Screwtape Letters Summary
Rayshell M. Pittman
Christian Thought
December 3, 2010
Book Review
The Screwtape Letters The Author of The Screwtape Letters was written by Clive Staples Lewis (1898- 1963). He was one of the most well-known Christian writes in the world. He was also the writer of Chronicles of Narnia which is now in theaters and is one of the most popular stories in which he has written. In the story The Screwtape Letters C.S. Lewis stated that when writing this book it was not enjoyable for him to the point he said he will never write another letter. But, because this story was so powerful and spiritual, C. S. Lewis had to write another which is called Screwtape Proposes a Toast which I recommend to read. (christianodyssey) The Plot of this book was in a form of letters by Screwtape who is a senior demon who wrote these letters to his nephew …show more content…
Wormwood. In the story Screwtape tries to help Wormwood approach humans and tempt them away from heaven and into the lower arches of hell and damnation. Screwtape encourages Wormwood and show him devious ways to enter the man’s thoughts and influences him away from Christian’s ways by convincing “the patient” that God is the enemy. The theme of this story was reason and faith. C.S. Lewis main point was Christians and the way they think about the truth about life and religion. Looking for the simple truth and simple questions that should be answered but, sometimes this can be blinded by the devils manipulation to get to the soul. I also feel that this story is about war within each individual from everyday life. These are things that Christian have to deal with spiritual warfare is something that each individual human soul have to fight. It is a personal war in which its either Heaven or hell. C.S. Lewis made these things clear in The Screwtape Letters. C.S. Lewis view point was very clear. C.S. Lewis wrote The Screwtape Letters in first person Screwtape begin the narrator. As you go through the letters in the story Screwtape is speaking to his nephew. Everything in the story is told from Screwtape’s perspective. From the interpretation through Screwtape twisted point of view. As the narrator Screwtape is very limited and unreliable with the way he thinks you could be misled. C.S. Lewis stated that “not everything that Screwtape says should be assumed to be true even from his own angle” (Screwtape p.4). Readers have to see the opposite of what Screwtape says. In order to understand the points that C.S. Lewis are trying to describe in his story. The best Example was when the patient fell in love with the girl. The ways Screwtape threw out his hatred for her in the story, and only because she was a loving sincere Christian which he hates. Just showed the ways C.S. Lewis used Screwtape view as if right was wrong and wrong was right. When reading The Screwtape Letters thinking of the ways religion or reason for religion was brought to the table by C.S. Lewis in this story. There were examples through the story for example you could compare and contrast what type of people the patient meets in his early days when he was converting, and the group of people the girl who he loved had around her. They were intelligent and agreeable. But, for Screwtape this was a problem. “ Our causes is never more in danger than when human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished” (Screwtape p. 56). This point in the story showed how Screwtape wanted to take over and convince the patient that God was the enemy and this happen throughout the story. There are points in life where you have to make a choice; thinking about it first is something you would do first to understand if you’re making the right decisions. In The Screwtape Letters that was something Screwtape played on to get his way and try to prove that God was the enemy at all time. My evaluation The Screwtape Letter was the way C.S. Lewis makes you questioned your own faith. It made you imagine a very experienced demon in hell that gets involved with his nephew Wormwood to basically dag people to hell. But not in that since it was to the point that God was made the enemy. What makes this book so powerful is that C.S. Lewis turns the whole thing around on its head that basically what we consider negative behaviors become positive and positive becomes negative behaviors. When reading this you see it as if Screwtape is God telling you about the devil. What C.S. Lewis did with this story was great in such a timeless matter to where you not only had questions at the end but you questioned your own faith in how many ways you have been tempted. C.S. Lewis was able to dig in and show how Screwtape and Wormwood change the way we think by begin mischievous and making people fall into a negative “positive “way of thinking. And pushing them into falling into patterns that allows them to sin. “If he ever consciously directs his prayer, ‘Not to what I think thou art but to what thou knowest thyself to be’, our situation is, for the moment, desperate,” (Screwtape p. 18). But, there is a great humor in The Screwtape Letters in every letter on every page. When you read it jumps off the page and said out loud to each reader in every point.
C.S.
Lewis is perceived as a classical writer. He has shown a side to mankind that really was never meant to read I feel. In the way he brought this story to life it was like it escaped somehow from hell and brought to the public eye in a sense. So now because this was brought to people attention they know more about the temptations in life. C.S. Lewis brought that to life the things the devil does not want people to know about. The things that make us or break us from our faith and make them turn their backs on their own faith. The Screwtape Letters is a very insightful book that challenges people to think outside the box. It Challenges their assumptions about the world and eternity. C.S. Lewis points out valid points about the way people think today and how human behave every day. The Screwtape Letters was a book brought to the world way before its time C.S. Lewis came up with an amazing story to bring out the way people are tempted and also to see it in the other way so to speak. God as an enemy was something I never saw before but the ways people can be persuaded and tempted by life is something you deal with in
life.
Conclusion My personal thoughts of The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. This was the first book that I read and really felt something after reading it. This story brought on levels I was not sure about until reading this book. C.S. Lewis is an amazing writing in the he brought Screwtape to life was unbelievable. It put me at a frame of mind where there where consequences for my action if I allow them. There were parts in the book where Screwtape Talked about the enemy and at some points I would get confused because I would picture in my mind as a Christian would. As if it was the Christian talking about the devil. Because what we think is wrong as Christians Screwtape thinks the opposite. So when reading it I interrupt things from that point of view. With that it brought personal questions and thought in my mind. When thinking about your life you have Screwtape talking about people and where they should be. Life is full of temptation this book made it a point to show that to the world that each individual soul is in danger of become enslaved by the devil and that every day he has his demons working to put them back on their side. Proving there is a war in which we live every day and have to fight. C.S Lewis brought out some real life issues that are confronted in this book. Just like the patient people slip more and more every day and fall short of God’s glory. This book brought to life for me the working evil of my own heart. So I would suggest others to read this book and be mindful of the things you will get out of it in the end. It is truly a book that will entertain you and teach you of these things that can come. Life is full of treasures C.S. Lewis’s book The Screwtape Letters is one.
References
Lewis, C.S. The Screwtape Letters. Mac millian publishing company New York. 1982. http://www.christianodyssey.com/books/screwtape.htm http://www.shvoong.com/books/456-screwtape-letters/
Christian Thought
December 3, 2010
Book Review
The Screwtape Letters The Author of The Screwtape Letters was written by Clive Staples Lewis (1898- 1963). He was one of the most well-known Christian writes in the world. He was also the writer of Chronicles of Narnia which is now in theaters and is one of the most popular stories in which he has written. In the story The Screwtape Letters C.S. Lewis stated that when writing this book it was not enjoyable for him to the point he said he will never write another letter. But, because this story was so powerful and spiritual, C. S. Lewis had to write another which is called Screwtape Proposes a Toast which I recommend to read. (christianodyssey) The Plot of this book was in a form of letters by Screwtape who is a senior demon who wrote these letters to his nephew …show more content…
Wormwood. In the story Screwtape tries to help Wormwood approach humans and tempt them away from heaven and into the lower arches of hell and damnation. Screwtape encourages Wormwood and show him devious ways to enter the man’s thoughts and influences him away from Christian’s ways by convincing “the patient” that God is the enemy. The theme of this story was reason and faith. C.S. Lewis main point was Christians and the way they think about the truth about life and religion. Looking for the simple truth and simple questions that should be answered but, sometimes this can be blinded by the devils manipulation to get to the soul. I also feel that this story is about war within each individual from everyday life. These are things that Christian have to deal with spiritual warfare is something that each individual human soul have to fight. It is a personal war in which its either Heaven or hell. C.S. Lewis made these things clear in The Screwtape Letters. C.S. Lewis view point was very clear. C.S. Lewis wrote The Screwtape Letters in first person Screwtape begin the narrator. As you go through the letters in the story Screwtape is speaking to his nephew. Everything in the story is told from Screwtape’s perspective. From the interpretation through Screwtape twisted point of view. As the narrator Screwtape is very limited and unreliable with the way he thinks you could be misled. C.S. Lewis stated that “not everything that Screwtape says should be assumed to be true even from his own angle” (Screwtape p.4). Readers have to see the opposite of what Screwtape says. In order to understand the points that C.S. Lewis are trying to describe in his story. The best Example was when the patient fell in love with the girl. The ways Screwtape threw out his hatred for her in the story, and only because she was a loving sincere Christian which he hates. Just showed the ways C.S. Lewis used Screwtape view as if right was wrong and wrong was right. When reading The Screwtape Letters thinking of the ways religion or reason for religion was brought to the table by C.S. Lewis in this story. There were examples through the story for example you could compare and contrast what type of people the patient meets in his early days when he was converting, and the group of people the girl who he loved had around her. They were intelligent and agreeable. But, for Screwtape this was a problem. “ Our causes is never more in danger than when human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished” (Screwtape p. 56). This point in the story showed how Screwtape wanted to take over and convince the patient that God was the enemy and this happen throughout the story. There are points in life where you have to make a choice; thinking about it first is something you would do first to understand if you’re making the right decisions. In The Screwtape Letters that was something Screwtape played on to get his way and try to prove that God was the enemy at all time. My evaluation The Screwtape Letter was the way C.S. Lewis makes you questioned your own faith. It made you imagine a very experienced demon in hell that gets involved with his nephew Wormwood to basically dag people to hell. But not in that since it was to the point that God was made the enemy. What makes this book so powerful is that C.S. Lewis turns the whole thing around on its head that basically what we consider negative behaviors become positive and positive becomes negative behaviors. When reading this you see it as if Screwtape is God telling you about the devil. What C.S. Lewis did with this story was great in such a timeless matter to where you not only had questions at the end but you questioned your own faith in how many ways you have been tempted. C.S. Lewis was able to dig in and show how Screwtape and Wormwood change the way we think by begin mischievous and making people fall into a negative “positive “way of thinking. And pushing them into falling into patterns that allows them to sin. “If he ever consciously directs his prayer, ‘Not to what I think thou art but to what thou knowest thyself to be’, our situation is, for the moment, desperate,” (Screwtape p. 18). But, there is a great humor in The Screwtape Letters in every letter on every page. When you read it jumps off the page and said out loud to each reader in every point.
C.S.
Lewis is perceived as a classical writer. He has shown a side to mankind that really was never meant to read I feel. In the way he brought this story to life it was like it escaped somehow from hell and brought to the public eye in a sense. So now because this was brought to people attention they know more about the temptations in life. C.S. Lewis brought that to life the things the devil does not want people to know about. The things that make us or break us from our faith and make them turn their backs on their own faith. The Screwtape Letters is a very insightful book that challenges people to think outside the box. It Challenges their assumptions about the world and eternity. C.S. Lewis points out valid points about the way people think today and how human behave every day. The Screwtape Letters was a book brought to the world way before its time C.S. Lewis came up with an amazing story to bring out the way people are tempted and also to see it in the other way so to speak. God as an enemy was something I never saw before but the ways people can be persuaded and tempted by life is something you deal with in
life.
Conclusion My personal thoughts of The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. This was the first book that I read and really felt something after reading it. This story brought on levels I was not sure about until reading this book. C.S. Lewis is an amazing writing in the he brought Screwtape to life was unbelievable. It put me at a frame of mind where there where consequences for my action if I allow them. There were parts in the book where Screwtape Talked about the enemy and at some points I would get confused because I would picture in my mind as a Christian would. As if it was the Christian talking about the devil. Because what we think is wrong as Christians Screwtape thinks the opposite. So when reading it I interrupt things from that point of view. With that it brought personal questions and thought in my mind. When thinking about your life you have Screwtape talking about people and where they should be. Life is full of temptation this book made it a point to show that to the world that each individual soul is in danger of become enslaved by the devil and that every day he has his demons working to put them back on their side. Proving there is a war in which we live every day and have to fight. C.S Lewis brought out some real life issues that are confronted in this book. Just like the patient people slip more and more every day and fall short of God’s glory. This book brought to life for me the working evil of my own heart. So I would suggest others to read this book and be mindful of the things you will get out of it in the end. It is truly a book that will entertain you and teach you of these things that can come. Life is full of treasures C.S. Lewis’s book The Screwtape Letters is one.
References
Lewis, C.S. The Screwtape Letters. Mac millian publishing company New York. 1982. http://www.christianodyssey.com/books/screwtape.htm http://www.shvoong.com/books/456-screwtape-letters/