After hearing Dr. Robert Royal give a two-part lecture series on The Screwtape Letters to The Institute of Catholic Culture, we invited him onto the show to talk about everyone’s favourite devil.
S4E45: “After Hours” with Dr. Robert Royal (Download)
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Timestamps
00:00 – Entering “The Eagle & Child”…
00:12 – Welcome
00:44 – Dr. Robert Royal
02:01 – Quote-of-the-week
03:07 – Drink-of-the-week
03:48 – Discussion: Background
07:31 – Discussion: Meeting Lewis
11:27 – Discussion: Screwtape & Dante
40:24 – “Last Call” Bell and Closing Thoughts
YouTube Version
After Show Skype Session
No Skype Session today!
Show Notes
Biographical Information
Dr. Robert Royal is the founder and president of the Faith & Reason Institute in Washington, D.C. and editor-in-chief of The Catholic Thing. Dr. Royal holds a B.A. and M.A. from Brown University and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the Catholic University of America. He has taught at Brown University, Rhode Island College, and the Catholic University of America.
Biographical information for Dr. Robert Royal
His articles have appeared in numerous scholarly journals and other publications, including First Things, The Catholic Historical Review, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and National Review.
He is also a noted author and among Dr. Royal’s many books are The Pope’s Army and The God That Did Not Fail.
Chit-Chat
- I came across Dr. Royal after listening to a two-part lecture he gave to the Institute of Catholic Culture on the subject of the book we’ve been working through this season, The Screwtape Letters.
Quote-of-the-week
- Since Dr. Royal is from The Faith and Reason Institute, a quote-of-the-week was chosen which addresses both of these two topics: faith and reason…
“…supposing a man’s reason once decides that the weight of evidence is for [Christianity]. I can tell that man what is going to happen to him in the next few weeks….
…there will come a moment when he wants a woman, or wants to tell a lie, or feels very pleased with himself, or sees a chance of making a little money in some way that is not perfectly fair; some moment at which it would be convenient if Christianity were not true. And his emotions will carry out a blitz.
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
I am not talking of any moments at which any real reasons against Christianity turn up. Those have to be faced, and that is a different matter. I am talking about moments where a mere mood rises up against it….
Now faith in the sense in which I am here using the word is the art of holding onto the things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods. For moods change whatever view your reason takes.”
Drink-of-the-week
- Normally the drink-of-the-week is some kind of scotch, or some kind of tea, but my wife had my favourite flavour of Gatorade in the fridge (Lime and Cucumber), so I’m having that mixed with some carbonated water. Dr. Royal didn’t think Lewis would approve!
Discussion
- Dr. Royal fills in a few more details about your background and the Faith & Reason Institute.
- He then shared some of his personal journey with Lewis.
Screwtape
- I asked Dr. Royal about his initial reaction to reading Screwtape.
- We then discussed some of the themes of Screwtape and the connections and differences to Dante.
