Bookending C.S. Lewis: On F.P. Wilson, his Oxford Tutor, and J.A.W. Bennett, his Cambridge Successor

The Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College presents "Bookending C.S. Lewis: On F.P. Wilson, his Oxford Tutor, and J.A.W. Bennett, his Cambridge Successor," a lecture by Rev. Dr. Joel D. Heck, on Thursday, August 20, 2026, at 7:00 PM.

This presentation surveys the life and influence of two people whose lives intersected in significant ways with C.S. Lewis, both at Oxford and at Cambridge. Wilson, Lewis's tutor, was the General Editor of the Oxford History of English Literature for which Lewis wrote the volume on the sixteenth century, and Bennett succeeded Lewis at Cambridge as the man who held the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance English. Bennett's inaugural lecture gave tribute to Lewis.

Since July 1, 2022, Rev. Dr. Joel D. Heck is retired from pastoral ministry after fifty years in ministry. He has been pastor of Zion Lutheran Church, Valley Park, Missouri; Professor at Concordia University Wisconsin; Chief Academic Officer and Professor at Concordia University Texas; and most recently as President of Concordia Lutheran Seminary, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He holds the Doctor of Theology from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. He is the author of more than 120 articles, more than forty of them on C. S. Lewis, and the author or editor of sixteen books, most recently No Ordinary People: Twenty-One Friendships of C. S. Lewis (Winged Lion Press, 2021) and The Lion That Roared (Lulu.com, 2023), a children’s story that he co-authored with his daughter Brenda, who lives in Cincinnati. Besides their daughter Brenda, he and his wife Cheryl have two grown sons and four grandchildren.

This event is free and open to the public and will take place in Marion E. Wade Center, Room 130 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 wade@wheaton.edu.