# Event Details

- **Event Name**: Hansen Lecture #2: "The Hammer of God: Sub-creation and Divine Justice" with Jim Beitler
- **Event Start and End Date**: Thu, 26 Feb, 2026 at 07:00 pm
- **Event Description**: The Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College presents the 2026 Wade Center Hansen Series Lecture Part 2: "The Hammer of God: Sub-creation and Divine Justice," a lecture by Dr. Jim Beitler and a response by Dr. Vince Bacote, Professor of Theology, Director of Center for Applied Christian Ethics, on Thursday, February 26, 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.

Tolkien places a high value on the art of sub-creation, going so far as to call it our “right” as humans. In the second lecture, we’ll reflect with the Wade Center authors on what it means to do justice to this “right” as well as the judgments that await those who do wrong by it.

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 and lightning by Kristen Page.

Watch the livestream:
https://youtube.com/live/LENLO5e8aMg
- **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/wheaton/hansen-lecture-2-the-hammer-of-god-sub-creation-and-divine-justice-with-jim-beitler/200029669449929
- **Event Categories**: Art, literary-art, Nonprofit, virtual
- **Interested Audience**: 
  - total_interested_count: 7

## Ticket Details

- **Ticket URL**: http://facebook.com/200029669449929?utm_source=AllEvents.in&utm_medium=event-discovery-platform&utm_campaign=wheaton-events

## 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 Organizer details

- **affiliate_id**: 2
- **organizer**: The Marion E. Wade Center (https://allevents.in/org/the-marion-e-wade-center/12918123)

## Event gallery

- **Alt text**: banner
  - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events3/banners/1f00b7a75ba61177b985bc168c23f491c3fbedcbf73bb9a5f9966ab288c76d7e-rimg-w1200-h676-dc295135-gmir?v=1772126221
- **Alt text**: thumbnail
  - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events3/banners/f4961400c2e7aebf4037290e70ae19aa7b698d949118680c78ec72cc9d9ea256-rimg-w300-h300-dc295136-gmir?v=1772126222

## FAQs

- **Q**: When is the event happening?
  - **A:** Thu, 26 Feb, 2026 at 07:00 pm
- **Q**: Where is the event happening?
  - **A:** 351 E Lincoln Ave, Wheaton, IL, United States, Illinois 60187
- **Q**: Who is organizing the event?
  - **A:** The Marion E. Wade Center
- **Q**: What type of event is this?
  - **A:** Art, literary-art, Nonprofit, virtual
- **Q**: Where can I find ticket details about Hansen Lecture #2: "The Hammer of God: Sub-creation and Divine Justice" with Jim Beitler ?
  - **A:** You can find ticket details about this event on AllEvents.

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