SCIO is thrilled to announce a significant new partnership with Pusey House. Pusey House is an esteemed educational and church space which takes as its primary mission the welcome of students, offering deeply Christian spiritual formation and vision and encouraging such as integral to scholarly life. The house exists to promote theological study and holiness of life, and to provide spiritual counsel and comfort to those living and studying in Oxford. Located in the heart of Oxford, Pusey House is a marker of English history. As a chaplaincy, library, and social space at the very centre of Oxford, Pusey House provides a welcome space for students and members of the wider community to worship and study.
Located in central Oxford on St Giles Street, Pusey House was opened in 1884 as a memorial to Edward Bouverie Pusey (1800-1882), Regius Professor of Hebrew and Canon of Christ Church, who was for forty years a figurehead of the Oxford Movement and its de facto leader after Newman’s conversion in 1845.
Through this partnership, Pusey House will offer SCIO and its students:
- Access to its library
- Participation in Scriptorium, a weekly study group with Christian scholars studying in Oxford (further details below)
- Chapel and chaplaincy with pastoral support
- Teaching, lecture, and communal space
- Participation in a varied and faithful Christian community
- Friendships and collegiality with students and faculty from across the collegiate university
The Rev’d Dr George Westhaver, Principal of Pusey House, commented on the new partership:
Pusey House is delighted that its long-term connection with SCIO and its students is further strengthened as it formalizes a partnership which will see the House and its community even more engaged with the SCIO staff and students. We look forward to welcoming them to our daily worship and study, to our teaching spaces and to the Pusey House Library, as well as offering them our pastoral support. We hope also that our Scriptorium programme will create a shared space for research, Christian scholarly community, and prayer. Since its foundation 140 years ago, Pusey House has sought to ‘promote theological study and holiness of life’ and to ‘provide spiritual counsel and comfort’ to members of the University and to all who avail themselves of its work and ministry. We believe that this image of the life of the mind and the life of prayer belonging together deeply complements SCIO’s own Christian and scholarly visions and so this is a natural and authentic expansion of what SCIO students have sought out from us for many years.
Throughout the past 20 years, SCIO students have been visiting Pusey House – using its library, worshipping in the chapel, and finding a community of like-minded Christian scholars in Oxford. We share a common ethos and mission to promote rigorous study, holistic education, and spiritual growth, which has led to a natural friendship. The current partnership has evolved from this, and it provides a unique opportunity for students to study and worship in a stunningly beautiful, medieval place that fosters community of faith and education, providing an enhanced experience for SCIO students.