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.
We host an evening event each term. Sign up to our mailing list to receive information about future events.
Upcoming Events
Celebrating 75 Years of Narnia: Sounding the Imagination of C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis’s ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ series continue to be treasured by readers and viewers of all ages. This looks set to continue, with the eagerly anticipated 2026 release of the first Netflix Narnia film, directed by Greta Gerwig.
To celebrate 75 years since the publication of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Life in the Round invites you to the Round Church on Monday 3 March at 7:30pm. Through three short reflections from Dr Sharon Jones, Sophie Jones and Daniel Gilman, we will trace the journey of C.S. Lewis’s imagination through the wonders of song, speech and story. We will explore Lewis’s origins in Ireland, aided by performances from Sophia Abraham on the Celtic harp, as well as discussing how he depicts the reconciliation and restoration found in ‘the true myth’, the greatest story of all.
The evening will close with an opportunity for conversation over cheese and wine (and Turkish delight!). The evening is free to attend, and all are welcome.
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Upcoming Events
Unfulfilled desires: how music helps us understand our deepest longings
Music is deeply woven into our culture – the ambient background music of a coffee shop, peaceful choral singing at a Cambridge college evensong, the thunderous anthems of sports supporters filling a stadium, even your very own self-curated playlist through your airpods – music is everywhere! And it’s often music we turn to in our moments of unfulfilled desire and longing, to express a feeling we can’t quite put into words.
We are delighted that we will be joined by Prof Jeremy Begbie (Professor in Theology, Duke University; Affiliated Lecturer in Music, University of Cambridge) for a recital-lecture on Unfulfilled Desires: How Music Helps Us Understand Our Deepest Longings. Join us at 7:30pm on Monday 12 May in St John’s College New Music Room, for what promises to be a lively and engaging evening, as Prof Begbie explores various musical expressions of unfulfilled desires from the piano and compares them with the Christian hope.
The evening is free to attend and all are welcome. It will not be ticketed but, to help us know how many people to expect, please let us know if you’re planning to come.
To hear about future events, sign up to our mailing list below.
Upcoming
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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.
Our events this term include an evening thinking through faith in the public sphere with Tim Farron MP and an exploration of the surprising genius of Jesus’ teachings with Dr Peter Williams. More details coming soon, and be sure to sign up to our mailing list to be notified about upcoming events.
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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?
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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
- The Power of Tolkien
- Spoken word, live music, film discussion
- Dostoyevsky: a prophet for our time
- Ethics and aesthetics: how fine art helps form people’s ethics
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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
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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
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“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
Socrates