John Collins Lecture 2025

This annual lecture is delivered this year by Bijan Omrani on ‘British Values? Christianity and the Crisis of National Identity.’

Dr Bijan Omrani is a British historian, journalist, teacher, barrister and author of Persian descent. In his most recent book God is an Englishman: Christianity and the Creation of England (Forum Press, April 2025), he argues that the decline of Christianity in England 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.

The John Collins Lectures exist to encourage students to consider the relationship between Christianity and contemporary social and political issues.

Anyone is welcome to attend. No booking is required.