The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

It feels great to finally bookblog again. Work has been keeping me from reading and blogging. Now that I’m actually composing a write-up, the feeling is exhilarating.

I think I have mentioned in my previous notes that I am a member of TMC’s Reading Club. One of the books we discussed was C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters. This was my first introduction to Lewis’ literary works. Clive Staples Lewis (1898 – 1963) was one of the literary giants of his era. The Chronicles of Narnia was one of his famous works.

The Screwtape Letters is the correspondence between Screwtape, one of Hell’s higher ranking devils, and Wormwood, his nephew and student. Each letter sent by Screwtape is filled with lessons and sermons on temptation and how to ensure a person’s soul to Hell.

A friend of mine found this book boring. Come to think of it, yes, it could be boring. The book is not storytelling. All you could read are plainly letters of Screwtape to Wormwood, a one-way conversation from uncle-to-nephew, teacher-to-student. The lives of the persons they are tempting were vaguely and briefly described. Worse is you can’t find a single reply of Wormwood to his uncle.

In spite of the manner in which this book was written, I found it funny, striking, intriguing, and clever. C. S. Lewis is a genius. Have you encountered a person viewing Christianity from the devil’s perception? I haven’t, not until after reading this book. Screwtape addressed Satan as “Our Father Below”. He named God as “The Enemy”. He also talked about worst spirits of their kind -- devils far deeper in the “Lowerarchy.” Here are some excerpts:

“Men or nations who think they can revive the Faith in order to make a good society might as well think they can use the stairs of Heaven as a shortcut to the nearest chemist’s shop.”

“He (the Enemy) wants men, so far as I can see, to ask very simple questions; is it righteous? Is it prudent? Is it possible? Now if we can keep men asking ‘is it in accordance with the general movement of our time? Is it progressive or reactionary? Is this the way that history is going?’ they will neglect the relevant questions.”

“Provided that meetings, pamphlets, policies, movements, causes, and crusades, matter more to him than prayers and sacraments and charity, he is ours – and the more ‘religious’ (on those terms) the more securely ours.”

"To claim to equality, outside the strictly political field, is made only by those who feel themselves to be in some way inferior."

If you are interested, brace yourself for you may find this uniquely and cleverly written book dragging and pathetic. I say this because yes, there are boring chapters. But it did not hinder me from appreciating it. I give Screwtape 4/5 stars from Hell!