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. At our next event on Wednesday 18 November, we are due to be joined by Dr Andy Bannister, Dr Nigel Crook and Dr Hope Speirs to discuss the topic of Artificial Intelligence. 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
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.
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).
Speaker: Stephen Shaw KC
Stephen Shaw KC works as a senior advocate and a part-time judge in the Belfast High Court. He also sits on the Investigatory Powers Tribunal in London, which holds to account the security services and other public authorities in their use of surveillance powers. As an advocate he has represented national and local government and advised the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly. Concentrating on commercial, property and regulatory law, his diverse clients include multi-national companies, energy utilities and banks as well as family companies and high net worth individuals. Stephen has spoken on matters of faith and the Bible in a wide range of settings across the UK, Europe, East Africa, Asia, and South America.
Monday 17 August, 7:30pm
The Ploughboy Revolution
The 500-Year Legacy of Tyndale's Forbidden Bible
The Round Church, Cambridge (CB2 1UB)
In 1526, William Tyndale published his English New Testament, aiming to give even the humble ploughboy knowledge of the Scriptures. How did this book, originally banned and smuggled into England, spark a profound social transformation?
Join Life in the Round for an evening with Dr Tony Watkins and Dr Harry Spillane at the Round Church on Monday 17 August at 7:30pm. From the forging of the English language to the redefining of the social landscape, they will explore how this landmark translation contributed to immense cultural changes that have shaped the history of England and beyond for the last 500 years.
The event is free to attend and all are welcome. Doors open at 7:15pm; the conversation and audience Q&A will run until 9pm, followed by a cheese and wine reception.
Speakers
dr Tony Watkins
Tony Watkins is the Fellow for Public Engagement at Tyndale House, a biblical studies library and research centre in Cambridge. His PhD explored ideas of flourishing in biblical prophetic literature and narratives in today’s media. Tony has been a speaker and writer on the Bible and media for many years. He previously worked in partnership with various organisations including the Lausanne Media Engagement Network, Damaris Norway, and IFES Graduate Impact. He was an adjunct lecturer at NLA University College, Norway, and been a visiting lecturer at several other academic institutions.
Dr Harry Spillane
Harry Spillane is Bye-Fellow in History at Downing College and Senior Member at Newnham College in Cambridge. Having completed undergraduate study at the University of Oxford, his MPhil and PhD in Early Modern History were undertaken at Cambridge. He has previously been a Bodleian Library Fellow and Munby Fellow in Bibliography at Cambridge University Library, researching how Bibles were collected, edited and reshaped in the centuries after they were printed. His book, Selling the Word of God: The Early Commercial History of the English Bible is due to be published in September 2026.
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