At Cornerstone, we’re convinced that reading quality literature together is a vital spiritual practice that encourages personal growth in faith and community. In preparation for the February Literature Discussion as well as Carolyn Weber’s visit to Franklin in March, I asked Greg Wilbur if he would introduce you to Surprised by Oxford and to Carolyn.
Sometimes books find you. I’m not sure what prompted me to buy Surprised by Oxford, but it sat on the shelf unread for a while. This book started coming up in conversation again and again until finally Sophia read the book first. It wasn’t long before she told me that I needed to buy another copy because she had formed an attachment to her copy—the one she was reading. In fact, her reaction is not unique. Carolyn writes with such beauty and directness that you cannot help but feel like you are sharing a cup of tea and listening to an old friend talk about what is going on in their life.
As you read, you experience the joys, frustrations, embarrassments, and awakening of someone honestly wrestling with the truth of Christianity—and doing so in the beautiful environment of the University of Oxford surrounded by a host of friends, mentors, and patient, grace-filled believers. Because of her background growing up in Canada, everything about Christianity is new to Carolyn and you get to look at the things you take for granted about the Faith through the eye of one who encounters them for the first time.
In this memoir, Carolyn leads the reader through the ups and downs of life and what happens when you take the claims of Christ in Scripture with intellectual honesty and engage the Bible seriously. With the wit of an intellectual mind and the self-deprecation and honesty of one who understands the love of Christ, she tells the story of the people that God used in her life to care for her and lead her to Christ.
You will love this book and you will be encouraged in your faith as well as challenged—challenged by the able defense of the rationale of the Faith and challenged by the depiction of what it looks like to serve and love our neighbor. Don’t let the size of the book scare you—it reads very quickly and you will be captivated by the story and the work of the Spirit in her life.
Part of the joy of sharing this book together in February is also the opportunity to share Carolyn with you. In March, Carolyn, her husband, and three children are coming from Canada to spend their spring break in Franklin in order to engage our community and speak one evening. Over the past couple of years that I have gotten to know her, Carolyn has been delightful, generous, and sincere, and I am excited to walk through this book together and then learn from her together.
“...just who is your master? For we all have one. No individual, by the very state of existence, can avoid life as a form of servitude; it only remains for us to decide, deny, or remain oblivious to, whom or what we serve.”—Carolyn Weber, Surprised by Oxford
Copies of Surprised by Oxford are available on the bookshelf at church for $10.