A Fantastic Introduction: The Screwtape Letters
(With this book we pick up the story where I left you hanging in my last post.)
In letter after letter Screwtape is full of helpful advice for his nephew Wormwood as they seek to lead their subject down to hell. What is truly displayed in these letters, however, is Lewis' own uncanny insight into human nature. From recognizing how easily we get irritated with the people closest to us to how often we are self-deceived, Lewis' ability to catch and shed light on daily moments of sin and temptation is unmatched.
Some of my favorite quotes:
"It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out."
"The safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts."
"Catch him at the moment when he is really poor in spirit and smuggle into his mind the gratifying reflection, ‘By jove! I’m being humble,’ and almost immediately pride—pride at his own humility—will appear."
If you've read this book you may have chuckled as you read the first paragraph of this post. Despite what I saw as the fantastic elements in this book I quickly found it all too realistic. Chapter after chapter Lewis' words reflected my own life. Chapter after chapter I was drawn on by Lewis' ability to shed light on the ways we are drawn away from the good and distracted from the things that truly matter.
Without question this book shaped me.
As an individual book it re-framed how I looked at my days. Years later I read On Being a Servant of God in which Wiersbe makes the comment that our daily experience of temptation and trial can be taken as training for the times when something really serious comes along. The Screwtape Letters taught me the same.
This book gave me the gift of deeper awareness of my own sin. The value of such a gift cannot be overstated. Most of the time I live in blissful unawareness, confident that I'm doing just fine, thank you very much. I think most of us live in that place most of the time. The person, book, or even new word that breaks through this fog of self-deception is a shining treasure. I blogged about one such word before. The Screwtape Letters is one such book.
Finally, it opened up three worlds of further reading: Non-fiction literature, Christian literature, and the works of C.S. Lewis. Over the next few years I read as much Lewis as I could get my hands on. Here was an author who had written fiction which revealed truth and non-fiction which was fully cognizant of the fantastic character of reality.
As for Christian literature, the immediate connection was G.K. Chesterton. At some point in his writings Lewis mentions G.K. Chesterton (perhaps where he also says that a young atheist cannot be too careful about what he reads? I may be mixing things up). I chased that reference and Chesterton remains one of my favorite authors.
"The safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts."
"Catch him at the moment when he is really poor in spirit and smuggle into his mind the gratifying reflection, ‘By jove! I’m being humble,’ and almost immediately pride—pride at his own humility—will appear."
If you've read this book you may have chuckled as you read the first paragraph of this post. Despite what I saw as the fantastic elements in this book I quickly found it all too realistic. Chapter after chapter Lewis' words reflected my own life. Chapter after chapter I was drawn on by Lewis' ability to shed light on the ways we are drawn away from the good and distracted from the things that truly matter.
Without question this book shaped me.
As an individual book it re-framed how I looked at my days. Years later I read On Being a Servant of God in which Wiersbe makes the comment that our daily experience of temptation and trial can be taken as training for the times when something really serious comes along. The Screwtape Letters taught me the same.
This book gave me the gift of deeper awareness of my own sin. The value of such a gift cannot be overstated. Most of the time I live in blissful unawareness, confident that I'm doing just fine, thank you very much. I think most of us live in that place most of the time. The person, book, or even new word that breaks through this fog of self-deception is a shining treasure. I blogged about one such word before. The Screwtape Letters is one such book.
Finally, it opened up three worlds of further reading: Non-fiction literature, Christian literature, and the works of C.S. Lewis. Over the next few years I read as much Lewis as I could get my hands on. Here was an author who had written fiction which revealed truth and non-fiction which was fully cognizant of the fantastic character of reality.
As for Christian literature, the immediate connection was G.K. Chesterton. At some point in his writings Lewis mentions G.K. Chesterton (perhaps where he also says that a young atheist cannot be too careful about what he reads? I may be mixing things up). I chased that reference and Chesterton remains one of my favorite authors.
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