Book Review: The Screwtape Letters

“Of course I know that the Enemy also wants to detach men from themselves, but in a different way. Remember always, that He really likes the little vermin, and sets an absurd value on the distinctness of every one of them.”
The Screwtape Letters
by C.S. Lewis

Written by C.S. Lewis (of The Chronicles of Narnia fame), this book is a series of letters from Screwtape, a devil and administrator of Hell, to Wormwood, a novice Tempter and his nephew.

Wormwood’s subject is “an ordinary man” and it is Wormwood’s job to tempt him and encourage all the sins, bad behavior and thoughts, he can. The ordinary man and his exact circumstances are not disclosed. It is made clear that the “patient,” as Screwtape refers to the young man, is in England around the beginning of World War II, but beyond that, all identifying information is bland and non-descript.

Screwtape is a crafty old devil and has much experience in being Tempter, and therefore, lots of advice and guidance to offer Wormwood. His attitudes and opinions about humans is definitely degrading, frequently referring to humans as "animals".

C.S. Lewis tells the story of a nameless young man and his demon Tempter, while showing very clearly our human foibles. I found my own spiritual journey in several of Screwtape’s letters.

Included with the letters is also a speech Screwtape gives at a banquet in Hell. It seems a sort of State of the Union address to a graduating class of Tempters.

In it, he describes the many ways in which humans do the Tempters’ work for them—making bad choices and allowing themselves to be complacent in the face of sin and evil in order to “fit in with everyone else.” Lewis leads his reader to examine his or her own heart and motive.

Finally, overall, Lewis presents the idea that all sin is against God, and equally advantageous to Satan, no matter how, as humans, we qualify our sins and big or small. He also firmly convinces the reader that virtue, when twisted and used, can be as damning as out-and-out evil and sin.

It’s certainly an eye-opener: the reader cannot fail to see him- or herself in the lessons Screwtape sets down for his nephew.

The Screwtape Letters
With Screwtape Proposes a Toast

C.S. Lewis
HarperSanFrancisco
A Division of HarperCollinsPublishers