Wade Center Events

The Wade Center plans to record all events and upload them to our YouTube channel unless otherwise noted and barring any technical difficulties.

• MAY 8, 2026 @ 1:30PM, BAKKE AUDITORIUM
  “Magic, Science, Poetry: C.S. Lewis and the Battle for the Modern Soul” with Jason Baxter  Commencement Weekend lecture and book signing
  This lecture will explore a mysterious scene from the final novel in C.S. Lewis’s science fiction trilogy, That Hideous Strength, in light of Lewis's historical research on magic, poetry, and science in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries.
  Watch the Baxter Livestream
• MAY 14, 2026 @ 7PM, BAKKE AUDITORIUM
  "C.S. Lewis: A Mentor by Mail" with David C. Downing
  C.S. Lewis published 40 books in his lifetime, and yet he found time to answer hundreds of letters from complete strangers. He considered it a part of his Christian ministry to answer letters from his readers, including questions about theology, prayer, the Bible, and struggles with doubt. This lecture will include samples of his letters of advice and counsel. Join us afterward for a book signing of Dr. Downing's latest publication, C.S. Lewis: Letters on Living the Faith (2026).
  Watch the Downing Livestream
• AUGUST 20, 2026 @ 7PM, BAKKE AUDITORIUM
  "Bookending C.S. Lewis: On F.P. Wilson, his Oxford Tutor, and J.A.W. Bennett, his Cambridge Successor" with Joel D. Heck
  This presentation surveys the life and influence of two people whose lives intersected in significant ways with C.S. Lewis, both at Oxford and at Cambridge. Wilson, Lewis's tutor, was the General Editor of the Oxford History of English Literature for which Lewis wrote the volume on the sixteenth century, and Bennett succeeded Lewis at Cambridge as the man who held the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance English. Bennett's inaugural lecture gave tribute to Lewis.