Life in the Round
Exploring Life From Every Angle
Life in the Round offers an engaging space to explore the value of life in dialogue with today’s culture and the historic Christian faith.
Recent Events
Upcoming Events
We host an evening event each term. Our next event, taking an honest look at the ‘bullies and saints’ of Christian history with historian Dr John Dickson, will take place on Friday 5 December at 7:30pm at the Round Church. More details to follow in due course – please sign up to our mailing list to find out more.
We host an evening event each term. Sign up to our mailing list to receive information about future events.
Upcoming Events
shakespeare's hope: redemption and resurrection in his most powerful plays
Friday 22 August
7:30-9pm (doors open 7:15pm), followed by a cheese & wine reception
The Round Church, Cambridge (CB2 1UB)
No booking required, simply turn up on the night
400 years on, Shakespeare’s plays remain central to the English literature and dramatic canon, his characters and poetry capturing the imaginations of each new generation. Shakespeare lived in a world in which the English Bible had recently arrived on the scene, and in which Christian understandings were deeply entrenched in society, culture and politics.
From Macbeth to The Tempest, we will consider the influence of the Bible’s language, stories and values on Shakespeare, and how he interacts with the religious framework in which his audience was immersed. Through a talk and Q&A, followed by time for informal discussion, we’ll uncover how themes such as beauty, guilt, restoration and hope enrich the Bard’s enduring works and continue to speak to the human condition today.
To hear about future events, sign up to our mailing list below.
Upcoming Events
Saturday 18 October, 7pm
Any Questions?
The Round Church, Cambridge (CB2 1UB)
No booking required; simply turn up on the night.
Join us 18 October to ask a panel of three leading thinkers in their fields why they believe the Christian gospel makes best sense of the world as we know it, as we engage with life’s big questions and the Christian worldview.
This Q&A panel event follows our recent series on music and literature which generated significant interest and inspired stimulating live Q&A on each occasion. It also coincides with the recent launch in Cambridge of the Whewell Centre for Science and Natural Theology.
Panellists
Prof James Tour
James Tour is the T. T. and W. F. Chao Professor of Chemistry, Professor of Computer Science, and Professor of Materials Science and Nano-Engineering at Rice University, Texas. He has served on the faculty of the University of South Carolina and as a visiting scholar at Harvard University. Tour has over 700 research publications and over 130 patent families.
Dr Stephen C. Meyer
Stephen C. Meyer is author of numerous books including Return of the God Hypothesis: Three Scientific Discoveries That Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe (2021) and Director of the Whewell Centre for Science and Natural Theology. Dr Meyer received his PhD from the University of Cambridge in the philosophy of science.
Andrew Fellows
Andrew Fellows is a Christian apologist, author and former chairman of L’Abri International, currently serving as minister at St Thomas’ Church, Cambridge.
In the new year we will be launching his forthcoming book: Humanity Matters: Re-enchanting Homo Sapiens (2026).
Friday 5 December, 7:30pm
Bullies and Saints: Has Christianity Done More Harm Than Good?
The Round Church, Cambridge (CB2 1UB)
No booking required – simply turn up on the night.
Cambridge’s iconic Round Church, modelled on Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, was built as part of a wave of crusader-inspired architecture that spread across Europe in the early twelfth century. It stands as a striking reminder of Christianity’s complex legacy, one which has prompted many critics to argue that the faith has done more harm than good.
In this setting, historian Dr John Dickson will trace the paradoxes of Christian history: how the same faith that produced the Crusades and modern abuse scandals also gave rise to hospitals, universities, justice movements, and countless acts of charity. Through a talk and Q&A, followed by time for informal discussion over cheese and wine, we will take an honest look at the good and evil of Christian history, and reflect on what this story means for the questions facing our society today.
Speaker: Dr John Dickson
Dr John Dickson is an author, speaker, historian, and media presenter. He hosts the Undeceptions podcast, and has hosted four television documentaries, the most recent of which, The First Hymn: Resurrecting a song buried for millennia, was released in April 2025. John has published over 20 books, including Bullies and Saints: An Honest Look at the Good and Evil of Christian History (2021). Since 2022, he has been the Jean Kvamme Distinguished Professor of Biblical Studies and Public Christianity at Wheaton College in Illinois. Before that, John had held positions in the Ancient History Department at Macquarie University (2002-2015), the Hebrew, Jewish and Biblical Studies Department at Sydney University (2011-2021), Ridley College Melbourne (2019-2022), and the Faculty of Classics at the University of Oxford (2015-2023).
To hear about future events, sign up to our mailing list below.
Explore life through...
Explore
Live talks
Stimulating ideas and honest dialogue.
Some of our previous topics include:
- Can’t we keep faith out of politics? with Tim Farron MP
- Who wants to live forever? The problems and prospects of immortality
- Peacebuilding in a war-torn world
- Nature and grace in Terrence Malik
- Three theories of everything
- God in the brain: is belief an accident of human neuropsychology?
Explore
Arts evenings
The 12th century Round Church provides a unique and intimate arts venue, with its round regularly hosting music, drama and visual cultural experiences.
A selection of evenings we’ve already shared:
- Resurrection poetry festival
- Celebrating 75 Years of Narnia, featuring performances on the Celtic harp
- Explorations of Christian themes in the work of Tolkien and Shakespeare
- Spoken word, live music, film discussion
- Dostoyevsky: a prophet for our time
- Ethics and aesthetics: how fine art helps form people’s ethics
Explore
Informal Discussions
Big ideas explored in conversation together.
Previous events have included:
- Lunch discussions at the Round Church
- Think Tank – informal conversations at the pub, exploring life’s big questions
Explore
Academic viewpoints
Cambridge hosts leading scholars. How might today’s University interact with the Christian intellectual tradition from which it emerged?
Titles from our archive:
- AI, Innovation and the Limits of Humanity
- What’s the Point of the University?
- The Financial Crisis: a Christian Response
- Does the Law need a Moral Basis?
- Biomedical Nanotechnology: Prospects and Challenges
To hear about future events, sign up to our mailing list below.
Recent Events
Event Photos
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
Socrates