The Screwtape Letters / Screwtape Proposes a Toast (1942)

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Title: The Screwtape Letters
Series: ----------
Author: C.S. Lewis
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Non-fiction/Theology
Pages: 138
Words: 37K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia

In The Screwtape Letters, Lewis imagines a series of lessons in the importance of taking a deliberate role in Christian faith by portraying a typical human life, with all its temptations and failings, seen from devils' viewpoints. Screwtape holds an administrative post in the bureaucracy ("Lowerarchy") of Hell, and acts as a mentor to his nephew Wormwood, an inexperienced (and incompetent) tempter.

In the 31 letters which constitute the book, Screwtape gives Wormwood detailed advice on various methods of undermining God's words and of promoting abandonment of God in "the Patient", interspersed with observations on human nature and on the Bible. In Screwtape's advice, selfish gain and power are seen as the only good, and neither demon can comprehend God's love for man or acknowledge human virtue.

My Thoughts:

This is a very short book at only 138 pages. With there being 31 chapters, it is easy to read one here, read one there and go from there. I read this in one sitting, as I hadn't read this since my teen or Bibleschool days, and I wanted to eat the thing in one go.

I found this easy to assimilate. The ideas behind what Screwtape was talking about are easy to reverse to get the correct message. Lewis does an admirable job of presenting the wrong view to showcase just what the right view should be. I don't envy him though, trying to write a book by a demon.

One thing that did stick out to me was Screwtape saying how they wished all humans were either atheists or magicians (occultists in my terminology). To either not believe in the devil at all or to believe in him so much that one becomes entrapped. I wonder if Lewis put that in there so that anyone reading this wouldn't be tempted to dig deeper into the occult to “learn” about demons and such. Lewis didn't write this so people could learn about demons, but so that they could learn about Jesus. In that regards I simply disregarded everything whenever Screwtape started talking about hell and anything related to that subject. I differ enough from Lewis anyway in how we think of hell so it wasn't a problem for me.

This would be a great study book, as each chapter is so short. Read one chapter, take notes and then discuss with others. Next time I read this, I certainly won't be rushing through it in one sitting. As I'm sitting here, I'm actively considering reading it again next year and making it a Project.

★★★★½ ( )

A delightful read. But after reading it, I felt dusty. In discussing it with other people, they had a similar feeling. It's a fun read, but because of how it made me feel I won't be reading it again & am not recommending it to people.

On the other hand, CS Lewis is a delightful author and I highly recommend him as an author. For example "Surprised by Joy" and "The Great Divorce" ( )

Word of warning: Do not listen to this book. I found it extremely difficult to get through. CS Lewis is an amazing author, but his writing is a bit tough if this book is read like most books. Perhaps, it was just the "voice" of the book that made it so hard to get through, but I really struggled. I'm giving it 3 stars, just because I know this is a good book...I just had a bad experience. ( )

This was an interesting book to read as a non-Christian. There were many passages I agreed with on a matter of principle, however some sections seemed faltering in their reason. I enjoyed the format of the book, though the language and sentences themselves were complex and took a concentrated effort to read. One section that held very true (particularly considering how long ago this book was written) was the Toast epilogue, where Screwtape warns of the folly of the democratic idea that all are equal and quite accurately predicts the No Child Left Behind phenomenon. A good read for those curious about C.S. Lewis and his thought process and writing outside the Chronicles of Narnia.

An entertaining counter factual account of the Christian life. Some of the arguments are a bit beyond me, but the basics are sound. Makes the reader contemplate the real meaning of being a true Christian. ( )