When is a Dragon More Than a Dragon: the Imaginative Worlds of Lewis and Tolkien

Dr. David C. Downing, co-holder of the Marion E. Wade Chair of Christian Thought, will explore how the differing spiritual journeys of C.S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien influenced their creative processes. Lewis had a symbolic imagination which stressed the interdependence of his fantasy worlds and our factual world, while Tolkien’s sacramental imagination stressed the independence of his sub-created world. What do these contrasting imaginative realities tell us about their own faith expressions – and possible ways that this difference may have influenced their understanding of God?

David C. Downing is the co-director of the Marion E. Wade Center, along with his wife Crystal Downing. He has written four scholarly books on C.S. Lewis and also provided a critical introduction and over 400 explanatory notes to the Wade Center Annotated Edition of C.S. Lewis’s The Pilgrim’s Regress (2014), originally published in 1933 and reissued by Eerdmans. David grew up in Colorado, graduated from Westmont College, and earned his Ph.D. from UCLA. Prior to coming to the Wade, he served as the R.W. Schlosser Professor of English at Elizabethtown College, PA.

A reception will follow the lecture.