The Safest Road to Hell: Inside The Screwtape Letters with Dr. Michael Ward
About this episode
Ian Faith interviews Dr. Michael Ward about the depth and relevance of The Screwtape Letters and its themes.
Ian Faith interviews Dr. Michael Ward , Oxford scholar, Catholic priest, and leading C.S. Lewis expert, about the depth and relevance of The Screwtape Letters . Dr. Ward traces his lifelong immersion in Lewis's work from childhood, through living at The Kilns, to his Oxford PhD and beyond. The conversation opens with the book's dual purpose: mocking the devil (drawing on Luther and More) while simultaneously holding spiritual warfare in deadly seriousness, a balance Lewis maintained by focusing on ordinary, accumulative sin rather than dramatic evil, captured in the famous line that "the safest road to hell is the gradual one." The discussion moves through several of Lewis's central themes: the church-pew temptation of spiritual pride, the psychological age's tendency to medicalize what may be spiritual, and the connection between The Screwtape Letters and The Great Divorce, particularly the lizard-of-lust passage as Lewis's most vivid portrait of the painful but transformative cost of holiness. Dr. Ward also shares his thesis from Planet Narnia , that the Narnia books are structured around the seven medieval planets, reflecting Lewis's conviction that no corner of the universe…
More episodes of The Screwtape Letters: Confronting Evil in Our Time – Practical Christian Living & Spiritual Warfare
- The Paradox of Patriotism. Surrendering Independence: C.S. Lewis’s Guide to True Freedom
- Listener Questions, Our Journey, Stories, Prayer & What's Coming
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Screwtape Letters: Confronting Evil in Our Time – Practical Christian Living & Spiritual Warfare podcast page.