Screwtape You

 I am rereading that great book by C.S. Lewis, that theologian for everyone, The Screwtape Letters.  The book is comprised of letters from an elderly senior devil, Screwtape, to his nephew, Wormwood, an apprentice devil.  He is writing to advise his nephew on the best ways and means of securing his client for the realm of “their Father Below” (Satan).  God is referred to as “The Enemy”.  Lewis uses what might be described as reverse psychology and satire and other tropes to highlight the challenges of being a Christian and the failures of people in their attempts to live a Christian life.

It can be rather humbling to recognize in myself some of the characteristics that Screwtape encourages Wormwood to use of his client (victim) to ensure that he will come under the eternal thrall of Their Father Below.  The impact of the book on the reading audience was and remains quite significant.  This is shown in a quote from the introduction to the edition I am reading which tells of a country clergyman:

Who wrote to the editor of The Guardian, where The Screwtape Letters had appeared serially canceling his subscription on the grounds that ‘much of the advice given in these letters seem to him not only erroneous but positively diabolic.’  Lewis is reported to have roared with delight: he could not have asked for a better proof of the book’s triumphant strategy.

To give you a taste of Lewis’s style and effect I will delve into one ‘Letter’(number 3) in which Screwtape is writing to Wormwood about the relationship of the victim with his mother.  He advises his beloved nephew to take a number of approaches. 

First, Wormwood should keep the victim’s mind on his inner life.  That would keep his mind off the elemental day to day aspects of life i.e., keep it all theoretical and not on the day-to-day messiness of life. 

Second, the victim’s prayers for his mother should also be spiritual.  This keeps them focussed on the state of her soul and not her physical challenges.  This will keep him focussed on what he considers her sins which, with a little guidance will be those things about his mother which he finds annoying or irritating.

Third, Screwtape notes that when two people live together they invariably “have tones of voices and expressions of face which are almost unendurably irritating to the other.”   Screwtape encourages Wormwood to work on and emphasize this as much as possible.

Fourth, Screwtape notes that, “In civilized life, domestic hatred usually expresses itself by saying things, which would appear quite harmless on paper (the words are not offensive) but in such a voice, or at such a moment, that they are not far short of a blow in the face. 

 

Lewis, through the voice of Screwtape, is wonderfully aware of the challenges in relationships.  He is warning of how these can be used to plant seeds that may grow into something destructive.  This, of course, is the work of Our Father Below (Satan), and counter to the work of the Enemy (God).

The Screwtape Letters is a great read and one that would be a wonderful companion on your journey.  Blessings