Rick Warren to Join CS Lewis Summer Conference in Oxford & Cambridge

Pastor Rick Warren has been added to the line up of speakers for the CS Lewis Summer Conference which will take place in Oxford and Cambridge from 24 July to 6 August, 2005. Some of the most prestigious Christian scholars and speakers from around the world have been attracted to the event, entitled Making All Things New – the Good, the True and the Beautiful in the 21st Century, Oxbridge 2005.

Rick Warren is the author of The Purpose-Driven Church and The Purpose Driven Life and the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in California, one of the largest and well-known churches in the US.

A plenary address will be delivered by Pastor Warren on 25 July in Oxford on the subject of The Good, The True and the Beautiful: To What End? Afterwards, he will hold a short question and answer session. He will also take part in an informal ‘Conversation with Rick Warren and Dick Staub’, in Cambridge on 31 July.

"We are delighted that Pastor Rick Warren will be able to join our excellent list of speakers as we celebrate the writings and achievements of C S Lewis – one of the most notable thinkers of the 21st century," said Dr J Stanley Matson, founder of the CS Lewis Foundation.

"Thousands have turned to his Gospel-centred writings, such as Mere Christianity, The Problem of Pain and The Screwtape Letters. His brilliant and logical mind, coupled with his lively, lucid style, mean that these revaluations of apologetics, ethics and theology read as freshly today as they did when they were written some fifty years ago. Christians of all ages continue to find them invaluable as they deal with the central problems of belief and conduct – and how modern society challenges our ideals of faith, values and behaviour.

"We hope that many Christians from the UK come to Oxbridge 2005. We are sure that those who do will benefit, both spiritually and intellectually, from this extraordinary experience."

Keynote addresses will also be given by Alister McGrath, Bishop James Jones, Charles (Chuck) Colson, David Cook and John Polkinghorne will also be giving keynote addresses.

The C.S. Lewis Foundation was founded in September 1986 after Dr Mattson’s inspiration for the tendency for Christian thought to be ‘squeezed out of the academic mainstream’. He convened a small group of American scholars in 1972 and prayed towards the establishment of an inter-disciplinary, faculty governed, "mere Christian" community of higher learning at a major secular college or university which ultimately led to the founding of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. Its primary mission is to advance the renewal of Christian thought and creative expression throughout the culture and world of learning.