Published on October 17, 2025 by Neal Embry  
UKTripStudents

This past summer, students from Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School visited sites of the Protestant Reformation in England, exploring history and theology in the places where it happened. The study abroad course was led by Jonathan Linebaugh, Beeson’s Anglican Chair of Divinity.

The course focused on the English Reformation, particularly researching the 16th and 17th century, as well as Christianity in Britain before the Reformation and later developments in the 19th and 20th centuries.

While the course included time in London and Oxford, students were based at Jesus College at the University of Cambridge, where Linebaugh was a fellow when he served as a professor there.

“This meant we had a slower pace in Cambridge, spending time in libraries with 16th century manuscripts, including letters from Anne Boleyn, Thomas Cranmer and Philip Melanchthon and sermons of Hugh Latimer, and having study sessions in colleges at the university,” Linebaugh said.

Beeson students were able to visit historic Reformation sites this summer during a study abroad program in the UK.

Learning at the site of the Reformation made history come alive in fresh ways, with students seeing the continued heritage of the Reformation centuries later.

“Being in the places these figures lived, worked, walked, worshipped and died makes the history come alive in a more tangible way,” Master of Divinity student Blake Dean said. “However, what was equally as moving to me was meeting a few people who are currently ministering in those same places. This pairing made the course feel less like a pilgrimage and more like tracing an inheritance. While we were living in the story of the 16th century with the reformers’ proclamation of God’s unconditioned gift of grace, local chaplains and pastors were working out this same proclamation, in the same place at a different time.”

Beeson students spent time at The Wren Library this summer.

Students walked the streets and explored buildings that once hosted the reformers, all while deepening relationships with fellow students. In their spare time, students saw Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace, visited other towns like Bury St. Edmunds, Ely and Bath.

“The wealth of opportunities and experiences provided to us during this program made it unforgettable,” said Master of Divinity student Kurtz Cockley.

Beeson students got to spend time at the River Cam as part of a study abroad program this year.

Learning on location at these sites, Linebaugh said, strengthens the student’s theology, appreciation of history and faith.

“It’s one thing to hear the history of people who lived and died for the truth of the Gospel; it’s another to experience such a story in the very spot where someone was put to death,” Linebaugh said. “Having a student read the final words of Lady Jane Grey at the Tower of London—the very site where she spoke them—is to experience a hope and divine love stronger than death. This kind of experience makes the dates and doctrines come alive, but even more so it is an encounter with a mercy and grace that overcomes fear and the grave.”

Hila Grace Allman, a Master of Arts in Christian Counseling student, described walking through the stories of the martyrs as” powerful and moving.”

“All of these stories are deeply heartbreaking, yet equally inspiring because they show us the unshakeable hope that faith can produce even when faced with trials, pain and death,” Allman said.

 
Located in the Homewood suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford enrolls 6,324 students from 44 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford is widely recognized as having one of the most beautiful campuses in America, featuring rolling hills, meticulously maintained grounds and Georgian-Colonial architecture. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks with the second-highest score in the nation for its 98% Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.