Communal Living as Spiritual Practice: Friendship, Formation, and Renewing the Senses

Can we find freedom in a world of endless choice—or is deeper liberation found in the people we refuse to leave?

In the first of a three-part Lectern Dialogues series, John Vervaeke is joined by Elizabeth Oldfield and her husband, Christopher Oldfield, for a conversation on intentional communal living as a spiritual practice within a Christian orientation.

Elizabeth and Christopher share life with their children and three other adults in a small London home shaped by a shared rule of life: collective prayer, hospitality, study, play, administration, and the daily work of formation. They distinguish committed community from casual cohabitation, exploring how proximity, conflict, repair, and shared rhythms can cultivate deeper friendship and fellowship.

The conversation connects intentional community with John's work on the philosophical Silk Road, renewing the senses, dialogical selfhood, attachment, participation, and the critique of modern individualism. It also takes seriously the risks of self-deception and toxic religion, asking what discernment and faithful communal maturation require.

Guests

Christopher Oldfield is a philosopher affiliated with the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion in Cambridge. His work explores wisdom, metaphysics, personhood, participation, and the sacred.

Elizabeth Oldfield writes and speaks on spirituality, community, and relational life, examining how shared practices can restore connection with one another and with God.

Resources

Christopher Oldfield:
https://www.chrisoldfieldphilosophy.com/

Elizabeth Oldfield on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-oldfield-5a5b6216/

Plato, The Seventh Letter:
http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/seventh_letter.html

A Hidden Life:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5827916/

The Thin Red Line:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120863/

Explore courses and teachings from The Lectern:
https://lectern.johnvervaeke.com/

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https://www.patreon.com/johnvervaeke

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Website: https://johnvervaeke.com/
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Chapters

00:00 Welcome to The Lectern
02:00 Elizabeth on friendship
04:30 Christopher's introduction
08:00 Why intentional community
09:30 Commitment and covenant
12:30 Rhythms of a rule of life
16:30 Plato and collective spirit
21:30 Creed, "we," and "I"
27:00 Dialogical self and science
31:30 Relearning wisdom today
39:00 Intimacy and modern culture
46:30 Rethinking eros
48:3030 Hearth and fellowship
49:00 Covenant friendship
49:30 Life inside community
52:30 Religion as holy listening
54:00 Religion as care and rebinding
56:30 Empire and invented religion
59:00 Shared scripture and shared life
01:01:00 Is religion accessible?
01:03:00 Practice and participation
01:05:00 Communal maturation
01:08:30 Rupture, repair, and intimacy
01:13:00 "We too" identity in Ephesians
01:17:30 Renewing the senses
01:24:30 Attachment and attunement
01:27:30 Discernment and toxic religion
01:30:00 Friendship as the path