In the Chapel

I think that I ought to go back to my reminiscences of Oxford, as there is something quite important that I have more or less left out: the Exeter College chapel. It is one of my favourite buildings, Gilbert Scott’s flamboyant pastiche of Saint-Chapelle in Paris, and a riot of Victorian gothic architecture. The Burne-Jones tapestry, The Adoration of the Magi, is rather splendid.

Before "second hall" on a Sunday evening, it was my habit to go to chapel. After the service, there was a glass (or maybe two) of sherry in the chaplain's rooms. As well as attending Sunday evening services, I actually lived right next door to the chapel when I had rooms in the Margary quad. Sitting at my desk, I could sometimes hear the organ’s notes. Exeter College chapel was also the setting of a memorable production of Murder in the Cathedral, in which yours truly was the Second Priest.

The chapel was the domain of the college chaplain, the Rev Graham Shaw. When I did rather badly in Classics Mods, I needed to find another subject to study and so I embarked on a degree in Theology. Graham Shaw became my tutor.

So did I seriously consider becoming a real priest, a C. of E. vicar? Yes and no. If you are studying Law, of course you will think about a becoming a solicitor or a barrister. It was natural for me to think of a possible ecclesiastical career. However, in my final year I made up my mind that no, the Church was not for me. Strangely, the Rev Shaw’s influence was one of the deciding factors.

While he was the chaplain at Exeter College, Graham was busy writing his book, The Cost of Discipleship: Manipulation and Freedom in the New Testament. (It was published in 1983, the year after I went down from Oxford.) In a nutshell, Graham argues that Christianity is (or ought to be) about peace, love and freedom. However, if you look at Paul’s letters and the Gospel of Mark, there seems to be rather a lot that Graham called control, manipulation and oppression. So was Graham right? Were the earliest New Testament writers more interested in power politics than being faithful to the original message of Jesus? The short answer is I do not know, but I guessed that uncertainty, doubt and confusion were not the best foundation for my future career.