C.S. Lewis’ epistolary novel “The Screwtape Letters” was published in 1942. The book follows senior demon Screwtape as he advises his nephew Wormwood, a junior tempter, on how to lead humans — dubbed “patients” — astray from the Christian faith. Set against the backdrop of World War II, the plot explores themes of temptation, morality, and human weakness through a humorous yet incisive lens, offering a reversed perspective on spiritual warfare.
While the “The Screwtape Letters” isn’t considered one of Lewis’ works on apologetics, BlazeTV host Nicole Shanahan, who’s a new Christian, read it as such.
“I see it as satanic apologetics,” she told Max McLean on a recent episode of “Back to the People.”
McLean is an American stage actor, writer, producer, and founder of the Fellowship for Performing Arts, a New York-based company producing theater and film from a Christian worldview, and is renowned for his stage adaptations of C.S. Lewis’ works, including “The Screwtape Letters.”
“It’s proving the existence of Satan and showing how demonic presence actually does exist in the real world, in the day-to-day,” Nicole suggested.
Even though it’s been over 80 years since the book’s publication, its themes are perhaps even more relevant today.
“Many have described what’s going on [today] as a heightened revival of spiritual warfare,” Nicole said, referencing the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
The global conflict, moral uncertainty, and widespread fear that define our modern era echo the turbulent World War II period in which C.S. Lewis wrote “The Screwtape Letters.”
“There’s this tribalism in belief systems,” Nicole said. Liberals “are convinced that white Christian nationalists are the enemy,” while conservatives “think that all of these woke agenda items are the end to Western civilization.”
“I’m trying to imagine C.S. Lewis’ patient being alive today, probably much like I was a year ago, trying to chart the correct and moral path.”
McLean agreed: “Christianity offers a clear alternative to what people are being taught in schools and what seems to be considered normal in kind of elitist or, you know, legacy mainstream environments, so it’s an opportune time for somebody like Lewis and ‘Screwtape’ to remake its appearance.”
He’s not surprised that there’s been a sustained uptick in Lewis book sales in recent years.
“He’s just such a clear thinker. … So much of religious publishing is trying to kind of dumb things down, and I think people are not looking for that. They want some real answers,” he told Nicole.
“They realize that life is hard, the Christian life is not easy. It does require a high level of commitment, and I think people are ready to make that commitment.”
To hear more of the conversation, watch the full interview above.
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