Wade Center

Latest Episodes:

Descent of the Dove w/ Dr. Matt Milliner Oct 07, 2024

Show notes

We're back! In our first new episode of Season 7, Dr. Jim Beitler, Director of the Marion E. Wade Center, and co-host Aaron Hill sit down for a jovial and wide-ranging discussion with Dr. Matthew J. Milliner. Topics ranges from one of Charles William's most praised works, The Descent of the Dove, to Dr. Milliner's recent book The Everlasting People: G.K. Chesterton and the First Nations, and the dangers of experimenting and re-inventing Christianity as a spiritual explorer.

The Rhetoric of Lewis and Sayers w/ Dr. Jim Beitler (Archives) Jun 28, 2024

Show notes

To celebrate the start of the Wade Center's new Director, Dr. Jim Beitler (Professor of English) we decided to re-release an archival episode recorded and released back in July 2019.

'Rhetoric' is often a byword for hollow or negative speech. In truth, rhetoric is the art of persuasion. This week, Dr. Jim Beitler discusses his new book, Seasoned Speech: Rhetoric in the Life of the Church. Of the five figures featured in Beitler's book, we discuss the rhetoric of C.S. Lewis and Dorothy L. Sayers. What can we learn from their example, and how can properly "seasoned speech" assist us in persuasively communicating the truth of the gospel?

"Farewell, Crystal and David. We have known great joys together." May 31, 2024

Show notes

Our dear friends and co-hosts of the podcast, Drs. Crystal & David C. Downing, are retiring as co-directors of the Wade Center in June. Professor of English, Dr. Jim Beitler will serve as the Wade Center's new director starting in July. To bid the Downings a fond farewell and pass the baton to our new director, we decided to share some of our favorite Wade author quotes.

If you would like to tell the Downings how much the podcast has meant to you, send them an email at wade@wheaton.edu and we'll pass it along.

Despair not, faithful listeners! Dr. Beitler and Producer Aaron Hill will return with new episodes, a new format, and new topics in September. To tide you over until we re-launch, we will be re-releasing some of our favorite episodes, starting next week with Dr. Beitler's episode on "The Rhetoric of Lewis and Sayers" from July 2019.

Many Times & Many Places w/ Dr. Alan Snyder and Jamin Metcalf Apr 26, 2024

Show notes

Through his writings, C.S. Lewis emphasized the importance of travel and learning for through these two activities we gain the needed perspective to see life through the lens of "many places" and "many times." In this week's episode, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing sit down with author's Dr. Alan Snyder and Jamin Metcalf to discuss their recently published book on C.S. Lewis and history, Many Times & Many Places (2023). Does history have a plot or a coherent storyline? Can we read and interpret history? Is every good event attributable to God and every evil event attributable to the sins of men? What is the value of studying history in an age that is enamored with progress and infected with chronological snobbery?

Lewis, the Lion in Milton Scholarship: "A Preface to Paradise Lost" w/ Dr. David Urban Mar 29, 2024

Show notes

In the first half of the 20th century, England elites like T.S. Eliot were trying to devalue John Milton and elevate John Donne—exchanging one 17th-century English poet for another. At the height of World War II, C.S. Lewis took up arms against these oppressors and defended Milton in a series of lectures that would later be published as A Preface to Paradise Lost (1942). Since then, every aspiring scholar has had to grapple with Lewis, the lion in the path of Milton studies. In this week's episode, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing sit down with Dr. David Urban (Professor of English at Calvin University) to discuss how Paradise Lost and Lewis's Preface to it serves as a crucial lens through which to read and interpret Lewis's fiction and non-fiction works.

C.S. Lewis in America w/ Dr. Mark A. Noll Feb 29, 2024

Show notes

While he never visited America, C.S. Lewis and his works have greatly impacted the American religious landscape. While many general readers associate Lewis primarily with The Chronicles of Narnia (1950), before his appearance on the cover of Time in 1947 Americans viewed C.S. Lewis quite differently. In this week's episode Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing sit down to interview Dr. Mark A. Noll about his new book C.S. Lewis in America: Readings and Reception, 1935–1947 (2024). Stay tuned until the end to learn how you can get a discounted (and signed) copy of Dr. Noll's book.

The Discarded Image by C.S. Lewis Jan 26, 2024

Show notes

In many ways, C.S. Lewis was both a man ahead of and behind the times. His approach to science and theology was based upon his professorial comprehension of the Medieval world and what he called "The Model." In this week's episode, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing sit down with Producer Aaron Hill to discuss Lewis's last non-fiction book, The Discarded Image (1964). Based on a series of lectures and published posthumously, David, Crystal, and Aaron discuss how the treasures and insights contained within this often overlooked book by C.S. Lewis on the cosmology and worldview constructed by great thinkers and writers of the Middle Ages.

Wonders of the Wade w/ Elise Peterson and Chloe DuBois Dec 29, 2023

Show notes

From C.S. Lewis's childhood wardrobe, to Tolkien's desk, to countless unpublished letters and manuscripts, The Marion E. Wade Center is full of many wonderful things. To celebrate the January 2024 launch of our new "Wonders of the Wade" video series on YouTube, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing, along with Producer Aaron Hill, sit down with Chloe DuBois and Elise Peterson, two student workers at the Wade, to discuss some of our most amazing finds and wonderful discoveries.

Beowulf and Tolkien w/ Dr. Ben Weber Nov 30, 2023

Show notes

J.R.R. Tolkien loved Beowulf, as evidenced by his landmark lecture, "The Monsters and the Critics," his posthumously published prose translation (released in 2014), and his inclusion of Anglo-Saxon themes and words throughout The Lord of the Rings. In this week's episode, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing sit down with Dr. Ben Weber, Associate Professor of English at Wheaton College and specialist in Medieval literature to discuss the significance of Beowulf itself as literature, Tolkien's fascination with the poem, as well as how reading this Old English heroic poem can help modern minds grapple with death and forces of chaos beyond our control.

"The Major and the Missionary" by Dr. Diana Glyer Oct 27, 2023

Show notes

Archived at the Wade Center are a set of letters between Warren Lewis and a missionary named Blanche Biggs. After the death of his brother, C.S. Lewis, Warren received a letter out of the blue from Blanche, who was serving as a missionary in Papua New Guinea. In this week's episode, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing sit down with Diana Glyer to discuss her new book The Major and the Missionary, which collects and examines this set of letters that reveal not only a new side of Warren but the deep and intimate friendship he fostered with Blanche. You can order a copy of Diana's book now over at the Rabbit Room.

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