The Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College presents "Christmas at the Wade: Our Finest Gifts We Bring," a lecture and Christmas celebration with Emily Hunter McGowin and Richard Hughes Gibson on Thursday, December 11, 2025, at 7:00 PM.
Join us first for a talk by Emily Hunter McGowin, author of Christmas: Season of Light and Life (IVP) and a meditation on the history and meaning of gift-giving at Christmas. We’ll also celebrate the release of Richard Hughes Gibson’s The Way of Dante: Going Through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven with C. S. Lewis, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Charles Williams (IVP Academic). Richard and Jon Boyd, IVP Associate Publisher and Academic Editorial Director, will join Jim Beitler, Director of the Wade Center, for a conversation about the book. Once again, we’ll also showcase a special Christmas-themed item from the Wade’s collections! Festive treats and book signings to follow.
The Rev. Dr. Emily Hunter McGowin is associate professor of theology at Wheaton College and an Anglican priest. She is the author of three books, including Christmas: The Season of Life and Light and her latest, Households of Faith: Practicing Family in the Kingdom of God. She lives in Wheaton with her husband, Ron, also a priest, and their three children.
Professor Richard Hughes Gibson has served in Wheaton’s English Department since 2009. He is the author of four books: Forgiveness in Victorian Literature (2015), Charitable Writing (with Jim Beitler, 2020), Paper Electronic Literature (2021), and The Way of Dante (2025), the last originating in his 2024 Hansen lectures at the Wade on Dante, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Dorothy L. Sayers. His current book project examines the intellectual origins of ChatGPT.
Jon Boyd is Associate Publisher & Academic Editorial Director at Intervarsity Publishing. In addition to helping lead the editorial team, Jon works with authors in the humanities, professions, and social and physical sciences. He believes deeply in the good work that books can do in our world. He holds a PhD in history from Johns Hopkins, an MA in Hebrew Bible from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and a BA from the University of Michigan. He is a saxophonist, a user of mechanical typewriters, and (with his spouse and their daughters) a resident of the City of Chicago.
This event is free and open to the public and will take place in Marion E. Wade Center, Bakke Auditorium, located at 351 East Lincoln Avenue in Wheaton on the Northwest corner of campus at the intersection of Washington Street and Lincoln Avenue. Parking is located on the east side of Washington Street. For more information, contact the Wade Center at 630.752.5908 or
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Livestream available here: https://youtube.com/live/pPhvsimqXOg
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