The Screwtape Letters..

Heard a lot about C.S.Lewis and how influential he had been as 'the most influential Christian apologists of his time' to philosophers and Christian thinkers. 'The Screwtape Letters' is the first book by this author that I picked up to read. But as reading as a habit goes, I couldn't go too far with it. I was determined to actually read this book at any cost, so I went to Barnes and Noble to buy an audio book version of it. Luckily, I found this packaged along with 'Mere Christianity' (voted best book of the twentieth century by Christianity Today magazine in 2000), 'The Problem of Pain' and 'The Great Divorce'.

I quickly picked it up, and popped the first three of five CDs, into the CD changer in my car. The first 20 min seemed non-sense. I haven't read any introduction before so I struggled to figure out the narrative. I re-started it and this time lasted about 30 min. It still seemed gibberish to me but with regards to perspective. I wasn't paying close attention and was missing the trains of thought, I realized. I restarted it again and concentrated the heck out of it.

Brilliant, funny, extremely relatable. Figured out finally that 'Screwtape' was a 'Senior' Devil, who was being a mentor to his nephew - a junior tempter - Wormwood. There were about 30 letters, each of which described in detail to Wormwood, how to gently and carefully, persuade and manipulate an unsuspecting human (here called 'the Patient') - him be a devoted Christian or a newbie to Christianity, from pursuing God ('the Enemy'), at any level of commitment and faith, that Satan ('the Father below') will be most impressed with. The most impressive aspect of this book to me at least, is the complete moral reversal that Screwtape and Wormwood seemed to enjoy. These devils' total lack of understanding of and a total lack of respect for God's Love towards humans is extremely funny.

In essence, Screwtape makes an argument for the fact that the human doesn't have to commit 'big' sins to fall away. It is the smaller sins that slowly peck at you, driving you away from the right, affecting your consciousness, creating guilt, resentment, disdain and sometimes hate towards yourself or your nearest and most loved ones. And this success (for the junior tempter Wormwood) can be achieved by a disciplined, patient and meticulous operation.

Now, good writing is always impressive if it can justify its trains of thought and arrive at a good conclusion and make a breakthrough. But this book is amazing. And the noteable fact that each letter starts with 'My Dear Wormwood', ends with 'Your affectionate Uncle, Screwtape' and is very effectively narrated by 'Joss Ackland' with his base voice and the very appropriate accent, didn't hurt the book at all. From my perspective, Screwtape lists down pretty much all things, as should be performed and achieved by Wormwood, that people go through their lives, as far as mental and spiritual conflicts go. I am sure these are common to most Christians, but I don't believe this book would have made the impact that it did now, if I had picked it up casually say, a year ago.

I can only sincerely hope for anyone who picks up this book, that it makes a strong impact on their lives.