Carolyn Weber - Surprised by Oxford

PRAISE FOR SURPRISED BY OXFORD

A hugely readable journey of cultural and spiritual discovery, sparkling with wit and wisdom.

Alister McGrath, Author and Head of the Centre for Theology, Religion & Culture at Kings College, London

Surprised by Oxford is a sprightly contribution to the genre of spiritual memoirs in the vein of C.S. Lewiss Surprised by Joy and Lauren F. Winners Girl Meets God. Carolyn Weber is an unconventional thinker whose engagingly told faith journey will speak to folks who still believe that thoughtful people cannot be Christian.

Lyle W. Dorsett, Billy Graham Professor of Evangelism, Beeson Divinity School

Carolyn Weber is a formidable intellect and a sought-after college professor, as well as a great wife and mom. But what I love most about her is her heart, which youll find on every page of this book. Showing us the world through her eyes, she brings readers along on her journey to Oxford, where the unexpected awaited her. This is a journey worth taking, and as our guide, Carolyn is candid, insightful, and charming.

Randy Alcorn,
Author, Heaven and If God is Good

Carolyn Webers memoir reads like a fast-paced novel. I loved the humor, skillful use of language and compelling account of her steps to finding God at Oxford. I was totally captivated from beginning to end. I simply loved everything about this book.

Marilyn Meberg,
Author and Women of Faith speaker

Carolyn Weber has penned a memoir for the ages; a tale of learning, love, and life. She didnt come to Oxford University to think about God, but in the end she discovered that He was thinking about her, and this reality changed her life. This is a terrific book; compelling, well written, and deeply meaningful.

Dr Jim Belcher,
Pastor and Author, Deep Church

Surprised by Oxford is a three-dimensional love story about a young womans romance with Oxford, with a handsome stranger, and (most of all) with a Savior she never wanted or expected to meet. This funny, well-written, heart-warming memoir will give you fresh joy for the love that only the grace of God can bring to life.

Dr. Philip G. Ryken,
President, Wheaton College

Vulnerable candor, romantic adventure, spirit and spires, a light so lovely that many students and lovers will be drawn to this journey into life. Into beauty. I found it too intriguing, and too much fun, to put down. It is all gift.

Kelly Monroe Kullberg, Author, Finding God Beyond Harvard: the Quest for Veritas

In the spirit of C.S. Lewis, Carolyn Weber has given us a conversion observed. With sparkling immediacy, she recreates the succession of experiences and encounters by which God broke down her old faith in self and drew her into the more abundant life.

Claudia Anderson, Managing Editor, The Weekly Standard

Carolyn Webers brilliantly written account of her conversion to Christianity at Oxford will inspire her fellow believers and provide intriguing food for thought for sceptics. It is honest, entertaining, and refreshingly free of superficial cant. I warmly commend it.

Don N. Johnson, Senior Pastor, Montecito Covenant Church

SURPRISED
BY OXFORD

OTHER BOOKS BY
CAROLYN WEBER

Romanticism and Parenting

Metempsychosis in the Early Works and

Short Stories of Mary Shelley

SURPRISED
BY OXFORD

A Memoir

CAROLYN WEBER

2011 by Carolyn Weber

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from THE ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION. 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.

Page Design by Mark L. Mabry

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Weber, Carolyn, 1971

Surprised by Oxford : a memoir / Carolyn Weber.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references ().

ISBN 978-0-8499-4611-0 (trade paper)

1. Weber, Carolyn, 1971- 2. Christian converts--Biography. 3. Conversion--Christianity-Biography. 4. College students--Religious life. 5. University of Oxford. I. Title.

BV4935.W39A3 2011

248.246092--dc23

[B]

2011022126

Printed in the United States of America

11 12 13 14 15 RRD 6 5 4 3 2 1

Kents

CONTENTS

11. Tide Out: Have a Heimlich/Un-Heimlich Christmas
(Home, but Not Home, for the Holidays)

13. Tide Out: Forsaking All Others
(Including the Self)

PREFACE
A NOTE ON THE TEXT AND TERMS

T he following story is based on events as they actually unfolded during my first year at Oxford University, the oldest surviving university in the English-speaking world. As a result of moral delicacy and pragmatic condensation (an apt phrase, since it conveys the compression and sweat behind selection) required of a memoir, most names have been changed, some features altered, and a few natures, at times, have been collapsed into one. But the re-created conversations, conflicts, crescendos, and conversion are, to the best of my feeble ability, true in spirit.

Oxfords academic year consists of three terms significantly embedded in the Christian liturgical calendar: Michaelmas derives its name from the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels (29 September) and runs from early October to Christmas; Hilary, named for St. Hilary (whose feast day is 13 or 14 January), begins in the New Year and ends just before Palm Sunday; and Trinity, or the name given to the tripartite being of God in Father-Son-Holy Ghost, picks up after Easter and draws to a close in late June or early July, followed by Examinations. The summer break between the end of Trinity and the start of Michaelmas is referred to as the Long Vacation, or Vac. Each Full Term is composed of eight weeks, sequentially referred to as First Week, Second Week, and so on, during which lectures are given and tutorials are held. The week before term officially starts is called Noughth Week (a popular time for orientation events and the like).

Matriculation, from the Latin matricula, meaning a roll, marks the passage of becoming a lifelong member of an Oxford College, and so, by extension, the University. Those who are beginning their studies at Oxford gather in the required subfusc, or the black-and-white formal wear donned beneath the academic regalia appropriate to their current academic status and program. Thus arrayed, incoming students proceed, according to college, to the common ceremony at the Sheldonian Theatre, where, in short, they take an age-old oath to respect one another, the institution, and the high calling of learning, along with the promise not to start fires in library holdings. Appropriately extinguished and distinguished, they return to their individual colleges to celebrate.