Wade Center

These days everyone is a critic. The internet is filled with—some might say "fueled" by—criticism of movies, books, art, society, everything. Over six decades ago, C.S. Lewis recognized and warned us that the wrong kind of critical posture can turn us not only into cynics but into cultural and ideological puritans. In this week's episode, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing sit down with Producer Aaron Hill to discuss Lewis's book on this very topic titled, An Experiment in Criticism (1961). How does Lewis define good criticism? What makes differentiates a good reader from a bad one? And how can we apply the principle of receptivity to not just literature but life?

Long before the internet was invented people wrote letters to C.S. Lewis and he wrote back, sending them meaningful, insightful, and compassionate letters. In this week's episode Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing sit down with Marjorie Mead, Co-Director of the Wade Center to discuss a book of Letters to Children (1985). Marjorie reveals how the book was conceived, how some of the letters were found, and how Lewis's letters to children can still minister to us today--especially if we've grow up too much like Peter and Susan in The Chronicles of Narnia.

The works of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien are filled with magical lands, walking trees, and talking animals. They elicit wonder in our hearts not just for fictional places but for the real world around us. In this week's episode Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing sit down to interview Dr. Kristen Page about her recent book The Wonder of Creation: Learning Stewardship from Narnia and Middle-Earth (2023). Stay tuned until the end to learn how you can get a discounted (and signed) copy of Dr. Page's book.

Even though he constantly reminded readers that he wasn't a theologian or a biblical scholar, C.S. Lewis wrote an entire book on how to read and reflect on the Psalms. In this week's episode, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing sit down with Producer Aaron Hill to discuss Lewis's often overlooked and under-read book, Reflections on the Psalms (1958). Lewis deftly covers many of the problems that faithful Christians throughout the ages encounter in the Psalter. Why are so many Psalms violent and vindictive? Why does God expect to be constantly praised? If so much of the NT contrasts Jesus's teaching with the letter of Law, how is it "sweeter than honey?"

In this week's episode, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing sit down with Producer Aaron Hill to finish unwrapping the many memorable witticisms, penetrating insights, and enchanting metaphors contained within the final chapters of Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton. Additionally, this is both our final episode of 2022 and the final episode of our bi-weekly format. In 2023, we will shift to a monthly release schedule with episodes going live on the final Friday of the month. Make sure to check out videos with Crystal and David through our forthcoming Wonders of the Wade series over on our YouTube channel.

Over the last century many Christian apologists have made a name for themselves. At the root of this apologetic tree lies the genius and charm of Gilbert Keith Chesterton and Orthodoxy. In this week's episode, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing sit down with Producer Aaron Hill to unwrap the many memorable witticisms, penetrating insights, and enchanting metaphors contained within the first four chapters of this rather dully-named yet incredibly encouraging book which influenced many Christian apologists and communicators such as C.S. Lewis and Dorothy L. Sayers.

Did you know that the archaic language in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight colored J.R.R. Tolkien's prose in The Lord of the Rings? Or that the characters in this medieval, fourteenth century, fairy tale for adults informed and inspired characters and themes in both The Chronicles of Narnia and the Ransom trilogy by C.S. Lewis? In this week's episode, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing sit down to discuss the meaning, symbolism, and application of this tale of fell strokes, of courtly love gone awry, and of Bertilak and Gawain, King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, and Camelot.

Just when you thought Phantastes couldn't get any more fantastical, George MacDonald slips in two short stories: one in which women with wings, who live on another planet, find babies out in nature, and die from desire; the other in which Cosmo von Wehrstahl, a student in Prague, purchases a magic mirror which contains a beautiful woman. In this follow-up to last week's episode, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing sit down with Producer Aaron Hill to explore the meaning of Cosmo's story, the ways in which it is a synecdoche of Anodes' journey in Phantastes, and how it likely inspired the Narnia novels and Ransom trilogy by C.S. Lewis.

This is the story that started it all—the fairy tale that baptized C.S. Lewis's imagination and inspired countless fantasy novels such as Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. In this week's episode, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing sit down with Producer Aaron Hill to discuss George MacDonald's dreamlike fairy tale for adults, Phantastes. Join us as explore the symbols, dream sequences, the meaning of the Marble Lady, the journey of Anodos, and the interrelated themes of disenchantment, death, sehnsucht, self, pride, and longing.

Tolkien fans, you don't want to miss this episode! As Graham Shea notes, "Critics have long debated whether, and to what degree, J.R.R. Tolkien writes allegorically. Any answer to this question must attempt to reconcile Tolkien's numerous comments about allegory, which often seem to contradict one another." In this week's episode Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing and Producer Aaron Hill sit down to interview Graham Shea about his recent attempt to resolve the conflict between Tolkien and allegory based on Shea's recently published article in VII. In his article, Shea uses Tolkien's last published fiction, a short story titled Smith of Wooton Major, in an attempt to reconcile his views on allegory.