Wade Center

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.

In the first half of The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien the Company of the Ring scrambles to interpret strange signs as legends, such as the Ents, stride "on the green earth in the daylight." In part three of our series on The Lord of the Rings, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing unpack the allusions, symbolism, deeper meaning, and significance found in Book III, as well as the story behind new characters such as Treebeard, Grima Wormtongue, Eowyn, Theoden, Eomer, Quickbeam, and Gandalf the White.

In this second installment of the Wade Center Podcast's six-part series on The Lord of the Rings, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing, along with Producer Aaron M. Hill, dare to delve too deep into the darkening world that is Book II. Follow along as Crystal, Aaron, and David deem the doom of Sauron's ring and discuss the themes, character development, and consequential chapters of the latter half of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy, The Fellowship of the Ring.

The Wade Center Podcast's six-part, in-depth exploration of The Lord of the Rings has arrived precisely when it was meant to—just in time for Tolkien Week and Hobbit Day! In this first installment, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing, along with Producer Aaron M. Hill, discuss many of the major themes, characters, and opening chapters of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy novel about Frodo, Gandalf, Aragorn, and the Company on Nine's legendary quest through Middle-earth to destroy the Ring of Power.

During his labor to create The Lord of the Rings, an allegorical and autobiographical story came to J.R.R. Tolkien "like a dream." Some have described this short story, titled Leaf by Niggle (1945), as the "the hidden nucleus of Tolkien's work." As the Wade Center Podcast prepares to kick off a six-part, in-depth series on The Lord of the Rings, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing, along with Producer Aaron Hill, sit down to discuss Tolkien's strange, convicting, and revealing tale about a little man named Niggle who cannot stop painting and obsessing over the budding leaves of his ever-growing tree.

Almost everything we read or "write" today is digital. Words and even books are typed, not written by hand like C.S. Lewis's Narnia Chronicles or The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. In this week's episode, Dr. Charlie W. Starr joins Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing to discuss C.S. Lewis's "villainous handwriting." Charlie explain how we can learn a lot about Lewis and his undated manuscripts by studying how Lewis's purposefully changed his handwriting over the course of his life.

G.K. Chesterton said that being born is like stepping "into a fairy-tale"—for "we step into a world we have not made" with its own laws and a cast of characters. In this week's episode, Drs. Crystal and David C. Downing sit down with Dr. Crystal Hurd to explore her work on C.S. Lewis as a transformational leader as well Lewis's family influences—with a fascinating cast of characters that include Scottish royalty, a Welsh boilermaker, a math prodigy, a parochial pastor, and a persuasive lawyer.

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?