Crystal L. Downing, Ph.D. (University of California, Santa Barbara), Co-Director of the Marion E. Wade Center, Wheaton, IL.
Dr. Downing is Co-Director of the most comprehensive archive in the world for published and unpublished materials by and about CS Lewis and six of his important British influences, including JRR Tolkien, Dorothy L. Sayers, and GK Chesterton. Called the Marion E. Wade Center, the archive and its museum are associated with Wheaton College, founded near Chicago by Wesleyan Abolitionists.
Formerly Distinguished Professor of English and Film Studies at Messiah University in Pennsylvania, Dr Downing has published two award-winning books on Sayers, and over a hundred essays, eight of which appear in critical editions of canonical British texts. Her fifth book, on film, is required reading in university religion programs across the US. She is synthesizing her specializations in a current book project titled The Wages of Cinema: Looking through the Lens of Dorothy L. Sayers.
Published Books
Subversive: Christ, Culture, and the Shocking Dorothy L. Sayers. Broadleaf, 2020. A Publishers Weekly starred selection and “Pick of the Week.”
Salvation from Cinema: The Medium is the Message. Routledge, 2017.
Changing Signs of Truth: A Christian Introduction to the Semiotics of Communication. IVP Academic, 2012. A Publishers Weekly selection in its 2nd printing.
How Postmodernism Serves (my) Faith: Questioning Truth in Language, Philosophy and Art. IVP Academic, 2006.
Writing Performances: The Stages of Dorothy L. Sayers. Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. Granted the Barbara Reynolds Award for best work on Sayers, June 2009.
Research Supervision
Current Supervision: Luci Frerichs Parrish (co-supervisor)
Email: crystal.downing@wheaton.edu