We seem to be doing well for variety on this blog....
I read The Screwtape Letters Friday evening as a change from Eudora Welty. Every time I read Screwtape, I come away scared. Ironic, since the book is all about the devil's ultimate defeat in the case of his "patient" and about the power of God to deliver a man from the clutches of the evil one. In some ways, I wonder if C.S. Lewis doesn't attribute too much to the devil's power and too little to our own sinful natures. Whichever the case, the book makes a strong warning against certain common Christian vices. I found the chapters or letters on prayer and on spiritually dry times to be particularly valuable. The need for us as believers to focus on Christ and solidly grounded on the truth of His Word is never more important.
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What you say regarding those chapters is true, but I would also note as very important the part of the book where Screwtape describes the necessity of delineating that which is horrible, such as the violence of war, as "real" in the patient's mind, and categorizing good things, such as the laughter of children, as "romantic nonsense" of some sort. Prior to reading the book I had witnessed this intellectual sleight of hand many times and been unable to really articulate what was wrong with it, so that when I read that passage it was a relief to know that someone else had observed the same thing.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the book works better as a description of how temptation works, than as a literal description of a devil's powers.
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