Christ at the Core Fall Series
“Engaging the Past, Living in the Present, Mindful of the Future”
The Christ at the Core Fall Series features co-curricular events throughout the fall semester that highlight key themes of the core curriculum. These multi-disciplinary events allow Wheaton College to discuss the enduring value and significance of using a Christ-centered approach to study the liberal arts.
In conjunction with the 2026-2027 Core Book - Alan Jacobs, Breaking Bread with the Dean: A Reader's Guide to a More Tranquil Mind, the 2026 Fall Series will address themes related to engaging with people and writings of the past, how this is beneficial for living in today's complex world, and how it might help us imagine the future
Consider the Soul: Three Perspectives from Ancient and Modern Classics
September 23 at 7:00pm
Blanchard 339
Dr. Nadya Williams is Managing Editor at Mere Orthodoxy, where she hosts the Christians Reading Classics podcast. She is Senior Fellow at the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, where she also serves as interim director of the MFA in Creative Writing. She is the author of, most recently, Christians Reading Classics (Zondervan Academic, 2025). Her next book, The Literate Soul: What Four Thousand Years of Reading Books Teaches Us About Loving God, is forthcoming in 2027 from Brazos Press.
Free and open to the public
Silence Screening
September 29 at 6:30pm
Barrows Auditorium
A screening of Martin Scorsese’s film adaptation of Shusaku Endo’s Silence, a novel about Japan's hidden Christians during the time of the great persecution-and the priests who seek to serve God with them.
Free and open to the public
How to Read like C.S. Lewis: Lessons from the Lewis Library with Dr. James Beitler
October 2 at 1:00pm
Bakke Auditorium - Wade Center
The Wade Center is home to over 2,500 books form C.S. Lewis's personal library. This talk explores what Lewis's library reveals about how to read well and - in the spirit of Alan Jacobs's Breaking Bread with the Dead, Wheaton College's 2026-27 - how to cultivate "a more tranquil mind."
Dr. Beitler is the Director of the Wade Center, Marion E. Wade Chair of Christian Thought, and Professor of English.
Free and open to the public
An Evening with Dr. Alan Jacobs
Unfortunately, this event is cancelled. Plans are being made for Dr. Jacobs to visit Wheaton in Spring 2027. Stay tuned for more information.
October 7 at 7:00pm
Barrows Auditorium
An evening of conversation with Dr. Alan Jacobs about a wide range of topics related to Breaking Bread with the Dead and more. Dr. Jacobs is Distinguished Professor of the Humanities in the Honors Program of Baylor University.
Free and open to the public
Are Evangelicals Bad for America? Exploring what critics get right, where they miss the mark, and why it matters
November 4 at 7:00pm
Barrows Auditorium
Join author and Christianity Today deputy editor Bonnie Kristian as she explores why evangelical Christianity has become one of the most debated movements in America, what its critics get right, where misconceptions persist, and why these conversations matter for anyone curious about faith.
This is part of Questioning Christianity - a public lecture series that creates space for honest conversations about faith, culture, and the questions manny people are asking today.
Sponsored by the Litfin Divinity School
Free and open to the public
First Year Seminar Faculty on Engaging the Past
November 17 at 7:00pm
Buyse Lecture Hall - Meyer 145
First Year Seminar faculty reflect on how they approach the past, read old books, and engage ideas they disagree with and that challenge them. Please join Dr. Brian Miller, Professor of Sociology, as he moderates a faculty panel with Dr. Jeffrey Barbeau, Professor of Theology and Literature, Dr. Melissa Harkrider, Associate Professor of History, and Dr. Alex Haskins, Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations.
Free and open to the public