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Gonzaga’s Jesuit, Catholic, Humanistic education will challenge and inspire you.
Video recordings of selected Institute events, including recent public talks by Fr Robert J. Spitzer, S.J., can be found on the Faith and Reason Institute's YouTube channel.
Fall 2026 Events
Michael Ward
International C.S. Lewis Scholar, Author, and Speaker
“The Heavens are Telling the Glory of God: C.S. Lewis, Narnia, and the Planets”
Tuesday, September 22, 2026, 7:00-8:30 pm
Hemmingson Auditorium (HEMM 004), Gonzaga University
As Hollywood gears up for a major new adaptation of C.S. Lewis’s classic Chronicles of Narnia, with Greta Gerwig’s version of The Magician’s Nephew due for release in early 2027, Dr Michael Ward explores reasons for the series’ enduring popularity. Lewis once explained that “the whole Narnian story is about Christ” and Dr Ward, drawing on his best-selling and award-winning book Planet Narnia, will unpack the ingenious way the septet conveys a Christian understanding of reality through Lewis’s lifelong love of the music of the spheres.
Michael Ward is an English literary critic and theologian. An associate faculty member in Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford, he is the author of multiple books, most notably Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis (Oxford University Press) and After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man (Word on Fire Academic). He co-edited The Cambridge Companion to C.S. Lewis, presented the BBC television documentary The Narnia Code, and co-authored Popcorn with the Pope: A Guide to the Vatican Film List. Formerly an Anglican priest, he joined the Catholic Church in 2012 and was ordained a priest within the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in 2018.
Faith, Film, Philosophy 2026
Reconsidering the Cinematic Hero
Monday, October 12—Friday, October 16, 2026
Film treatment of the traditional hero is at a crossroads. Harsh naturalism, revisionism, and postmodern critiques of hero and superhero characters in recent decades have punctured the heroic ideal and contributed to “superhero exhaustion.” By contrast, hints of a rethinking of the idea of the hero have appeared in the past few years. What are the continuing prospects for cinematic depictions of the hero and the heroic? Is the traditional hero dead? Can revisions and reboots of the heroic continue to refresh it in new and meaningful ways? In what ways can cinematic heroes challenge and inspire people today?
Detailed event information: https://www.gonzaga.edu/ffp2026
"Heroism for a New Age"
Richard McClelland (retired Professor of Philosophy, Gonzaga University)
Monday, October 12, 7 pm
Wolff Auditorium (Jepson 114)
Faculty Panel: What is the Future of the Hero?
Tuesday, October 13, 7 pm
Wolff Auditorium (Jepson 114)
Student Panel: Reconsidering the Cinematic Hero
Wednesday, October 14, 7 pm
Hemmingson Auditorium (HEMM 004)
“Violent Redeemers in American Cinema: Are These the Heroes We Need?”
John C. Lyden (Religious Studies, University of Nebraska at Omaha)
Thursday, October 15, 7 pm
Wolff Auditorium (Jepson 114)
“Good but Not Safe: The Promise of Heroic Re-enchantment”
Micah Watson (Politics and Economics, Calvin University)
Friday, October 16, 7 pm
Wolff Auditorium (Jepson 114)
Fall 2027 Events
Faith, Film, Philosophy 2027: Jesus on Screen
A number of Jesus and Jesus-related movies are slated for release in 2026 and 2027, including the two-part follow-up to the blockbuster The Passion of the Christ (Gibson, 2004) titled The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection. Faith, Film, Philosophy 2027 will examine these new Jesus films and also look back at screen depictions of Jesus over the years.