My Travel Study Plan

July/August in United Kingdom

First Four Days in London on my four-month journey in UK and Europe.  I plan to visit Wesley’s Chapel and Mission, Salvation Army HQ and Museum, Westminster Abbey and the ancient Church of the Knights Templar.

Then it’s on to Oxford and Cambridge for the three weeks. As part of the faculty of the Oxbridge C.S. Lewis Summer Institute, I'll teach a seminar on "The Romantic Theology of the Inklings" at St. Catherine's College, Oxford; and present a paper at the Academic Round Table at Robinson College, Cambridge on “C. S. Lewis on Scripture and the Issue of Inerrancy.”  http://www.cslewis.org/programs/si/ox2017/speakers-artists/michael-christensen/   

I'm also enrolled as a student at Oxford University in the Theological Summer School program at Christ Church, taking two short seminars on "Christian Faith and Modern Thought" (with Professor Keith Ward) and  "C. S. Lewis and the Christian Imagination" (with Professor Judith Wolfe)

As a dream come true, I'll stay at “The Kilns”—Lewis’ historic home and current C.S. Lewis Study Centre. 

http://www.cslewis.org/ourprograms/thekilns/kilnstour/    

In my role as Senior Scholar in Residence, I’ll take time to revise and expand my first (and most successful) book--C. S. Lewis on Scripture—which I wrote as a Senior Honors’ Project at Point Loma College 40 years ago.  Published by Word Books in 1979 and selling over 30,000 hardback copies, the paperback is still in 'print on demand' with Abingdon (but needs an makeover).  

Sleeping with Books in September 

at Gladstone Residential Library, Harden, Wales

I’ll travel to Chester, England and Harden, Wales to “sleep with books” for three weeks at the William Gladstone Residential Library (the tag line of which is “sleeping with books”). This will be my third time to visit this historic estate of one of England’s finest Statesmen and Prime Ministers. What brings me back, besides the aroma of old books, is its old world charm and renaissance people.  And the fun it is to climb circular stair cases, wander through the dark wood, stumble upon a rare 19th century jewel which you can take off the shelve, dust off the cover, hold in your hands, and even borrow for the night in your modernized guest room just a few steps away inside the library.   I will work for my room and board by teaching a seminar on Apocalyptic Christianity—“Putting the End of the World in Perspective”--as part of their Fall course offerings. https://www.gladstoneslibrary.org/events/events-courses-list/putting-the-end-of-the-world-in-perspective

Side Trip to Malawi and Uganda

Since I'm in the neighborhood, and work part time as Executive Director of WorldHope Corps, Inc., I’ll fly from Manchester to Africa for 12 days to help our mission team conduct Shalom Training in Asset Based Community Development, encourage the Shalom Coffee farmers, facilitate Women’s Empowerment conferences, and dedicate new village wells in Uganda and Malawi.

October in Holland

I'll fly back to Manchester on October 7, and then travel to Rotterdam to stay at the home of Laurent Nouwen (Henri’s brother) for a week and at his father's house in Eastern Holland for two weeks to write.  We’ve stayed with Laruent before and his hospitality and friendship are unsurpassed. From our base in Holland, I plan to join Rebecca in visiting pilgrimage sites associated with Hildegard of Bingen and the Beguines of Brugge in preparation for her new course on women in Christianity.

Wittenberg on Halloween

We'll visit our 'adopted' German daughter, Antonia, in Berlin (who we first met as a Rotary Exchange Student in our home in NJ).  Then attend a Conference in Wittenberg where Martin Luther allegedly nailed his 95 theses to the Door of the Castle Church on October 31, 1517.  We’ll be knocking on that same door exactly 500 years later, and join other Protestant Pilgrims inside the historic Castle Church on All Hallows Eve as part of Wittenberg 2017 Summit--a three day international gathering of 500 church leaders to mark the 500th Anniversary of the “day that changed the world.”  http://luther2017.tv/         

I was invited to join Professor Leonard Sweet’s doctoral alumni class from George Fox University to attend the conference and (in my words) “mark the end of the European Protestant Reformation (as the dominant form of Christianity) and the emergence of Global Christianity--with new epicenters in Asia, Africa and South America of indigenous Pentecostal religion, which has become the primary expression of global Christianity in the 21st Century.”

In appreciation for Martin Luther and the positive contributions of the Euro-centric Protestant Reformation (500 years is a pretty long run!), I signed up for a post-Summit Luther Tour (Nov. 2-6) with some Pentecostal  Church leaders.   https://luther2017.fellowship.com/   

Thanksgiving in New York, Home for Christmas

Departing Frankfurt for Newark on Nov. 6 to spend time with friends in NJ and NYC.  Jim and Dustee Hullinger have offered us a place to stay in the City, and we will welcome our daughters, Megan and Rachel, and boyfriend Raul, for Thanksgiving weekend, attend Macy’s Day Parade, and hopefully see Late Night with Stephen Colbert on Broadway.  Last stop for me will be Shakertown, Kentucky, where I'll attend the 40th anniversary Christmas Conference of the John Wesley Fellows (sponsored by A Foundation for Theological Education which supported me in my doctoral program at Drew). Finally, after 140 days on the road, I'll return home on Dec 12 (after nearly 5 months on the road), ready to celebrate the holidays with family and friends in San Diego.

Get Outta Town--It's Travel-Study Time!

As Comicon devotees descended on San Diego today (July 19), family members took us to the airport and we flew to London.  For the next 140 days we will travel and stay in the UK, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Europe for nearly four months, followed by another month in NJ/NYC.  We’ll return home in early December in time for Millie Christensen’s 90^th birthday (Dec 16) and Christmas with the Christensen family.

Professor Rebecca Laird is on sabbatical this Fall to research and design a new pilgrimage course on Women in Christianity.  Her plan is to visit and explore key historic sites and figures that mark women's contribution to Western Christianity, including: Julian of Norwich, Hildegard of Bingen, Susanna Wesley of Epworth, Katharina Zell of Strasbourg, Catherine Booth of London. 

Dr. Michael Christensen, concurrently, is on a writing-study-travel trip and has a couple of teaching gigs (in Oxford and Wales) along the way.  He has a temporary faculty appointment at the Oxbridge C.S. Lewis Summer Institute and as Senior Fellow and Scholar in Residence at "The Kilns"—C. S. Lewis’s historic home in Oxford, now owned and operated by the C.S. Lewis Foundation.

Both Rebecca and Michael will take courses at Oxford University Summer School, visit sites in UK and Europe, go on a Luther Tour of Germany, and attend Wittenberg 2017 Summit--a three day international gathering of 500 church leaders to mark the 500^th Anniversary of the “day that changed the world.”  

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Donkey's Delight by C.S. Lewis

"Donkey's Delight" is the name of my travel-study blog, from C.S. Lewis's poem by that title.  I often see here, hidden between the lines of this playful poem, aspects of my own spiritual journey and whimsical attitude toward life.  I include it here as an invitation to find your inner donkey and join me on my road of adventures and reflections on the meaning of life.

Donkey's Delight 

Ten mortal months I courted

A girl with bright hair, 

Unswerving in my service

As the old lovers were.

Almost she had learned to call me

Her dear love. But then,

One moment changed the omens,

She was cold again.

For carelessly, unfairly,

With one glance of his eyes,

A gay, light-hearted sailor

Bore away the prize,

Unbought, which I had sought with

Many gifts and sighs.

In stern disdain I turned to

The Muses’ service then, To seek how the unspeakable

Could be fixed by a pen,

Not to flinch through the ink that

I must use, they said,

Was my dearest blood, nearest

My heart, the riches red.

I obeyed them, I made them

Many a costly lay,

Till carelessly, unfairly,

A boy passed that way

Who set ringing with his singing

All the fields and lanes;

They gave him their favor,

Lost were all my pains.

Then I passed to a Master

Who is higher in repute,

Trusting to find justice

At the world’s root.

With rigid fast and vigil,

Silence, and shirt of hair,

The narrow way to Paradise

I walked with care.

But carelessly, unfairly,

At the eleventh hour came,

Reckless and feckless,

Without a single claim,

A dare-devil, a ne’er-do-well

Who smelled of shag and gin;

Before me (and far warmer

Was his welcome) he went in.

I stood still in the chill

Of the Great Morning,

Aghast. then a last

-Oh, I was late learning —-

I repented, I entered

Into the excellent joke,

The absurdity. My burden

Rolled off as I broke

Into laughter; and soon after

I found my own level;

With Balam’s Ass daily

Out at grass I revel, 

Now playing, now braying

Over the meadows of light,

Our soaring, creaking Gloria,

Our donkeys’ delight.

"Donkeys’ Delight" by C. S. Lewis

From “Poems” p. 29-31