the practice of creating biographies and discusses a range of relevant monuments.

Free, no booking is required.