The Screwtape Letters – Part 1
This month on the Christian Book Club we are going to read “The Screwtape Letters” by C.S. Lewis. If you have never read this book before you are in for a real treat. It is one of my favorite books. “The Screwtape Letters” is going to kick off a season of books by C.s. Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien here on the Christian Book Club. It is a fitting start as this book is dedicated to Tolkien. There are 31 letters so if you read one a day you will finish the book easily over the month. I don’t think it will take you that long to read it. It is one of those books that you just keep wanting to read (at least it is for me).
I am including a video that you might enjoy about The Srewtape Letters.
If you haven’t ordered the book yet I am putting a link below so that you can get your copy.
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Screwtape Letters By HarperOne Wormwood, a demon apprentice, has been given his first earthly assignment—secure the damnation of a young man who’s just become a Christian. He seeks the advice of an experienced devil—his uncle Screwtape. Their correspondence discloses the psychology of temptation from the other side. Invaluable insights on temptation, pride, the power of prayer, and the ultimate victory of faith over the forces evil. 160 pages, softcover from Zondervan. |
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Category: The Screwtape Letters
I finished the first week last week and this week I have been working on stoping those persistant thoughs that keep coming until i tell them to stop in the name of Jesus and than they stop but than he comes from another angle. So the battle goes on but at least i am more aware .
C.S. Lewis has said that he found it painful to write this book since it required him to spend days on end thinking upside-down. But it is lucky for us that he did, since the result is a book that both delights and enlightens.
THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS documents the correspondence between Screwtape, a senior devil, and his nephew Wormwood, a novice tempter. Wormwood’s mission is to win a soul for the underworld, and Screwtape offers him the accumulated iwdom of Hell on how to accomplish it. The result is a well-laid out map to the pitfalls to which we humans are all-too prey. Lewis’ had great insight into human weakness, especially the uncanny way ou pride pops into almost every thought we might have. He is also alert to the ways our unquestioned assumtions can lead us astray. As Socrates said, the first step towards wisdom is to “know thyself” – and the tempters in this book do all they can to prevent that from happening.
Lewis, of course, is a Christian, but THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS are useful to any person who is seriously engaged on the spiritual quest. I read this book about once a year, and am always chagrined to find that Screwtape is still one step ahead of me! (And he is unfailingly eloquent to boot.)
This volume includes “Screwtape proposes a toast” which employs the same technique to discuss modern education. I find this a weaker part of the volume. It seems Lewis could have done more with the concept, but his arguments about the failings of modern education are much sharper in his book, THE ABOLITION OF MAN.
Still, this is an invaluable volume. It is the book that I most often give away to people – it is laugh-out-loud funny, and sadly all-too true.
The only C.S. Lewis I had ever read up to this point was the Narnia series, when I was a kid. Those were great books that probably deserve a rereading at some point, even though I’m much older now. The Screwtape Letters find Lewis waxing on his favorite topic: Christianity. The book is a series of letters from Screwtape, a high-ranking administrator in Hell, to his nephew Wormwood, who is a tempter of man. The whole book is a wicked satire that Lewis pulls off well. Not only is this book fun to read, it has a serious message, too.
I found myself laughing quite a bit with this book, although the laughter tends to be the nervous sort of chuckling that comes from discomfort. Too many times I found myself described within these pages. Especially when Screwtape discusses the types of laughter found among man and how these can be turned to good use in gaining souls for Hell. The most useful type of laughter for Satan is flippancy, when man laughs because he can always see a ridiculous side to everything. It is most useful because men who do this will never take anything as seriously as they should, especially the “Enemy” (the term Screwtape uses to describe God). Another interesting chapter deals with Jesus and the tendency of moderns to try to define and describe Jesus in terms that should be alien to him. Screwtape delights in efforts to make Jesus a Communist, a social theoretician or a magician/philosopher. All of these efforts divert man from whom and what Jesus really was. Screwtape also cackles over intellectuals, who are corrupted by the historical point of view. Intellectuals don’t look for truth in what they read; they analyze writing styles, context, and historicity. By not looking for the truth, they are confused and turned away from God. Other topics are covered here as well: sex, marriage, prayer, Christianity and lots more. The best part of the book, by far, is the toast Screwtape gives at the end of the book. Lewis uses this toast to launch one of the most vigorous and thorough attacks on democracy that I’ve had the pleasure to read. I never knew Lewis had it in him!!
A great book that should be read by a greater audience. I should make an effort to read more from this author. You should too. Recommended, with highest distinction.