Oxford University - Oxford, UK
Posted by: dtrebilc
N 51° 45.483 W 001° 15.289
30U E 620448 N 5735569
This stone carving of the coat of arms of Oxford University on a scroll is high up on the Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory above the entrance.
Waymark Code: WM122K8
Location: South East England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 02/10/2020
Views: 2
The arm show three crowns on a shield with an open book in the middle with the Latin phrase 'dominus illuminatio mea'
"Dominus illuminatio mea is the motto of the University of Oxford and the incipit (opening words) of Psalm 27, meaning The Lord is my light. It has been in use at least since the second half of the sixteenth century, and it appears on the University's arms.
An article by Ivan Illich may help to explain this ancient university motto, at a time when scientists were progressively replacing the concept of vision as a gaze radiating from the pupil by the concept of vision as the retinal perception of an image formed by reflected sunlight:
"To interpret De oculo morali, the relationship of things to God "who is light" must be understood. This is the century [i.e., the thirteenth century] suffused by the idea that the world rests in God's hands, that it is contingent on Him. This means that at every instant everything derives its existence from his continued creative act. Things radiate by virtue of their constant dependence on this creative act. They are alight by the God-derived luminescence of their truth."
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