Inspired by the life and work of C.S. Lewis, the C.S. Lewis Foundation is pleased to present the C.S. Lewis Summer Institute of 2025: “Returning Home: C.S. Lewis, Roots, & Transformation.“ This international conference, known for integrating faith, reason, and imagination, will be convening in the Belfast, Northern Ireland from 24 – 30 July 2025 – marking the Foundation’s 12th such summer gathering since July 1988.
Brief Description of the Event
The C.S. Lewis Summer Institutes offer a unique and intentional blend of worship, scholarship, and the arts for scholars, clergy, professionals, and laypersons, from around the globe. Academics, serving in both Christian and secular institutions, report that the Summer Institutes rank among the very finest of conferences, offering experiences that have transformed their very lives, as well as their approach to service within the academy. They provide, moreover, an environment that is uniquely “Mere Christian,” one with attendees drawn from a variety of denominational backgrounds, including mainline and evangelical Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox churches, as well as earnest seekers.
The morning program, each weekday, opens with a brief service of worship, followed by two plenary lectures, each offered by distinguished scholars, and accompanied by a mid-morning coffee break and an artistic “whimsy,” featuring various guest artists. Three afternoons will feature a variety of small-group seminars and workshop electives on a variety of subjects, ranging from Lewis and the Inklings, to social and intellectual history, theology, apologetics, creative writing, film-making, science, politics, and business, in addition to an Academic Roundtable for faculty and scholars.
Every evening offers an feast of the arts, running the gamut from a hymn-sing at C.S. Lewis’s grandfather’s church, a céilí, a choir concert, another by a singer-songwriter, to our after-hours “Bag End Café,” an open microphone gathering for our registrants.
Special Emphases – Education/learning & the visual & performing arts
Of particular interest at the C.S. Lewis Summer Institute is the role of education and the arts, not only in contributing to the problems of our post-Christian world but, more importantly, in offering potential paths forward in seeking solutions to these problems.
History
The 2025 C.S. Lewis “Oxbridge” Summer Institute will mark the 12th Summer Institute produced by the C.S. Lewis Foundation. Themes addressed to date include:
Oxford 1988 The Christian & the Contemporary University
Oxford 1991 Muses Unbound: Transfiguring the Imagination
Cambridge 1994 Cosmos & Creation: Chance or Dance?
Oxbridge 1998 Loose in the Fire: Centenary Celebration of the Birth of C.S. Lewis
Oxbridge 2002 Time & Eternity: The Cosmic Odyssey
Oxbridge 2005 Making All Things New: The Good, the True, & the Beautiful
Oxbridge 2008 The Self & the Search for Meaning
Oxbridge 2011 Paradigms of Hope: Transcending Chaos & Transforming Culture
Oxbridge 2014 Reclaiming the Virtues: Human Flourishing in the 21st Century
Oxbridge 2017 Irrigating Deserts & Cultivating Gardens: Pursuing Calling with Purpose & Hope
Oxford 2022 Surprised by Love: Cultivating Intellectual Hospitality in an Age of Uncertainty
The C.S. Lewis Foundation
The C.S. Lewis Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in the United States and a registered charity in the United Kingdom. We do not own the rights to C.S. Lewis’s works. Our funding comes primarily through the generosity of individual donors, along with some church funded support and our program income.
Our mission is “inspired by the life and legacy of C.S. Lewis, to encourage and equip Christians to live out their faith in the world of ideas and the arts.” Our community values faith, reason, and imagination in the company of friends.
The C.S. Lewis Foundation owns and operates “The Kilns,” C.S. Lewis’s home in Oxford, England.
We host a variety of events in the U.S. and U.K., including the C.S. Lewis Summer Institute, The C.S. Lewis Retreat, C.S. Lewis Summer Seminars at The Kilns, The C.S. Lewis Writers’ Conference, and the C.S. Lewis Conference & Faculty Forum. Most of these events in recent years are hosted in Houston, Texas; Southern California; Amherst, Massachusetts; Oxford, England; Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Belfast, Northern Ireland.
