Summer School

We are excited to announce the details for this year's Summer School.
Dates:                      July 28th - August 1st
Location:                St Clements Church Hall, Cross St, Oxford, OX4 1DA
                                 (Note: Free parking at the venue)
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Register Here‍
• The cost of the Summer School is £300 per student or family (includes 2 evening meals and 4 lunches).
• A £50 non-refundable deposit is required to confirm registration.
• Full Payment is required by 30/06/2025.
• Payment is by bank transfer. Bank details are:
•                     Account Name: Selden College Limited
•                     Account Number: 54442785
•                     Sort Code: 23-05-80
•                     Reference: Summer2025
• Parents remain responsible for all their children throughout the Summer School. Any
child under 18 must be accompanied by a responsible adult.
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Details:
A. Keynote Lectures: Repairing the Ruins in the Age of Technology
Technology not only has enhanced the quality of our lives, it has disrupted how we live our lives and understand ourselves as persons. The speed of change in technological development has occurred in a time, it seems, when we are least equipped to assess and critically evaluate those technologies and their effects. As such, we can feel powerless in the rapids that have engulfed us and toppled even our understanding of what it means to be human, to be a family, and to be a nation. In this lecture series we will focus on some of these challenges and how they can be met. And in particular, we will consider how the vision for Selden College translates to preparing students to face the ever-present challenge that technology presents us as humans made in the image of God.

‍Lecture 1: What it Meant to be Human and why it still Matters (Timothy Edwards)
Lecture 2: Technology as a Cultural Force, and the Law, Part 1 (Jeff Shafer)
Lecture 3: Technology as a Cultural Force, and the Law, Part 2 (Jeff Shafer)
Lecture 4: Human Formation in the Digital Age and the Vision for Selden College (Timothy Edwards)

B. Afternoon Class descriptions (students 15+):
Jeff Shafer:
Law as Community PreservativeThe class will consider the vital role that law plays in protecting the community in its moral priorities and defining institutions. In elaborating this role for the law, we will consider from the vantage of common law history such questions as the nature and source of law, the interaction of law and religion, and law's role in protecting the meaning and prerogatives of the family.

Crawford Gribben:
These seminars will consider how Christianity spread through the North Atlantic world. Reading work by and about Patrick, Columba, Brendan, we will trace the rapid expansion of Christianity through Ireland, among the Picts, and into the Faroe Islands and Iceland, as monks and missionaries battled slave masters and monsters on land and in the deep. In the final seminar, we will think about the extraordinary experience of climate change that pushed Scandinavians out of their pastoral lifestyles and into a new career as “vikings”, who targeted and then were drawn for other reasons to the institutions of the church, among whose number was one of the greatest heroes of the sagas - the woman who gave birth to the first European child to be born in North America, who converted to Christianity, went on pilgrimage to Rome, and ended her days as an anchorite on Iceland.
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David Erb:
Sing to the Lord all the Earth: A Christian View of Music,The series of classes on music, Sing to the Lord all the Earth: A Christian View of Music, will be an interactive study on the topic of music that will be composed of a contrapuntal consideration of music in Scripture, the thought and practice of music in the Church historic, and practical interaction with and performance of music in the Church today. Each class will involve reading, discussion, and singing with connection to the songs from morning worship and psalm sing.

Sing to the Lord, All the Earth: A Christian View of Music:
1. The Lord is My Strength and Song: Christ our Cantus Firmus
2. Music, Math & Creation
3. Sing with Understanding, Play Skillfully: Musical Literacy for All the Saints
4. Singing Swords, Musical Soldiers
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C. Afternoons for parents and those under 15
i. Tuesday and Wednesday: How to teach Literature Well (Sarah-Jane Bentley)One of the most commonly asked questions we receive from parents is on how to prepare students for a Selden College education. In response to that question we are delighted to announce that on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon (1.30-3.00pm) Sarah-Jane Bentley will be leading sessions for Parents (and children) on teaching students on how to read literature well. Sarah-Jane will cover a broad range of literature, but will also spend focussed time on C.S. Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet.
ii. Thursday Afternoon - Tour of Oxford with a focus on the Reformation and C.S. Lewis (Esther Edwards)
ii. Friday Afternoon - Q&A plus discussion on Selden College with Dr Timothy Edwards

D. Morning Worship
The theme of the Morning Worship meditations will be: The Ascension of Christ and the Christian Life
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Schedule
Monday (28/7/25)
5.00pm                               Registration
6.00 - 8.00pm                   Evening Meal and Welcome
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Tuesday - Friday
8.30am                                Coffee and Tea
9.00am                                Morning worship
9.45am                                Psalm singing (Dr Erb)
10.30am                              Coffee and Tea
11.00am                               Keynote Lecture
12.00pm                              Lunch (provided)
1.00-5.00                             Classes for students 15+
                                              Activities for parents and those under 15 (details to be announced)
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Friday (1/8/25)
6.00-8.00pm Closing dinner