The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis

[Ditto]

I am reading this now.  This is the first time I have read it.  I am curious about thoughts/opinions that you may have about it.   What did you think of it?  What take-away did you have when you finished it?    Your general thoughts about it?  Did it impact you?  In reading reviews of it, it seems people have very strong views about it, which made me wonder what the hive thought.

[ktgrok]

Love that book! Had a HUGE influence on me, regarding my day to day life, my faith life, etc. Really pointed out to me that often our sin is disguised as virtue, or a virtue is used to justify sin. 

[Garga]

I read it in my late teens and loved it. 

I re-read it with my son about 2 years ago.  This time around, I loved the ideas in the book, but felt like Lewis needed a better editor. I felt like Lewis danced around his ideas too much and never brought the points home in a way I wanted. I felt unsatisfied with the reading experience. 

The points he made in the book were insightful, but the writing style irritated me. A lot. By the time we were finished and my son had struggled to understand what was being said, I was just done with the book. I felt very annoyed like, “Just make your point! Stop dancing around it!”

I think I’d have enjoyed it better reading it for myself and not trying to explain to a 15 yo boy what it all meant. He was lost through much of the book until I explained to him what was going on.  I think he enjoyed us reading it together, but I had to do so much work to help him understand it that I was exhausted by the reading of it and was feeling resentful toward Lewis for making it so difficult. 

Edited October 22, 2020 by Garga

[Ditto]

11 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

Love that book! Had a HUGE influence on me, regarding my day to day life, my faith life, etc. Really pointed out to me that often our sin is disguised as virtue, or a virtue is used to justify sin. 

Do you mind expounding on this a bit? 

[Lori D.]

Welcome! I see by your post count you are new.

My reaction to the book: Humorous, and insightful into the types of temptations and faulty thinking to which Christians (myself included!) are prone. I gained a number of good lessons for myself out of the book -- and also a personal favorite humorous, ironic line: "By Jove, I'm being humble!" 😂

You might enjoy digging deeper into the book with these free resources:
- study guide from the C.S. Lewis Study Program
- Sparknotes summaries & analysis

Edited October 22, 2020 by Lori D.

[Ditto]

2 minutes ago, Lori D. said:

Humorous, and insightful into the types of temptations and faulty thinking to which Christians (myself included!) are prone to. I gained a number of good lessons for myself out of the book -- and also a personal favorite humorous, ironic line: "By Jove, I'm being humble!" 😂

 

You might enjoy digging deeper into the book with these free resources:
- study guide from the C.S. Lewis Study Program
- Sparknotes summaries & analysis

I liked that quote too!  I just read it today.   Thank you for the resources, I will definitely use them.  I feel like this is a book that you just can't sit and read casually.  You need to truly study it and possibly read it a couple of times to fully get everything out of it that there is to get.  At least for me.  While I am content just reading it once, I really think I will miss a lot if I don't read it again.    I wonder if that is just me or if it is true for most people.

[J-rap]

I think that's one book of his I've never read.  Now I'd like to read it!

[Condessa]

I love the Screwtape Letters. It has so many fascinating insights into human nature and thought.  And I especially love how it gradually adjusts my perspective until the ending affects me exactly the opposite of how I would normally respond.

[EmilyGF]

2 hours ago, Garga said:

I read it in my late teens and loved it. 

I re-read it with my son about 2 years ago.  This time around, I loved the ideas in the book, but felt like Lewis needed a better editor. I felt like Lewis danced around his ideas too much and never brought the points home in a way I wanted. I felt unsatisfied with the reading experience. 

The points he made in the book were insightful, but the writing style irritated me. A lot. By the time we were finished and my son had struggled to understand what was being said, I was just done with the book. I felt very annoyed like, “Just make your point! Stop dancing around it!”

I think I’d have enjoyed it better reading it for myself and not trying to explain to a 15 yo boy what it all meant. He was lost through much of the book until I explained to him what was going on.  I think he enjoyed us reading it together, but I had to do so much work to help him understand it that I was exhausted by the reading of it and was feeling resentful toward Lewis for making it so difficult. 

Wow, it is good to know I'm not alone! 

I think I'll wait on reading this with DS15 until he's a bit older...

[ScoutTN]

If you ever get the chance to see Max McLean's theater production of this, do. It is amazing! 

[Ditto]

@Lori D.....  I meant to tell you last night and forgot when I responded.  I am actually not new here.  During the recent security breach I deleted my account,  took a break, and just made this one.  But I have been around for several years.

[Ditto]

7 hours ago, EmilyGF said:

Wow, it is good to know I'm not alone! 

I think I'll wait on reading this with DS15 until he's a bit older...

 

10 hours ago, Garga said:

I read it in my late teens and loved it. 

I re-read it with my son about 2 years ago.  This time around, I loved the ideas in the book, but felt like Lewis needed a better editor. I felt like Lewis danced around his ideas too much and never brought the points home in a way I wanted. I felt unsatisfied with the reading experience. 

The points he made in the book were insightful, but the writing style irritated me. A lot. By the time we were finished and my son had struggled to understand what was being said, I was just done with the book. I felt very annoyed like, “Just make your point! Stop dancing around it!”

I think I’d have enjoyed it better reading it for myself and not trying to explain to a 15 yo boy what it all meant. He was lost through much of the book until I explained to him what was going on.  I think he enjoyed us reading it together, but I had to do so much work to help him understand it that I was exhausted by the reading of it and was feeling resentful toward Lewis for making it so difficult. 

Thank you for this info.   I agree that I will hold off having my teen read it. 

[Ausmumof3]

10 hours ago, J-rap said:

I think that's one book of his I've never read.  Now I'd like to read it!

I’m pretty sure it’s free to listen on audible stories.  I haven’t tackled it yet though.

[Lucy the Valiant]

Focus on the Family's Radio Theater has a fantastic dramatized version, if you enjoy those. This book has been significant for me, too, over the years; makes me think. 

[ktgrok]

15 hours ago, Garga said:

I read it in my late teens and loved it. 

I re-read it with my son about 2 years ago.  This time around, I loved the ideas in the book, but felt like Lewis needed a better editor. I felt like Lewis danced around his ideas too much and never brought the points home in a way I wanted. I felt unsatisfied with the reading experience. 

The points he made in the book were insightful, but the writing style irritated me. A lot. By the time we were finished and my son had struggled to understand what was being said, I was just done with the book. I felt very annoyed like, “Just make your point! Stop dancing around it!”

I think I’d have enjoyed it better reading it for myself and not trying to explain to a 15 yo boy what it all meant. He was lost through much of the book until I explained to him what was going on.  I think he enjoyed us reading it together, but I had to do so much work to help him understand it that I was exhausted by the reading of it and was feeling resentful toward Lewis for making it so difficult. 

oh, yeah, trying to explain it to someone would be terrible. It's all very subtle, which I love, but not for a teen brain I think. 

15 hours ago, Ditto said:

Do you mind expounding on this a bit? 

I find that when I start to fall into certain behaviors I remember this book....and that sometimes my supposed virtue is actually a vice. And that the devil delights in using pride and false sense of righteousness to get us to step further and further away from God. It is so easy to let the details keep us from the big picture. I honestly never thought about the devil, or evil, before reading this. 

15 hours ago, Patty Joanna said:

I read it every year.  It gives me insight into the ways I am fooled.  

Amen. 

[Pam in CT]

Loved it as a teenager, loved it more the second time around in my late 40s. Much of what I loved, both times, is how Lewis is playing -- having real fun -- even as he tackles very substantive ideas.  He's an intellectual giant of course, much to admire, but his best-known works can veer towards self-important hectoring rumination. The ones I to which my own thoughts most often return -- Screwtape, Till We Have Faces, Great Divorce -- are the metaphoric storytelling; and Screwtape is definitely the most FUN of even that bunch. To me that is an extremely important (serious) element of living a faith tradition -- picking up and examining and discussing and parsing religious ideas needn't be turgid analytical drudgery; there is room for play and joy and joking and satire as well.

Relatedly, Screwtape also fits into a very large genre, ranging from Paradise Lost to Damn Yankees, where the Lucifer character is more *interesting and sympathetic* than the counterpart in the light. There's substantive insight there as well.

[Zoo Keeper]

John Cleese (of Monty Python fame) does a wonderful audio version of Screwtape-- the wicked sense of humor is very apparent in his reading. 😉

It is hard to find to purchase, but different recordings of it are floating around out in internet land (you tube, etc.)

[MercyA]

6 hours ago, Ditto said:

@Lori D.....  I meant to tell you last night and forgot when I responded.  I am actually not new here.  During the recent security breach I deleted my account,  took a break, and just made this one.  But I have been around for several years.

I thought so. MInd dropping me a PM to let me know who you are? 🙂 

[Carol in Cal.]

I loved it when I first read it in college, and I loved it all over again when I reread it this year.

I like British understatement, and I like things that make you go hmmm.  

Lots of both in this book, and it's very nicely edited to be short and to the point.

Plus it shows a realistic spiritual progression to conversion, to gradual falling away, and back to conversion again.  No big thunder moments here, more like real modern life where spiritual things tend to get choked out by weeds.  

Key insights for me, that I have taken to heart and used to help others over the years:
--The part where the MC is not sure whether he will be called up or not, and is encouraged not to view THAT as the trial, but rather, the possible future as the trial/temptation.

--The part where the cynical set drags him in.  C. S. Lewis portrays this even better in That Hideous Strength.

--The part where the devil is either overly emphasized as an object of terror, or deemphasize to the point of not being believed in at all, depending on the epoch

[Ditto]

Thank you all very much.  I really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts with me.   It helps me quite a bit.  I finished it today and really did enjoy it.  As I said in an earlier post, I think this is a book that needs to be read more than once to fully appreciate it, and that having a study guide (thank you for the links!) to help explain it deepens the understanding and ensures that nothing is missed.   So I will be re-reading it and using the study guides linked here (just not right now).

[madteaparty]

It's one of my favorite books and I am not a Christian 🙂