Wade Center

When is a dragon more than a dragon? In this week's episode Dr. David C. Downing (Co-Director of the Marion E. Wade Center and co-host of our podcast) sits down with Crystal and Producer Aaron Hill to discuss his inaugural lecture which compared the imaginary worlds created by C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien in their respective novels. Does the way that Lewis and Tolkien use dragons reveal something more fundamental about the way they approached world-building and the realm of imagination?

The Czech Republic is one of the most atheistic countries in Europe, if not in the world. Despite this, many Czech people enjoy the works of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. In this week's episode, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing sit down with Dr. Pavel Hošek (Charles University in Prague) to discuss the impact of these two British Christian authors on the Czech people as well as his own spiritual journey.

How do you adapt a literary work like The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien? Many fans of Tolkien's novels also love the movies which were directed and produced by Peter Jackson. Yet, as we discussed last week, movies and books are two entirely different mediums. Not everything on the page can make it into the movie. This week our two in-house Tolkien experts—Wade Archivist Laura Schmidt and Wade Co-director David C. Downing—join Crystal to discuss the challenges that Peter Jackson faced in adapting Tolkien's beloved novels for the screen.

Instead of reading novels, more and more people are watching movies and epic TV shows. With Oscar season upon us, we are focusing on movies this January with two special episodes. This week Dr. David C. Downing and Producer Aaron Hill sit down with our very own Co-director, Dr. Crystal Downing to discuss her recent inaugural lecture on Dorothy L. Sayers and cinema as well as her work on how Christians can communicate unchanging truths through ever-changing mediums like movies. Join us on January 23rd for a special episode about the movie adaptations of The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.

You never truly know someone until you know where they are from: where they grew up, went to school, and have lived. Places shape us. In this week's episode, Dr. Jerry Root sits down with Drs. Crystal and David Downing to discuss how visiting the places from C.S. Lewis's life can shed light on the Oxford don. How did these locations inspire various characters, locations, and plot elements in Lewis's fiction? Take an audio trip to the British Isles and follow in Jack's footsteps.

One year ago the Wade Center Podcast interviewed Douglas Gresham about his stepfather, C.S. Lewis! In this week's episode, Crystal and David sit down with producer Aaron Hill to look back at our best, funniest, and surprisingly profound moments from our almost 30 episodes in 2019. Thank you to all our listeners. You have helped our humble podcast reach tens of thousands of fans in over 60 countries around the world! We look forward to 2020 and to all the great conversations we will have about the work and impact of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, G.K. Chesterton, Dorothy L. Sayers, George MacDonald, Charles Williams, and Owen Barfield.

What can detective novels teach us about community? Dorothy L. Sayers expert, Dr. Christine Colón (Professor of English at Wheaton College) returns to the podcast to talk about her new book, Choosing Community: Action, Faith, and Joy in the Works of Dorothy L. Sayers, based on her 2017-2018 Hansen lectures. Also joining this week's discussion on the theme of community in the work of Sayers is one of the contributors to the book, Dr. Tiffany Eberle Kriner, Associate Professor of English at Wheaton College. What can we learn about community from Sayers's works and what does it mean to be called to live in community together? Listen to Ep. 17: The Importance of Being Vulgar w/ Dr. Christine Colón

J.R.R. Tolkien called him a witch doctor; C.S. Lewis called him a saint. Who was Charles Williams, the oddest Inkling? In this week's episode, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing discuss Charles Williams, editor at Oxford University Press and practitioner of occult magic, with Sørina Higgins (Sørina is a Ph.D. candidate at Baylor University, faculty member at Signum University, and editor of the Williams blog, "The Oddest Inkling"). Who was Williams? What did Lewis, Tolkien, and the other Inklings think of him and his work? And why is he so odd and controversial?

What would happen if people could leave Hell and visit Heaven? In this week’s episode, Dr. David Downing sits down with Dr. Jerry Root to discuss C.S. Lewis’s spiritual fantasy about inhabitants of hell who visit take a bus ride to the outskirts of heaven, The Great Divorce. Where did Lewis get the idea(s) for the book? What was Lewis trying to say about who ends up in heaven and hell? Learn more about the special ballet performance of “The Space In Between,” based on The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis and buy tickets to the November 1 event here.

In our second bonus episode, Patti Callahan Henry, author of Becoming Mrs. Lewis, interviews Dr. Crystal Downing about why C.S. Lewis chose Joy and how Dorothy L. Sayers helped Lewis appreciate brilliant, fiery women bristled against cultural gender expectations. This episode originally aired on Patti's new podcast on October 21, 2019. Check out her 7-part series, Behind the Scenes of Becoming Mrs. Lewis, and listen to other episodes of her podcast, as Patti explores in-depth the improbable and beautiful love story between C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman Listen to our interview with Patti back in December 2018.