Following a recent summer school, plans for a Christian higher education institution in Oxford are moving forward. I caught up with the founder, Dr Timothy Edwards, to find out more.
Many Christian parents seek to mitigate the problems of state education. They ask: how can I help my children survive school, or, when is it so bad that I must withdraw them? The focus is usually on the content of some lessons rather than the contours of the curriculum.
Timothy Edwards is focused not on mitigating the bad but pursuing the best. He is thinking positively and holistically: what is it to educate to the glory of God? Strikingly, his focus is not on home schooling or Christian schools, but for a Christian higher education institution, Selden College. Edwards hopes to launch this in Oxford in October 2025.
A father of six, Edwards has a BEd and a DPhil in Oriental Studies. He has taught at Bristol University, Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, and New Saint Andrews College (Idaho), where he also served as Academic Dean.
First principles
Once, Edwards imagined God asking him why his children had been taught error at school. He realised that the answer ‘but I didn’t teach them that’ would not be satisfactory – he was responsible for their education. This led to him thinking through education from first principles. What does it mean to educate to the glory of God?
Instead of specific qualifications like A Levels, Selden College will have an entrance exam, interview, pastoral and academic references, and sample pieces of academic work.
