Jane Shaw Interviews John Blair and Anthony Hopkins at Burford Lit Fest

September brings a welcome chance to hear two thoughtful public conversations led by one of the most respected voices in the history of religion. We are delighted that Jane Shaw will interview John Blair and Anthony Hopkins as part of our speaker programme this September.

Both interviews promise to be more than standard speaker sessions. With Shaw guiding the conversation, audiences can expect careful questions, generous listening and a strong sense of the wider historical, religious and cultural contexts behind each speaker’s work.

Jane Shaw brings rare depth to the conversation

Jane Shaw is a British cultural and intellectual historian of religion, an Anglican priest, and Professor of the History of Religion at the University of Oxford. She also serves as Provost of Gresham College and has held senior leadership roles, including Principal of Harris Manchester College, Oxford.

That range matters. Shaw’s work sits at the meeting point of history, theology, culture and public life. She knows how ideas move through institutions, communities and personal experience. She also knows how to ask questions that open up a subject rather than close it down holding several layers at once.

For you, it means that these two events offer both clarity and depth. If you have an interest in history, religion, culture, public thought and the people behind major ideas, these two events are perfect.

Rather than treating our events as a lecture followed by questions, our format creates room for conversation. It allows the interviewer to pause over a phrase, ask for the story behind a claim, or invite the speaker to connect specialist knowledge with wider concerns. This approach is especially valuable when a subject has layers of history behind it. The best public conversations do not flatten complex topics. They make them more accessible while still respecting their richness.

Audiences can expect a meeting of minds, shaped by close attention and a genuine interest in what lies beneath the surface of the subject.

Why these interviews matter

Speaker events are strongest when they give audiences something they could not get from a book jacket, biography or recorded extract.

Jane Shaw’s presence as interviewer brings a clear centre of gravity. She understands the disciplines involved, but she also understands public conversation. That combination helps create events that are intelligent without being closed off, and serious without feeling remote.

There is also value in hearing two different speakers interviewed by the same person. It creates a subtle thread across the programme. Audiences can notice how Shaw’s questions adapt to each speaker while still reflecting her own interests in history, religion, culture and meaning.

These are not conversations designed only for specialists. They are for people who enjoy listening closely, thinking historically and seeing how ideas take shape in public life.

Jane Shaw’s interviews with John Blair and Anthony Hopkins will be among the notable moments in our September programme. They bring together respected speakers with an interviewer whose scholarship, public leadership and pastoral insight make her especially well suited to this kind of conversation.

For anyone interested in the life of ideas, these events offer a chance to listen in a deeper way. They should give audiences not only information, but perspective.

September can often feel like a return to serious attention after the summer. These interviews fit that mood beautifully. They invite careful listening, thoughtful exchange and a renewed interest in the questions that shape culture, religion and public life.

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