Wade Center

We're back! Join Dr. Jim Beitler, Director of the Marion E. Wade Center, and co-host Aaron Hill as they connect with Jonathan Rodgers, author of The Wilderking Trilogy and host of the celebrated podcast, The Habit. Recently republished by our friends over at The Rabbit Room, Jim and Aaron discuss the first novel in Rodger's Wilderking trilogy, The Bark of the Bog Owl. Learn how to be a writer even if you don't feel like one, how to accept and embrace God's plan (and timing) for your life, and how Wade Center authors such as C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien inspired and helped shape Rodger's own fantasy stories.

We're back! Join Dr. Jim Beitler, Director of the Marion E. Wade Center, and co-host Aaron Hill as they sit down with Dr. Kristen L. Page to discuss everything from how C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien portrayed ecosystems and environmentalism in The Chronicles of Narnia to The Lord of the Rings, to how studying ecology can help us understand our place in the order of Creation, to Dr. Page's recent Hansen lectures published as the book, The Wonders of Creation. Don't forget to check out Dr. Page's new podcast "about the stories we hear from the landscapes around us" called Listen Here.

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. 

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?

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted lives, industries, and even spirituality across the globe. In this week's episode, critically acclaimed author Philip Yancey sits down with Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing to discuss his new book called "Undone." Published by our close friends over at The Rabbit Room, Yancey's book "renders 17th century poet John Donne's meditations on suffering into modern English, revealing that Donne's world of the plague was not so very different from our own." Donne was a significant influence on C.S. Lewis, especially his views and writings on suffering and his book The Problem of Pain. This is a conversation you don't want to miss! And we encourage you to grab a copy of Yancey's book.

In Orthodoxy (1908), G.K. Chesterton shares his idea to write a romance in which an Englishman travels around the world and sets foot on a foreign land only to discover that he returned home. "How can we contrive to be astonished at the world and yet at home in it?" Published only four years later in 1912, Manalive is that story. In this week's episode, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing sit down with Producer Aaron Hill to discuss Chesterton's novel about Innocence Smith, the man who breaks all the conventions but none of the commandments.

Only G.K. Chesterton could write a detective novel about undercover poet cops bravely battling anarchists as a way of explaining the problem of evil and the revelation of God in nature. In this week's episode, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing sit down with Producer Aaron Hill to unpack all the twists and turns in The Man Who Was Thursday—a book that is equal parts profound, existential, exhilarating, and perplexing.

Today's culture favors convenience and speed. Even finding the time to slow down and read a physical book feels impossible. In this week's episode, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing sit down with Dr. Corey Olsen, the Founder and President of Signum University, to discuss his long-running podcast on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, specifically his close reading of The Lord of the Rings. What can we learn about Tolkien, his writing, and our favorite characters by intentionally slowing down to analyze the words which Tolkien himself so carefully selected and knit together into the fantasy masterpiece we all know and love?

How should we read, interpret, and apply history? How can historical misconceptions doom us to repeat the mistakes of the past? Is everything always getting better, or is it possible for new inventions and new ideas to be retrogressive--to take us a step backward? In this week's episode, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing sit down with Producer Aaron Hill to discuss C.S. Lewis's inaugural lecture at Cambridge University for The Chair of Mediaeval and Renaissance, Literature entitled, "De Descriptione Temporum" or "A Description of the Times." They discuss how, in typical fashion, Lewis didn't waste this opportunity to simply say "thank you" for the promotion. Instead, he laid out his vision of history: how to read ancient literature, how to interpret history, and how the the avoidance of studying dead periods can actually enslave us to the past.

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.

Is there such a thing as Christian literature? How important is originality in literature and culture? Should Christianity embrace or reject culture? In their second discussion of Christian Reflections, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing discuss Lewis's answers to these timeless questions using two dense but powerful essays by C.S. Lewis titled, "Christianity and Literature" and Christianity and Culture."

When Yuri Gagarin returned from mankind's first trip into space, he declared, "I looked and looked and looked, but I didn't see God." In an essay written in 1963, C.S. Lewis retorted, "Those who do not find Him on earth are unlikely to find Him in space." In this week's episode, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing sit down with the beloved Dr. Jerry Root to unpack two powerful essays collected and published in Christian Reflections: "De Futilitate and "The Seeing Eye." They discuss the ways in which knowing anything and a sense that life is futile are actually proof that we live in a moral universe created by a knowable God.

For over a decade, C.S. Lewis and Stella Aldwinckle modeled how to discuss Christianity, atheism, and belief with civility and grace through the Oxford Socratic Club. Many of Lewis's talks at the club meetings made their way into print, in the form of essays. In part three of the Wade Center's series on God in the Dock (1970), Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing, along with Producer Aaron M. Hill, discuss two of these essays, "Bulverism" and "Is Theism Important?" Together these essays address obstacles to honest discussion, a basic foundation for reason, and the nature of faith.

"Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes." In part two of the Wade Center's series on God in the Dock (1970), Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing discuss three powerful essays published by C.S. Lewis in the 1940s: "On the Reading of Old Books," "Meditation in a Toolshed," and "First and Second Things." While each of these three essays were written to different audiences, Lewis consistently calls out the chronological and cultural snobbery that prevents modern people from acknowledging the timeless truths contained in Christian doctrine.

Between writing best-selling books, C.S. Lewis published hundreds of essays. Many of them were collected and published after Lewis's death as God in the Dock in 1970. Over the next several episodes, the Wade Center Podcast is going to explore Lewis's wonderful insights about the challenges of maintaining and sharing your faith in the modern world. To kick off this series, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing sat down with the beloved Dr. Jerry Root to unpack two powerful essays: "Dogma and the Universe" and "Christian Apologetics."

To tide you over until we return from vacation, enjoy this re-released episode on George MacDonald from the Wade Center archives. Most Inklings fans see George MacDonald through the lens of C.S. Lewis. Others enter MacDonald's novels through diverse doorways. In this week's episode Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing sit down with Producer Aaron Hill to discuss this 19th century Scots author. Why was George MacDonald so important to Lewis? Why is he considered controversial? Are his writings still relevant today?

C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Madeleine L'Engle, and Neil Gaiman are praised for penning imaginative worlds and inspiring stories. But did you know that all these writers were inspired by George MacDonald? In particular, they were inspired by two of his fantasy novels written for children called The Princess and the Goblin and The Princess and Curdie. In this week's episode, Drs. Crystal Downing and David C. Downing discuss these mythopoeic stories that, as Colin Manlove notes, use "the imagination to heal the soul."

"My own debt to [Unspoken Sermons] is almost as great as one man can owe to another." With these words, C.S. Lewis acknowledged the role the George MacDonald's spiritual writings (as well as his novels) played in his own faith journey and theology. In this week's episode Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing, along with Producer Aaron Hill, explore a volume of MacDonald quotes collected and edited by C.S. Lewis called George MacDonald: An Anthology. Explore literary and theological parallels between Lewis and MacDonald, the theological themes that marked MacDonalds life and spiritual writings, and the ongoing relevance of MacDonald's writings for Christians living in the 21st century.

"It is worse than useless for Christians to talk about the importance of Christian morality, unless they are prepared to take their stand on the fundamentals of Christian theology." Few Christian authors can cut straight to the heart of our problems like Sayers. In this week's episode, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing continue to discuss a series of incredibly relevant essays written by Sayers on "The Over Six Deadly Sins," "Strong Meat," and the eponymous "Creed or Chaos."

Words like dogma and theology have for a long time been viewed as "dull" and irrelevant, but in a series of essays written in the late 1930s Dorothy L. Sayers argues quite the opposite: "The Christian faith is the most exciting drama ... and the dogma is the drama." In this week's episode Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing discuss three of Sayers's famous essays—"The Greatest Drama Ever Staged," "The Triumph of Easter," and "The Dogma is the Drama"—compiled in a book titled Creed or Chaos, with an eye toward how they apply to the Church and Christian faith today.

"As long as you are governed by that desire you will never get what you want. ... Until you conquer the fear of being an outsider, an outsider you will remain." In C.S. Lewis's essays—"The Inner Ring" and "Membership"—he unpacks two dangerous social forces that threaten both the church and the morality of Christians: individualism and cliques. This week Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing continue their examination of Lewis's powerful essays and sermons published as The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses in 1948. How does our desire to belong, to be considered meaningful to others, warp and distort not only our heart but our actions. How do they so easily turn good people into "scoundrels?" And what can we do to overcome these temptations?

"We always have to answer the question: How can you be so frivolous and selfish to think of anything by the salvation of human souls?" During World War II, C.S. Lewis preached three sermons which were eventually packaged and published along with six others in 1949 as The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses. In this week's episode, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing discuss the spiritual significance and application of "The Weight of Glory," "Learning in War-Time," and "Transpositions," as well as how they apply to our war-plagued world today.

Upon completion of The Lord of the Rings, new readers often turn to The Silmarillion. But J.R.R. Tolkien's epic collection of mythopoeic stories—covering everything from the creation of Eä (the Ainulindalë), the Valar and Mayar, the creation of the Elves as well as the events of the First and Second Ages of Middle-earth—can be overwhelming. Thankfully, Laura Schmidt, Wade Center Archivist, joins Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing to walk us through to the larger themes and storylines of this amazing volume of stories.

Who or what deserves our allegiance? Our heart? An external morality handed down by our parents or Christendom? Our intellect or science? In one of his most challenging books, The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis addresses many of the assumptions about morality, theology, and philosophy that are baked into the fabric of our modern world. Join Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing in this week's episode as they explore the context and message of Lewis's book as well as its proper application to our modern world—viz., how can we avoid becoming "Men Without Chests."

"Guesses, of course, only guesses. If they are not true, something better will be." At the end of his life, Lewis wrote Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer. Lewis's thoughts on heaven and the resurrection were, perhaps ironically, published posthumously. In this fifth installment of "Love, Pain, Grief, and Joy," Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing, along with Producer Aaron Hill, explore the second half of this often overlooked book including the problem of spiritual and theological bigotry, the importance of the incarnation and resurrection, Lewis's views on communion and the inspiration of Scripture, and why Lewis believed that "Creation [is] delegation through and through."

"Creation seems to be delegation through and through. He will do nothing simply of Himself which can be done by creatures." Those words were written by C.S. Lewis in Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer at the end of his life and published posthumously. In this fifth installment of "Love, Pain, Grief, and Joy," Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing, along with Producer Aaron Hill, explore this often overlooked book by Lewis. How did Joy's death inspire Lewis to write this book? How and why should it be read in conjunction with A Grief Observed? And how does this book that is "chiefly on prayer" still manage to touch on broader theological topics such as joy, embodiment, resurrection, determinism, free will, organized religion, and the impassibility of God.

"What reason have we, except our own desperate wishes, to believe that God is ... 'good'?" Phrases such as these in A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis have caused many fans and critics to assume that Lewis lost his faith after the death of his wife, Joy Davidman Lewis. In this fourth installment of "Love, Pain, and Grief," Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing, along with Producer Aaron Hill, explore the context and questions surrounding one of Lewis's most practical and yet misunderstood books. What is the role of faith in the grieving process of Christians? In what way is reality, God, and the memory of lost loved ones iconoclastic? And is that a good thing?

“To enter heaven is to become more human than you ever succeeded in being on earth; to enter hell, is to be banished from humanity.” This week, in our third installment of "Love, Pain, and Grief," we continue our discussion of The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis with Dr. Jerry Root. Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing, along with Dr. Root and and Producer Aaron Hill explore questions such as: Why does Hell exist? Who will end up there and why? Is it fair or compassionate to doom people to Hell? What will heaven be like? And do all dogs go to heaven? Or only the dogs of believers?

“We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to." Dr. Jerry Root, scholar and close friend of the podcast, is back again for our second installment of "Love, Pain, and Grief." This week hosts Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing, along with Dr. Root and and Producer Aaron Hill explore The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis. Because all humans wrestle with questions about human and animal pain, suffering, evil, natural disasters, hell, heaven, and the nature of God, Lewis's immensely profound and quotable book will resonate with atheists, agnostics, and even exvangelicals deconstructing their faith.

Over the course of his life, C.S. Lewis wrote several books addressing the most complex and universal human experiences—love, pain, and grief. In this week's episode, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing sit down with scholar and close friend of the podcast, Dr. Jerry Root, to discuss The Four Loves (1960) by C.S. Lewis. How does Lewis define philia, storge, eros, and agape? Are his definitions accurate? What is the difference between Gift-love and Need-love? Is Need-love bad? How can love be corrupted? Do earthly loves distract from love for God?

Is the Incarnation, like other miracles, a suspension or a reversal of the natural universe? Or, as Lewis writes in "The Grand Miracle," is it "the central chapter" of history such that "every miracle exhibits the character of the Incarnation"? Join Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing as they sit down with Producer Aaron Hill on this special Christmas Day episode to discuss the Incarnation of Jesus Christ; specifically, how it impacted C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Dorothy L. Sayers, George MacDonald, and the other Wade authors, and how each of them celebrated the Grand Miracle in their writings.

Before Sam can declare "I'm back" at the end of Book VI, Frodo must destroy the ring and Aragorn must be enthroned. But nailing down the climax of The Return of the King proved challenging for J.R.R. Tolkien. How do you destroy the ring and resolve such an epic adventure that took eleven years to compose? In the sixth and final installment of the Into The Lord of the Rings series, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing, along with Producer Aaron M. Hill, discuss the many partings of The Nine Walkers and various ways in which hope, in the end, returns to our hero and the beauty of Middle-earth prevails against Sauron's forsaken land.

In the opening of Book IV of The Return of the King, Beregond gazes out over Pellenor, realizing that soon, "all realms shall be put to the test, to stand, or fall—under the Shadow." In this fifth installment of our series on The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing, along with Producer Aaron M. Hill, explore how each of Tolkien's characters respond to this great test. Will Théoden, Éomer, Éowyn, Denethor, Aragorn, Faramir, Pippin, and Merry be pulled down by the "ever-deepening gloom," will they use others as pawns to accomplish their ends, or will they ride gloriously into battle to face fate with humility and grace?

In a 1944 letter to his son, J.R.R. Tolkien shared his surprise at the sudden entrance of Faramir: "I am sure I did not invent him, I did not even want him, though I like him, but there he came walking into the woods of Ithilien." In part four of the Wade Center Podcast's series on The Lord of the Rings, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing, along with Producer Aaron M. Hill, uncover numerous allusions, motifs, and deeper meanings as they retrace the lonely and tragic steps of two little hobbits, Frodo and Samwise Gamgee, and their slippery guide, Gollum (or Smeagol) in The Two Towers.