The Screwtape Letters
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Overview
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis is a classic masterpiece of religious satire that entertains readers with its sly and ironic portrayal of human life and foibles from the vantage point of Screwtape, a highly placed assistant to “Our Father Below.” At once wildly comic, deadly serious, and strikingly original, C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters is the most engaging account of temptation—and triumph over it—ever written.
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- Engages readers with a thrilling tale of temptation and triumph
- Portrays a classic masterpiece of religious satire
- Entertains readers with its sly and ironic portrayal of human life
Top Highlights
“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 a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.” (Page 40)
“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.” (Page ix)
“Humans are amphibians—half spirit and half animal.” (Page 37)
“The simplest is to turn their gaze away from Him towards themselves. Keep them watching their own minds and trying to produce feelings there by the action of their own wills.” (Page 16)
“A moderated religion is as good for us as no religion at all—and more amusing.” (Page 46)
In The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis masterfully paints a picture for readers about what temptation might "look" like in the unseen through fictional demons and how they lure mortals toward sin and away from God. The Screwtape Letters often strikes a familiar cord in readers who realize they, too, experience the same tendencies toward sin in their own hearts.
The book explores:
- How more subtle sins—like vanity, pride, distraction, insincerity, and simply forgetting God—achieve the same effect as more obvious sins
- How temptations build up and, if allowed to fester, turn into something more
- How sin always and ultimately leads people away from God and toward the adversary
Through fictional "demons" and with frequent subtle humor, Lewis creates a dialogue that, for many, hits close to home. Consider a few 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. (p. 16)
- There is nothing like suspense and anxiety for barricading a human's mind against the Enemy. He wants men to be concerned with what they do; our business is to keep them thinking about what will happen to them. (p. 25)
- It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts. (p. 60)
- Now you will notice that nothing throws him into a passion so easily as to find a tract of time which he reckoned on having at his own disposal unexpectedly taken from him. ... They anger him because he regards his time as his and feels that it is being stolen. (p. 112)
Through the letters between Screwtape and Wormwood, many readers will find themselves examining their own hearts and lives and considering what might be leading them away from God. They will learn truths about God and humanity. They'll see that even though those who receive Jesus have the right to be called his children, Satan wants to stop this from happening and will do everything in his limited power to steal, kill, and destroy what belongs to God.
Readers will see why it's so important to always be on guard so they are not lured away from their Creator.
Though God's children are victorious in Jesus, The Screwtape Letters reveals how critical it is to stand firm and resist Satan's temptations by laying down personal battles, praying, and petitioning God for help.
C.S. Lewis is the ideal persuader for the half–convinced, for the good man who would like to be a Christian but finds his intellect getting in the way.
—The New York Times Book Review
Apparently this Oxford don and Cambridge professor is going to be around for a long time; he calls himself a dinosaur but he seems to speak to people where they are.
—The Washington Post Book World
[The Screwtape Letters] show[s] Lewis’ ability to dramatize: to set forth an attractive vision of the Christian life, proceeding by means of character and plot to narrate an engaging story, everything colorful, vibrant, and active.
—Christianity Today
- Title: The Screwtape Letters
- Author: C.S. Lewis
- Series: Signature Classics
- Publisher: HarperOne
- Publication Date: 2009
- Pages: 209
- Christian Group: Evangelicals and Anglican
- Resource Type: Literature
- Topic: Fiction
Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Oxford University until 1954, when he was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement. He wrote more than thirty books, allowing him to reach a vast audience, and his works continue to attract thousands of new readers every year. His most distinguished and popular accomplishments include Out of the Silent Planet, The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters, and the universally acknowledged classic Mere Christianity. Read more about his life and legacy.
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