# Event Details

- **Event Name**: Hansen Lecture #1: "The Horns of Elfland: On Fairy-Story Justice" with Jim Beitler
- **Event Start and End Date**: Thu, 29 Jan, 2026 at 07:00 pm
- **Event Description**: The Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College presents the 2026 Wade Center Hansen Series Lecture Part I. "The Horns of Elfland": On Fairy-Story Justice, a lecture by Dr. Jim Beitler and a response by Dr. Kimberly Sasser, Associate Professor of English, on Thursday, January 29, 2026 at 7:00 PM.

Fantasy works have often been dismissed as insignificant, juvenile, and less artistic than more thoroughly modern and “realistic” literature. But the authors of the Marion E. Wade Center knew better. For them, such works were never just fantasy. Fantasy mattered to them both as a high form of art and as a means of practicing their beliefs. Several of the Wade authors defended fantasy literature in their essays and literary criticism, and—as scholars and commentators have frequently noted—they turned to fantasy again and again to express themselves creatively, explore their deepest convictions, and “steal past…watchful dragons.” However, scholarship on the Wade authors has not fully explored the relationship between their fantasy works and questions of justice. In these three lectures, Dr. Jim Beitler looks to the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and the other Wade authors with such questions in mind. With the help of our very own “Justice League,” we’ll see that fantasy’s otherworlds have much to teach us about rights and wrongs, just and unjust societies, and what it means to give people their due.

In response to critiques of fantasy literature, several of the Wade Center authors came to its defense, employing their academic expertise and argumentative skills to explain why fantasy matters. In the first lecture, we’ll look closely at J.R.R. Tolkien’s famous “On Fairy-Stories” and other defenses of fantasy written by the Wade authors, exploring what these arguments reveal to us about the relationship between fantasy literature and justice.

Dr. Jim Beitler ’02 & ’04 is Director of the Marion E. Wade Center and Professor of English at Wheaton College, where he holds the Marion E. Wade Chair of Christian Thought. His scholarship focuses on the rhetoric of Christian witness and writing as a spiritual activity, looking to C.S. Lewis, Dorothy L. Sayers, Desmond Tutu, and other exemplary communicators as guides for faithful practice. Beitler is the author of three books—Charitable Writing: Cultivating Virtue Through Our Words (with Richard Hughes Gibson, 2020), Seasoned Speech: Rhetoric in the Life of the Church (2019), and Remaking Transitional Justice in the United States (2013)—and he teaches undergraduate courses on C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, Tolkien and Environmental Stewardship, Christianity and Fantasy, and the Wade Center Authors. He co-edited Sites of Writing: Essays in Honor of Anne Ruggles Gere (with Sarah Ruffing Robbins, 2025) and co-hosts the Wade Center Podcast.

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 in the lot on the east side of Washington Street. For more information, contact the Wade Center at 630.752.5908 or wade@wheaton.edu.

Photo of trees by Kristen Page.

Watch the livestream:
https://youtube.com/live/CJQBajdRjmU
- **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/wheaton/hansen-lecture-1-the-horns-of-elfland-on-fairy-story-justice-with-jim-beitler/200029524195054
- **Event Categories**: art, literary-art, nonprofit, virtual, workshops, spiritual
- **Interested Audience**: 
  - total_interested_count: 9

## Ticket Details


## Event venue details

- **city**: Wheaton
- **state**: IL
- **country**: United States
- **location**: 351 E Lincoln Ave, Wheaton, IL, United States, Illinois 60187
- **lat**: 41.87062
- **long**: -88.10118
- **full address**: 351 E Lincoln Ave, Wheaton, IL, United States, Illinois 60187

## Event gallery

- **Alt text**: Hansen Lecture #1: "The Horns of Elfland: On Fairy-Story Justice" with Jim Beitler
  - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events8/banners/75db185d9dd2d217fa0f750c7a8b9794430bc2a061eb92056893e5101d520dc9-rimg-w1200-h676-dc295035-gmir?v=1769518913

## FAQs

- **Q**: When and where is Hansen Lecture #1: "The Horns of Elfland: On Fairy-Story Justice" with Jim Beitler being held?
  - **A:** Hansen Lecture #1: "The Horns of Elfland: On Fairy-Story Justice" with Jim Beitler takes place on Thu, 29 Jan, 2026 at 07:00 pm to Thu, 29 Jan, 2026 at 07:00 pm at 351 E Lincoln Ave, Wheaton, IL, United States, Illinois 60187.
- **Q**: Who is organizing Hansen Lecture #1: "The Horns of Elfland: On Fairy-Story Justice" with Jim Beitler?
  - **A:** Hansen Lecture #1: "The Horns of Elfland: On Fairy-Story Justice" with Jim Beitler is organized by The Marion E. Wade Center.

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