England & Scotland

Stand where Presbyterian church governance took shape and where the National Covenant was signed.

• St. Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh — John Knox's pulpit from 1559, the “mother church of Presbyterianism”

• Greyfriars Kirk & Kirkyard — where the National Covenant was signed in 1638

• Palace of Holyroodhouse — site of Knox's face-to-face confrontations with Mary, Queen of Scots

• St. Andrews — Holy Trinity Church (Knox's first public sermon, 1547) and St. Andrews Castle (Knox's call to ministry)

Trace the line of witnesses who paid for the Reformation with their lives:

• Patrick Hamilton's Initials & Martyrs' Monument, St. Andrews — first martyr of the Scottish Reformation (1528)

• George Wishart's burning site, St. Andrews Castle — 1546

• Martyrs' Memorial & Broad Street, Oxford — Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley burned under Mary I

• University Church of St Mary the Virgin, Oxford — where Cranmer renounced his recantation

Follow the 18th-century awakening that grew out of Reformation soil:

• Patrick Hamilton's Initials & Martyrs' Monument, St. Andrews — first martyr of the Scottish Reformation (1528)

• George Wishart's burning site, St. Andrews Castle — 1546

• Martyrs' Memorial & Broad Street, Oxford — Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley burned under Mary I

• University Church of St Mary the Virgin, Oxford — where Cranmer renounced his recantation

Encounter the writers who have shaped the Christian imagination for 100-plus years. Explore the cathedrals that have anchored English worship for centuries:

• Magdalen College, Oxford — C. S. Lewis, and Addison's Walk, site of his late-night conversation with Tolkien

• Exeter & Merton Colleges, Oxford — J. R. R. Tolkien

• The Eagle and Child pub, Oxford — meeting place of the Inklings

• St. Paul's Cathedral, London — Paul's Cross, the great open-air preaching ground of the English Reformation

• Salisbury Cathedral Evensong — historic worship in one of England's great medieval cathedrals

Consider the documents and places that shaped Western ideas of ordered liberty:

• Salisbury Cathedral — best-preserved original 1215 Magna Carta; Bishop John Jewel's “Apology of the Church of England”

• Runnymede — where Magna Carta was sealed in 1215

Threaded through the tour is the story of the crown and the corridors of power — monarchs, ministers, and statesmen whose decisions shaped the nation, sometimes in open collision with the faith of their people:

• Edinburgh Castle — the royal fortress of Mary, Queen of Scots, whose Catholic reign set the stage for Scotland's Reformation struggle

• Palace of Holyroodhouse — the royal residence where Mary summoned Knox for their famous confrontations over faith and the crown

• Tower of London — royal fortress and prison that held the realm's most powerful captives, a monument to the cost of proximity to the throne

• Churchill War Rooms, London (Plus) — the underground command post from which Winston Churchill directed Britain's leadership through its darkest and most decisive hour

Indulge in British culture while taking in picturesque landscapes, favored pastimes, and national icons woven throughout the sojourn:

• Catch a glimpse of the Old Course & Royal & Ancient Clubhouse, St. Andrews — the worldwide “Home of Golf”

• Football match (forthcoming schedule permitting)

• Churchill War Rooms, London — the underground bunkers of WWII command

• Oxford’s literary landmarks – C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Blackwells Bookstore

• The British Museum – world’s first public museum home of Rosetta Stone, Parthenon sculptures, among other world treasures

• The Royal Mile – the backbone of the old towne connecting Edinburgh Castle and Palace of Holyroodhouse with shopping, food, and fun

• Step back in time walking quaint streets in Windsor, Oxford, Salisbury, and Bristol 

• Stonehenge — prehistoric stone circle shrouded in mystery and ancient ritual    

• Shakespeare's Globe Theatre — the timber playhouse reviving the Bard's plays on the banks of the Thames