“God is an Englishman” by Bijan Omrani
Saturday November 15th at 3.00pm in All Saints Church, Oakham
The lecture
Bijan Orami will talk about his recently released book “God is an Englishman – Christianity and the creation of England”, which has met with considerable critical acclaim following its release. The book acknowledges that Christianity in England is in decline. Congregations are dwindling and ever fewer young people believe. Should we merely shrug our shoulders and accept this as inevitable and even healthy, or is something important being lost?
Omrani argues that this decline is the most momentous change to occur in English history. He shows how a religion that has been part of our national story for over 1700 years was instrumental in the creation and development of the English nation, its codes of law and morality, and its structures of government and kingship. He demonstrates its profound cultural impact, in areas ranging from architecture and literature to our very landscape and the structure of our everyday life and language. Its influence, he contends, has been enormous, largely benign, and shouldn’t be lightly abandoned.
Ending with a rousing call to retain Christianity, rightly understood, as a way of dealing with both the eternal questions of the human condition, as well as the malaises of modernity, this is an erudite and tender tribute to our Christian history and heritage.
A couple of reviews
“Christianity is the golden thread that stitches together England’s history. Yes, it may be fraying now but, as Bijan Omrani brilliantly explains, it is not yet quite broken – and must be repaired.” Harry Mount
“Omrani wants us to look and listen hard to the actual contours and rhythms of the Christian vision of humanity as England has received it over the centuries, and to ask what we might urgently need of that vision. Superb….lively and erudite,” Rt. Rev’d Rowan Williams
Booking
Tickets cost £5 and include a glass of wine after the talk. They are available on the door and through WeGotTickets at https://wegottickets.com/event/674968
The lecturer
Bijan Omrani is a British historian, journalist, teacher, barrister and author of Persian descent. His work ranges from Classical scholarship to cultural and religious history, as well as current affairs across Asia. Omrani was born in York, England, in 1979. He studied at Wellington College, Berkshire before reading Classics and English Literature at Lincoln College, Oxford. He later studied at King’s College London. He has a doctorate in Classics and Ancient History from the University of Exeter. His previous books and research have looked at questions of religious history and cultural identity from Ancient Rome and Greece to Afghanistan and the Silk Road. He is also a church warden at a church in Dorset.