If one of your New Year resolutions to engage more thoroughly with the thought of the Early Church you’ve come to the right place!
I’m pleased to announce a programme of events for the start of 2026 to be held at Pusey House, Oxford.
The theme for this term is the fourth century Cappadocian Fathers (or rather two thirds of the Cappadocians – the two Gregories!).
Whilst the third figure, St Basil, is a Very Good Thing, I don’t personally “connect” with him as much, or find as much in his writing and thought that’s of relevance to the contemporary situation, as I do with St Gregory of Nazianzus and St Gregory of Nyssa. Sorry Basil.
In short there are three things happening this term:
- A Reading Group working through Gregory of Nyssa’s classic text the “Life of Moses” (on Monday evenings from 19th Jan to 9th Mar, either in person at Pusey House or online)
- A Study Day on 7th Feb 2026 providing an introduction to St Gregory of Nazianzus, subtitled “Trinity & Salvation“
- A Study Day on 21st Feb 2026 providing an introduction to St Gregory of Nyssa, subtitled “Humanity & Spirituality“
The subtitles are a succinct summary of the key takeaways of insight and inspiration I gained from these ancient sources.
Being geographically based in the Eastern half of the Roman Empire, and writing (and thinking) in Greek (as opposed to Latin), these figures have quite different perspectives on some of these topics compared to the Western (Latin) perspective.
If you currently find yourself in a Church within the Catholic or Protestant tradition you’re inherently a “Westener” and therefore surrounded by, and rooted in, a particular perspective.
Events like these therefore provide an opportunity to be exposed to, and engage with, sometimes radically different views on key topics. Being so ancient, these sources are a shared inheritance of both East and West, and I’m hoping you’ll find it timely and inspirational to encounter them.
If you have any questions, please get in touch. I hope to see you at one or more of these events!
A PDF of the programme to download is available here, with a preview shown below.
OrdinaryTheology-2026-Jan-to-Mar-Poster