The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I think my feelings on The Screwtape Letters can be summed up in the one word my professor used to describe it.

“Gotcha.”

This work was an absolute delight to read. As we discussed it in class it became apparent that at almost any point along the way someone was having an “ah ha” moment. It is such a complex look at human nature when you have to translate everything (and not some things) into the opposite, making it kind of a difficult read. However, I think this was the perspective Lewis had to take if he wanted to point out our flaws without coming across self righteous and preachy. Instead it is a sneakier approach that helps us laugh through it as we find our own secret, less-than perfect selves painted on the pages. Without this satiric approach it would have been much harder to bring down our natural defenses.

At the same time though, I am not so surprised when C.S. Lewis later said that he could not have extended this book, as requested, because it put him in a “spiritual cramp.” Fun as this book is, the author did not enjoy writing it. I think that is an interesting undertone to help us recognize some of the serious lessons that come out of a pretty hysterical read.

I think one of my biggest “gotcha” passage was in letter IV when Screwtape is instructing his devil in training nephew, Wormwood, about how he can manipulate prayer to their advantage. Screwtape says that Coleridge is pegged for having this particular kind of prayer they are looking for—the kind where you pray “without moving lips and bended knees” with a “sense of supplication” because it has a striking “resemblance to the prayer of silence as practiced by those who are very far advanced in the Enemy’s service.” I have been all to prone to these kinds of prayers. I don’t know why I am always surprised that I fall asleep half way through them or start thinking about what I ate for breakfast or who knows what by the end, but I could see why this would be the sort of prayer a devil would encourage.

Another “ah ha” moment for me came from letter XV when it talks about the importance of living in the present since it is the point “at which time touches eternity.” A devil would say it is important to get us away from the importance of the present and to get them to live in the past, but the past is “of limited value” since it has “a determinate nature and…resembles eternity.” Instead, Screwtape argues that it is “far better” to make us live in the future, which “inflames hope and fear,” remains unknown, seems unreal sometimes, and can seem “the thing least like eternity.” Screwtape does not want his nephew (or us) to be confused by this though. “The Enemy” (or God) would like us to think of the future,” just so much as it is necessary for now planning the acts of justice or charity,” etc.

Of course, this book is flooded with memorable quotes, but here are just a few of my favorites:
“Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon the universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys” (Letter IIX).

“Never forget that when we are dealing with any pleasure in its healthy and normal and satisfying form, we are, in a sense, on the Enemy’s ground. I know we have won many a soul through pleasure. All the same, it is His invention, not ours. He made the pleasures: all our research so far has not enabled us to produce one” (Letter IX).

“Indeed, the safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts” (Letter XII).

“Everything has to be twisted before it’s any use to us…Nothing is naturally on our side” (Letter XXII).

And because it is always fun to still have some unsorted through thoughts, a question I would like to raise: Why does Lewis seem to paint falling in love as an ambiguous source for good or evil in Letter XVIII?

Maybe I will find out as I learn more about his life experiences and thoughts in his other works, hopefully becoming a better “hairless biped” along the way.


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