As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, this first week of the trip is technically still work. Four of us from BioLogos have come to the UK primarily for a podcast event we are holding in Cambridge tomorrow evening. But in order to justify such a trip — both to our employer for the monetary cost, as well as to Mother Nature for the cost in fossil fuels that need to be burned in order to get us here — we’re packing in a number of other podcast recordings.
It is pretty easy to record podcasts over the internet now, so we wanted these to be more than just me sitting in a room and talking to someone for an hour. As intellectually stimulating as those are (!), we’re attempting to bring a bit of the local environment to our listeners. So we’re doing a series of “walk and talk” episodes.
The first one this morning was with Stan Rosenberg, who directs a program in Oxford for students from Christian Colleges in the states (my eldest son is an alum of that program). Stan is also a historian, so we strolled down Parks Road and had him tell us about the interesting history of the Museum of Natural History, which was funded through the royalties on the King James Bible, and Keble College, an originally religious institution funded by the success of the scientific development of agriculture. The lines between science and religion are blurrier here.
Exhibit #2 of the blurry lines was our second interview, which was with a biologist who has recently become ordained in the Church of England. He was equally at ease talking about the different species of birds we encountered as we walked around thousand-year-old meadows, as he was talking about the nature of God. And part of his story about converting to Christianity was because of the famous atheist Richard Dawkins.
We had a third interview scheduled this evening, but we were stood up. After waiting at his house for 15 minutes, we sent a message saying we’d be at the pub down the road. While there, we saw they had a special this evening of “crispy whitebait.” We asked the serving girl if that is fish and chips. In her very thick accent we thought she said “yes basically” (though there were quite a few other words in there we didn’t recognize). But when it came, there were no chips, and there were many fish. That’s because the fish were basically sardines with a bit of batter on them and fried. I’m guessing that the “whitebait” means it is the kind of fish you use as bait to catch real fish?
Thankfully, we had a very large and good breakfast this morning. I mentioned that we’re staying at Christ Church, which is one of the colleges at the University of Oxford. Their fall term doesn’t begin until October, so the rooms are available at a pretty modest price. And it comes with a full breakfast in the dining hall, which was the inspiration for Harry Potter’s Hogwart’s dining hall. It’s really spectacular, dating back some 500 years, and it makes you feel as though time has stood still within its wall since then. The portrait of King Henry VIII is presiding at one end, and there are lots of other portraits of famous people who have attended here. I’m looking forward to repeat of that meal tomorrow morning, after which we’ll go to the train station to head to that other college town.
I'm not jealous about that photo.
I'm not jealous about that photo.
I'm not jealous about that photo.
I was going back and forth about taking my podcast gear with me in a few trips I have in the next couple of months. You've made me decide to take it!
Sorry to hear about being stood up - how awkward....at their house!
Hope the whitebait made up for it.