Encounter with Light Summary and Analysis

Once in Oxford, they fall into a lifestyle of yachting on the Isis, meeting friends, and enjoying the bells chiming all over the city. England feels like a homecoming. The friends they make right away are Christians, and a merry bunch. They are surprised at the intellectual prowess, wit, and enjoyable natures of the Christians they encounter, and are forced to adjust their definitions. Where "Christian" once meant a simple-minded, uneducated person, or a stiff Puritan unable to enjoy life, it now means anyone who believes Jesus to be the Son of God, and to live with an otherwise inexplicable joy and completeness.

They share good times, enjoying pubs and songs outside of school, and taking part in clubs, like Van's dinner group that hosts speakers. They observe that Christians are both the best argument for and...