G.K. Chesterton has impacted the lives of countless Christians. That list includes not only C.S. Lewis but also this week's guest, Dale Ahlquist, the President and Co-founder of the Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton. In this episode, Dale sits down with Drs. David and Crystal Downing to discuss how G.K. Chesterton turned not only Dale's life upside down but also how Chesterton turned countless ideas, concepts, and preconceived notions about life and the modern world upside down through his many books, poems, detective novels, essays, and newspaper articles.

Ever wondered what it would be like attend an Inklings meeting with C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams? In this week's episode, our very own Dr. David C Downing discusses the Arthurian lore and spiritual inspiration behind his novel Looking for the King—a page-turning tale about two Americans, Tom McCord and Laura Hartman, who find themselves in England looking for the fabled Spear of Destiny, the lance that pierced the side of Christ on the Cross, with the help if the Inklings. Grab a copy of David's novel, Looking for the King.

Dorothy L. Sayers describe autobiography as “dangerous business” in The Mind of the Maker. To write one is either “a mark of great insensitiveness to danger or of an almost supernatural courage.” In this week’s episode, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing sit down with Producer Aaron Hill to discuss the autobiographies written by three and half of the Wade Center authors. What are the pitfalls of the genre? What makes it such "dangerous business?" And how can readers differentiate between autobiographical episodes and genuine fiction in the novels of authors such as C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Dorothy L. Sayers?

Are miracles merely "a series of disconnected raids on Nature" or are they "the various steps of a strategically coherent invasion?" C.S. Lewis explores philosophical and historical arguments surrounding Biblical and contemporary accounts of signs and wonders in Miracles: A Preliminary Study (1947). In this week's episode, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing discuss Lewis's fascinating book including its origin, arguments, metaphors, and Lewis's timeless celebration of the grand miracle--the Incarnation.

Less than a year after his conversion, C.S. Lewis wrote The Pilgrim's Regress in only two weeks while visiting his friend Arthur Greeves in Ireland. Lewis's thick landscape of literary allusions, quotes, and philosophical criticism has long thwarted interested readers. In this week's episode, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing sit down with Producer Aaron Hill to pull back the curtain on Lewis's allegorical apology of Christianity, reason, and romanticism.

These days, discussions about demons and temptation are an uncommon occurrence—at least sober ones. In this week’s episode, Dr. Jerry Root sits down with Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing to discuss The Screwtape Letters (1942) by C.S. Lewis. What inspired Lewis to write this series of letters from Screwtape to his nephew. Wormwood? And what can we learn about ourselves, temptation, and the slow and gradual road to hell from this admittedly satirical, humorous, and somehow perennially relevant book?

"Come further up and further in." After telling us of first things in The Magician's Nephew, Lewis finally reveals the last things—the end times—of Narnia. Join Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing as they conclude a seven-part series on The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. In this final episode, David and Crystal explore profound truths in The Last Battle about salvation, the selfish misuse of God's name for selfish gain, and why it is truer to say "believing is seeing," rather than "seeing is believing."

The Magician's Nephew was one of the most difficult books for Lewis to finish in the Narnia series. Why? In this sixth Into Narnia episode, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing explore the wonder and dangers contained within The Magician's Nephew. What inspired Lewis to write about Uncle Andrew, Jadis (the White Witch), the dying world of Charn, the Deplorable Word, the Wood Between the Worlds, and Digory's intensely personal journey to heal his mother and, ultimately, to prevent her untimely death.

Aslan lies at the back of every story in Narnia. In the fifth novel in The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis weaves a tale of separated twins, mistaken identity, escaping slaves, vast desserts, and a desperate escape to the North. Join Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing as they discuss The Horse and His Boy. This week David and Crystal sit down with Producer Aaron Hill to unpack Lewis's fascinating narrative about Shasta (or Cor), Bree, Aravis, Hwin and the importance of identity, God's work among non-Christian peoples, and the prejudices and biases that too easily cloud our judgments of others and of ourselves.

Rillian and Puddleglum and Glimfeather, oh my! The unique cast of giants, gnomes, knights, and witches sets The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis apart. Join Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing as they unpack the adventures of Eustace and Jill Pole in this fourth novel from The Chronicles of Narnia with Producer Aaron Hill. Follow along as the Downings unpack references to George MacDonald and Lilith, to Yahweh and Deuteronomy, to Hamlet and Ophelia, to Virgil and The Aeneid, and especially to the resurrection of the body from the New Testament.