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 17 April, 7:30pm
The Resurrection in the Dock:
Reviewing the evidence for Christianity's biggest claim
The Round Church, Cambridge (CB2 1UB)
Easter is one of the most widely celebrated moments in the global calendar, woven deeply into our cultural heritage through art, music, holidays, and traditions. But beneath the familiar customs lies a radical claim: that Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead. Join us for this Life in the Round evening as Stephen Shaw KC offers forensic reflections on the Christian claim that a dead man walked out of his tomb.
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.
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Explore life through...
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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
- 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
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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