The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis
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Book Reviews of The Screwtape Letters
Book Review: Legendary Letters Feed Soul, Brain, and Funny Bone
Summary: 5 Stars
Witty, brief (no chapter more than four pages, the book easily read in an afternoon), timeless Truth presented with refreshing satire aimed where it should, C.S. Lewis' legendary "Screwtape Letters" is at once soul and brain food.Lewis tells his story through the title character, an experienced devil instructing his apprentice nephew to lure a young man to condemnation. The apprentice, Wormwood, tempts with everything from family (distancing prayers for the man's mother from behavior toward her) to social circle (flippant friends stray him from his new life, a new girlfriend moves him closer to it) to work and even worship.
Lewis then flips God's love and law into effective, ironic Satanic reverses. He shows temptation most effective and deadly in its smallest doses: prayer posture, creation and consideration of an Historical Point of View (including an historical Jesus as opposed to One of faith). Lewis redefines gluttony, defends Puritanism, shows the misunderstanding of romantic feelings in love and sex, and misperception of the large ever-broken promise, "The Future." (This book must be read if only to debunk one of Henry Ford's most famous quotes and the cliched, selfish phrase "impose on my time.")
Lewis shows (and Screwtape plants) the landmines of an early Christian walk: the role of a Church, of humor and the temptation inherent in its roots, Christian truth made trivial and a commodity beside social causes. He even dissects everyday, mundane pleasures (books, walks, music, wine, dated references to cigarettes) for their own sake and not as means to follow an ever more mediocre crowd.
Lewis' final Screwtape letter is his most moving. Sarcasm joins sanctification as we learn target's and tempter's final fate. It ties to themes present throughout Lewis' letters and providing fodder for his conjoined, equally humorous essay, Screwtape Proposes A Toast: "The safest road to Hell is the gradual one...without milestones, without signposts..." This absolutely essential book is just such signpost; "The Screwtape Letters" is joyful, instructional, fun reading for anyone wishing to know what forces fight for the human soul.
Book Review: Simply brilliant.
Summary: 5 Stars
I first read this book maybe 30 years ago. While its truths have probably helped me understand life better, it wasn't my favorite of Lewis' books. Maybe I felt some of the same ambiguity Lewis himself expressed about thinking from the perspective of the devil -- maybe I overdosed on Marx in college.
A few months ago, though, I found the Screwtape tape in a local library. I don't know how much a compliment it is to say John Cleese makes a great devil, but he really does. He brings Lewis' brilliant insights to life all over again.
Screwtape is not a detailed philosophical argument. As Lewis says, a non-Christian can read the book with profit if he takes premise as an entirely literary device. One reviewer complains that he does not understand why God wants us to pray if he already knows what we think. Lewis actually answers this objection in Mere Christianity. A recent reviewer claims that Lewis makes "intellectual inquiry" out to be a sin, and that no one with a college education will find this worthwhile. That's silly. Taking his ideas with me to college, graduate school, and professional study of world religions, the "Jesus Seminar," and skepticism, I found his works the best possible preparation for understanding the most prestigious currents of modern human thought.
Lewis does not "prove" Christianity in this book; that is not his purpose. But neither does he "take it as a matter of (blind) faith." Lewis understood that Christian faith rests on reason, and gives reasons in other books; but what he does here, brilliantly, is reveal how devious not the devil, but we humans can be, giving a comic and deeply enlightening tour of the many subtle ways we rationalize, are lazy, hate, and deceive ourselves. Of Lewis' books, Great Divorce and Till We Have Faces probably come closest as docudramas of ground zero in the human soul.
Those who enjoy Screwtape Letters should read J. Budziszewski's What We Can't Not Know. His arguments on natural law may even surpass Lewis in content, if not style.
Book Review: It'll scare the Hell out of you (literally)
Summary: 5 Stars
There are piles of books on conversations between man and God. I even recall one aimed at Junior Highers that was structured around e-mails from Heaven. All of the books contain encouragments for work, life and love. 'The Screwtape Letters' also contains much encouragment and advice, but of a much differant kind. Screwtape is an old, wise demon who's spent many years tempting, distracting and leading humans astray. Wormwood, a much younger demon, and Screwtape's nephew, has a 'patient' that is causing him trouble. The tone of the book is what struck me first. It isn't really devious or noir at all, it's very matter-of-fact and quite often bright, almost cheery. You get more of a picture of a slightly withered old man writing to his nephew by fire light with a quill and ink rather than the more expected gargoyle scrolling gothic letters with a claw dipped in human blood. The book's purpose is to bring the ways of demons to light, and the tone helps a lot. Though it may seem like the light, friendly tone would deminish the serious subject, it does not, rather it illuminates the most base element of deception: trust. This friendly speech of familial love is disarming and shows how Screwtape was so successful. Most Christians can see the truths of what is said, we've all experienced this kind of temptation, those who "haven't" are in denial. Something that not a lot of writers when speaking of Hell and demons really plays on is the relationship between Heaven and Hell. The relationship couldn't be more plain here, or more truthful. In the introduction, Lewis sights that the Devil is the father of lies. And reading the book you come to the obviousness of the truth about him: How can he lie if doesn't know the truth?The greatest value of this book is not empathy. It is not a book designed to exhort you by saying 'everyone goes through this'. It is a guide, a warning, a class on the tactics of demons in order to prevent their working. If Demons are the terrorists of the soul, then think of 'The Screwtape Letters' as a sort of Spiritual SWAT class.
Book Review: Narnia is the sizzle, Screwtape is the meat!
Summary: 5 Stars
With the recent success of the Chronicles of Narnia and the reintroduction of C. S. Lewis into current thought, I have not been able to recommend "The Screwtape Letters" to enough of my friends and colleagues. The book, although set with World War II as the back drop, is timeless.
The idea for the series of Letters came to Lewis in July 1940 during a church service at Oxford. The idea was for a book titled "As One Devil to Another" and would be a series of letter to a new junior devil from his mature, ready to retire uncle. After further thought the main characters became "His Abysmal Sublimity Under-Secretary Screwtape" the uncle and his nephew Wormwood. The letters are the reverse of what a "Christian" would think with "Our Father Below" being the devil and "the Enemy" being God.
The book consists of 31 letters. Each is a gift to the reader. They are all short and very pointed as to controlling the thoughts and actions of humans. Letter XI is one of my favorites. In it, Lewis discusses the cases of human laughter and Screwtape divides them into: Joy, Fun, the Joke Proper and Flippancy. Flippancy is wonderfully done:
" But Flippancy is the best of all. In the first place it is very economical. Only a clever human can make a real Joke about virtue, or indeed about anything else; any of them can be trained to talk as if virtue were funny. Among flippant people the joke is always assume to have been made. No one actually makes it; but every serious subject is discussed in a manner which implies that they have already found a ridiculous side to it. If prolonged, the habit of Flippancy builds up around a man the finest armour-plating against the Enemy (God) that I know, and it is quite free from the dangers inherent ion the other sources of laughter. It is a thousand miles away from joy: it deadens, instead of sharpening, the intellect; and it excites no affection between those who practice it."
I'm buying more copies to give away now!
Book Review: Fiendishly clever; recommended even for atheists
Summary: 5 Stars
Lewis wrote this book with the serious intention of bringing souls to Christ. As an atheist myself, I find most of Lewis' serious works, such as "Mere Christianity" and "The Abolition of Man" to be frankly absurd and illogical. "Screwtape Letters," however, is so funny that I recommend it even to non-Christians. Screwtape's single-minded wickedness is like all the greedy, cruel, and arrogant persons you have ever met, rolled up in a single Machiavellian package. Lewis does a fiendishly clever job bringing his devils to life and making sure their every word brings hellfire to mind.
Many of the ethical points Lewis makes are applicable to anyone, Christian or not. I really like Lewis' back-handed reminder that when trying to do good in the world, it's just as important to be kind to the people you meet every day, as it is to save humanity. Lewis also emphasizes the role of simple pleasures in creating happiness, as well as the natural ebb and flow of pleasure in human life. This is great advice, and I wish more attention were paid to it in our economic and political arrangements.
As I said before, "Screwtape Letters" is highly amusing and contains some good advice. Before taking the Christianity Lewis puts forward as overcoming these devils too seriously, though, I would strongly recommend reading other points of view. Christianity has a sad tendency to ignore the major problems of our times, such as overpopulation and exhaustion of resources, because they aren't mentioned in the Bible. I would suggest Kunstler's book "The Long Emergency" for more on this. For a defense of the naturalistic worldview, I would suggest Carl Sagan's "The Demon-Haunted World" or Taner Edis' "The Ghost in the Universe." As a scientist, I think it is important not to simply dismiss religion as silly, but to give Christians their chance to convince me. If you're a Christian, are you willing to do the same for the other side?