Our series of Keene Lectures during Lent are titled Wrestling with God.
This series accompanies different speakers and different expressions of faith, doubt, and devotion, as ‘resurrection journeys’ that travel through rough, disturbing or difficult terrain. If you find faith challenging and/or extraordinary, this series is for you. All of the evenings are from 7.00pm - 8.30pm.
Tuesday 3 March 2026
Guy Stagg is a writer who specialises in religion, travel, mental health - and the places where they meet. His first book, The Crossway (Picador, 2018), was an account of his epic walk from Canterbury to Jerusalem. It was a BBC Book of the Week and shortlisted for several prizes. His second book, The World Within (Simon and Schuster, 2025), looks at the role of retreat in creative lives. He reviews for the Financial Times, the Spectator and the Times Literary Supplement.
Tuesday 10 March 2026
Lamorna Ash is a writer based in London. Her first book, Dark Salt Clear: Life in a Cornish Fishing Town was shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize in 2020, and won the Somerset Maugham prize in 2021. Her second book, Don’t Forget We’re Here Forever: A New Generation’s Search for Religion, came out with Bloomsbury in May 2025, and was a Telegraph, Prospect and GQ Book of the Year. As a journalist, she writes for the Observer, Vogue, New Statesman, Financial Times, Telegraph, Guardian, Dial and Kismet.
Thursday 26 March 2026
Renowned Messiaen scholar, author and lecturer Christopher Dingle (originally from Ilford, Essex) explores the impact of faith on Olivier Messiaen’s dazzling sound world. The talk will culminate in a demonstration of Messiaen’s organ music by our own Assistant Director of Music Samuel Bristow.
