344: The Protestant Book That Makes Catholic Converts (w/ Dr. Andrew Swafford)

344: The Protestant Book That Makes Catholic Converts (w/ Dr. Andrew Swafford)

From The Cordial Catholic by Keith Little

April 22, 2026 · 56 min

About this episode

The episode discusses how C.S. Lewis' 'The Great Divorce' influences conversions to Catholicism through its depiction of purgatory.

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by my friend Dr. Andrew Swafford to talk about C.S. Lewis' masterpiece The Great Divorce and how this Protestant book creates so many questions and so many conversions to Catholicism with its incredible picture of purgatory. We talk about the Catholic understanding of purgatory, participation with Christ, suffering, and how C.S. Lewis presents a vision of the afterlife that simply doesn't line up with Protestant theology – and leaves ma...

People in this episode

Host: Keith Little

Guest: Dr. Andrew Swafford

Topics covered

  • Catholicism
  • Protestantism
  • purgatory
  • afterlife
  • conversion
  • suffering

Keywords

  • C.S. Lewis
  • The Great Divorce
  • purgatory
  • Catholic converts
  • Protestant theology
  • afterlife
  • suffering

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Great Divorce

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