Popular culture these days is full of guardian angels, always swooping down to save someone from disaster to fill them with love and grace.
But you don’t hear that much about guardian devils, out to do people harm and pull them to perdition. With one exception: Millions of readers know about Screwtape, that cynical, sarcastic senior devil who’s trying to teach his naive nephew Wormwood how to lure a young man from the jaws of Christianity. C. S. Lewis wrote “The Screwtape Letters” in 1941, as war engulfed Europe and evil seemed to be gaining the upper hand.
His book, on the surface shows sympathy for the devil. But it’s actually a defense, even a recruiting poster, for the Christian life. It was a bestseller then. It remains a bestseller today. In our cynical, sarcastic age, the Connection considers the continuing resonance of a book that takes the Devil seriously.
(Hosted by Judy Swallow)
Guests:
Kathleen Norris, author of “The Cloister Walk” and “Amazing Grace”;
Dr. Armand Nicholi Jr., professor of clinical psychiatry who teaches a course at Harvard Medical School on contrasting world views of C. S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud.