The Screwtape Letters (The C.S. Lewis Signature Classics)
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A Masterpiece of Satire on Hell’s Latest Novelties and Heaven’s Unanswerable Answer
C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters has entertained and enlightened readers the world over with its sly and ironic portrayal of human life and foibles from the unique vantage point of Screwtape, a highly placed assistant to “Our Father Below.” At once wildly comic, deadly serious, and strikingly original, C.S. Lewis gives us the correspondence of the wordly-wise devil to his nephew Wormwood, a novice demon in charge of securing the damnation of an ordinary young man. The Screwtape Letters is the most engaging account of temptation—and triumph over it—ever written.
The Screwtape Letters (The C.S. Lewis Signature Classics)
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$17.99Original price was: $17.99.$9.64Current price is: $9.64.
13 reviews for The Screwtape Letters (The C.S. Lewis Signature Classics)
Rated 5 out of 5
PolinaB –
This is an excellent book especially for those who struggle with the vive of anger and wrath. The book that I received did not have page 1-8 , looks like a error from the publications.
Rated 5 out of 5
Amazon Customer –
A curious and brilliant way to encourage moral reflection, movement away from sin and all its empty promises, and towards a life in Christ. I think I could read it 100 times over and benefit each and every time.
Rated 5 out of 5
e –
This is a great book, amazing quality, and great for a every day read or even with a book club
Rated 5 out of 5
Ronalds Donalds –
This book make you self reflect and start asking for forgiveness for even just doubting God word it’s a great book that draws you closer to the Lord
Rated 1 out of 5
Typische nepheid van Amazon. Weet zo’n boek dat zogenaamd de kaft heeft op de afbeelding maar in werkelijkheid is het zo’n smerig goedkoop kaftje. Nooit meer boeken kopen bij Amazon –
Nep
Rated 5 out of 5
Ryan Hawkins –
I’ve read this before (around 5 years ago), but this time I enjoyed it way more than last time, and I think I was able to follow Lewis’ thoughts much better. In sum, this book was full of insight after insight about how we as humans work, how we are variously and subtly tempted in the Christian life, and even who God (referred to as ‘the Enemy’ throughout) is and how we works for the good of his people. Many might think this is mainly fiction, or satire, or just a strange book that is about how demons might work, but the book is much more profound than that. It most certainly isn’t just fiction; it includes some satire, but isn’t mainly such; and Lewis does use the letters from one demon to another as his template; but in reality, this is just as clear and profound as Lewis’ other classic works on Christianity-such as Mere Christianity. In fact, I would say that if read slowly, this book is just as profound. Just instead of it being longer chapters with longer arguments, each of the 31 chapters in this book has its own main argument (or multiple) that really shed much insight on the Christian faith.
Of the 31 chapters, I marked 15 of them as really great and worth revisiting over and over. I will keep this book always in close range on my bookshelf simply because it is so full of practical advice and illustrations about the Christian life.
I will not quote or list most of the insights here-just for the sake of time-but here are the main topics that he talked about. I will word them as coming from evil’s perspective, and will put the chapter number in parenthesis. – Keep the Christian “in the stream” and not really thinking about bigger things (1) – Use the War, but watch out for how the Enemy can use it (5) – Use anxiety about the Future; make him lack self-awareness (6) – Make him extreme on either side (it doesn’t really matter much) on Politics (7) – Use Pleasures (even though that’s Enemy territory), and make him a nominal believer (9) – Make him spend his time, all throughout life, doing and getting Nothing (12) – Manipulate his ‘Humility’ (14) – Keep him from seeing the Present and eternity; focus him on the Future (15) – How to use sex and marriage (18) – Make him think he has ownership on time; how to twist the word ‘my’ (21) – How to use this quest for the Historical Jesus (23) – Make him crave novelty; twist his desire (25) – Change the Christian idea of ‘Love’ for the negative idea of ‘Unselfishness’ (26) – Use the world slowly over time to attach him to the world (28) – Use a little Fatigue; and twist the idea of what is ‘real’ (30)
These are the main insights about the Christian life I listed. Although, there are many more.
SPOILER ALERT BELOW:
Finally, I simply want to mention the last chapter. The last chapter was different as it was not about how to tempt the Christian man because he suddenly died. Rather, it was about one demon (frustratingly) explaining what happened to him at those moments after death. In short, this chapter was beautiful. It really was. Almost made me cry tears of joy. Lewis so clearly and cleverly–even through the disgusted pen of a fictional demon!–and so wonderfully captures the Christian’s final deliverance from all evil, how the Christian will see all the angels that helped him along the way, and especially the moment when the Christian will finally see God himself, Jesus Christ, and be finally home. Again, the last chapter is beautiful. And it is a perfect ending to the book.
In sum, although it uniquely is a book containing 31 letters from one demon to the other, it is super applicable, insightful, clever, and even beautiful as it shows who God is and the future he has for his people.
Without a doubt, I would wholeheartedly recommend the book. Read it as slowly as it takes; take it in; and see the shining glory of God, especially as it is contrasted with the backdrop of the darkness.
Rated 5 out of 5
Rggal220 –
I enjoyed reading this in my “year of CS Lewis”. I feel like his use of our knowledge of God and Satan/demons from the Bible truly informs his natural imaginative storytelling ability. He didn’t write in a formal sense to be regarded as scripture, yet there are so many spiritual truths in this text to open our eyes to what is going on around us in the spiritual world.
Rated 5 out of 5
Typische nepheid van Amazon. Weet zo’n boek dat zogenaamd de kaft heeft op de afbeelding maar in werkelijkheid is het zo’n smerig goedkoop kaftje. Nooit meer boeken kopen bij Amazon –
Nice
Rated 5 out of 5
CSS –
The Screwtape Letters including Screwtape’s Toast at the end, should be required reading in every high school. The premise of the story is how humans can easily succumb to the insidious nature of evil, but they can also triumph over it. It’s told through a Demon’s letters written with such wit & sarcasm to his newly-minted demon nephew to provide guidance on the intricacies of temptation. The story is set during World War II & I believe was meant to be a cautionary tale, but C.S.Lewis must have had a crystal ball because this has turned out to be an excruciatingly accurate portrait of our society and politics today. The recent graduating classes from Temptors Training College for Young Devils must be larger than ever! Highly recommend this read.
Rated 4 out of 5
Nicholas Costi –
C.S. Lewis is probably the seminal author on scholarly Christian fantasy, but the more nonfiction his work gets, the less coherent his points get. The Narnia books work so well as Christian allegory because they are focused on a narrative string that makes you think less of the moral relativism he peppers into his nonfiction writing.
This one is kind of in the middle, and its hard to fault it for its major problem because it’s also the most coherent point in the book. The head demon is writing a series of letters to his dear nephew, Wormwood, on the ways to corrupt a man. But since he’s always relating it to Christianity and Christianity in itself is out of vogue in this manner, there’s often no footing for the reader to grab onto.
A lot of times I will read what Lewis says two or three times and I still can’t understand what he’s saying, but I do get the main points. The whole idea is that the demon is trying to convert the man through subtle means, not to simply get him to become evil but to do a “death by a thousand cuts” approach, gradually chipping away at him until he submits to evil. Part of the reason it’s harder to relate to is that the evils in the modern world are so much worse with things like gang violence and active shooters, to compare them to a man who has simply been sent to hell because he failed to go to church on Sunday almost seems trite.
And yet, despite that, the fact that Lewis is so dead set on his concept is what makes so many other things in his books often feel creepy and prophetic. Because even though the actions of the demons in the book might not ring true, the means through which they do it seem to unveil more universal truths about humanity in general seem blatantly obvious and disturbingly real.
Some examples of brilliant quotes in this book include:
“Hence we always try to work away from the natural condition of any pleasure to that in which it is least natural, least redolent of its maker, and least pleasurable. An ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure is the formula.”
“While the spirit can be directed toward an eternal object, the animal side is subject to the undulations or flow of time and change”
and:
“God wants men to be concerned with what they do, our business is to make them concerned with what happens to them”
When cut into quotes and aphorisms it is one of the most brilliant books ever written, and full of cheeky humor that makes the seriousness of the content more palatable. You can strip the Christian allegory out of Lewis’ writing entirely and you will still be able to extract universal golden truths about the nature of evil itself. At the same time, I have to be totally honest that it often feels that his obsessive nature over “the word of God” in and of itself and the general innocuousness of some of these inner machinations, combined with the fact that it is often written in impenetrable mid-1900s UK slang that something gets lost in translation.
But since the whole point of the book is the innocuous facade on which evil picks away at man itself I can’t really fault it entirely on the means he is using. It’s only to state that while the book is a clever idea with some disturbing moral truths it can also be hard to digest in its entirely for the aforementioned reasons. Perhaps if Lewis was less of a Christian apologist and wrote solely on the concept of universal evil he might have struck even bigger chord.
Rated 5 out of 5
Karvi –
C.S. Lewis is a great author. This is a very thought provoking book. Every Christian & non-Christian should read.
Rated 4 out of 5
Anto jonse –
Mooi boek voor niet al te veel geld. Heb dezelfde edities van ‘Mere Christianity’ en ‘Miracles’ ook, fijne boeken om mee te nemen in het openbaar vervoer of in een park.
Alleen jammer dat Amazon boeken verstuurd in een dun kartonnen brief, zonder enige vorm van bescherming. Op zich geen groot punt voor een budget boek als deze, die van mij kwam ook in goede staat bij mij thuis aan: Is alleen een punt van waarschuwing wanneer er verwacht wordt dat het boek feilloos aankomt wanneer het besteld wordt bij Amazon.
PolinaB –
This is an excellent book especially for those who struggle with the vive of anger and wrath. The book that I received did not have page 1-8 , looks like a error from the publications.
Amazon Customer –
A curious and brilliant way to encourage moral reflection, movement away from sin and all its empty promises, and towards a life in Christ. I think I could read it 100 times over and benefit each and every time.
e –
This is a great book, amazing quality, and great for a every day read or even with a book club
Ronalds Donalds –
This book make you self reflect and start asking for forgiveness for even just doubting God word it’s a great book that draws you closer to the Lord
Typische nepheid van Amazon. Weet zo’n boek dat zogenaamd de kaft heeft op de afbeelding maar in werkelijkheid is het zo’n smerig goedkoop kaftje. Nooit meer boeken kopen bij Amazon –
Nep
Ryan Hawkins –
I’ve read this before (around 5 years ago), but this time I enjoyed it way more than last time, and I think I was able to follow Lewis’ thoughts much better. In sum, this book was full of insight after insight about how we as humans work, how we are variously and subtly tempted in the Christian life, and even who God (referred to as ‘the Enemy’ throughout) is and how we works for the good of his people. Many might think this is mainly fiction, or satire, or just a strange book that is about how demons might work, but the book is much more profound than that. It most certainly isn’t just fiction; it includes some satire, but isn’t mainly such; and Lewis does use the letters from one demon to another as his template; but in reality, this is just as clear and profound as Lewis’ other classic works on Christianity-such as Mere Christianity. In fact, I would say that if read slowly, this book is just as profound. Just instead of it being longer chapters with longer arguments, each of the 31 chapters in this book has its own main argument (or multiple) that really shed much insight on the Christian faith.
Of the 31 chapters, I marked 15 of them as really great and worth revisiting over and over. I will keep this book always in close range on my bookshelf simply because it is so full of practical advice and illustrations about the Christian life.
I will not quote or list most of the insights here-just for the sake of time-but here are the main topics that he talked about. I will word them as coming from evil’s perspective, and will put the chapter number in parenthesis.
– Keep the Christian “in the stream” and not really thinking about bigger things (1)
– Use the War, but watch out for how the Enemy can use it (5)
– Use anxiety about the Future; make him lack self-awareness (6)
– Make him extreme on either side (it doesn’t really matter much) on Politics (7)
– Use Pleasures (even though that’s Enemy territory), and make him a nominal believer (9)
– Make him spend his time, all throughout life, doing and getting Nothing (12)
– Manipulate his ‘Humility’ (14)
– Keep him from seeing the Present and eternity; focus him on the Future (15)
– How to use sex and marriage (18)
– Make him think he has ownership on time; how to twist the word ‘my’ (21)
– How to use this quest for the Historical Jesus (23)
– Make him crave novelty; twist his desire (25)
– Change the Christian idea of ‘Love’ for the negative idea of ‘Unselfishness’ (26)
– Use the world slowly over time to attach him to the world (28)
– Use a little Fatigue; and twist the idea of what is ‘real’ (30)
These are the main insights about the Christian life I listed. Although, there are many more.
SPOILER ALERT BELOW:
Finally, I simply want to mention the last chapter. The last chapter was different as it was not about how to tempt the Christian man because he suddenly died. Rather, it was about one demon (frustratingly) explaining what happened to him at those moments after death. In short, this chapter was beautiful. It really was. Almost made me cry tears of joy. Lewis so clearly and cleverly–even through the disgusted pen of a fictional demon!–and so wonderfully captures the Christian’s final deliverance from all evil, how the Christian will see all the angels that helped him along the way, and especially the moment when the Christian will finally see God himself, Jesus Christ, and be finally home. Again, the last chapter is beautiful. And it is a perfect ending to the book.
In sum, although it uniquely is a book containing 31 letters from one demon to the other, it is super applicable, insightful, clever, and even beautiful as it shows who God is and the future he has for his people.
Without a doubt, I would wholeheartedly recommend the book. Read it as slowly as it takes; take it in; and see the shining glory of God, especially as it is contrasted with the backdrop of the darkness.
Rggal220 –
I enjoyed reading this in my “year of CS Lewis”. I feel like his use of our knowledge of God and Satan/demons from the Bible truly informs his natural imaginative storytelling ability. He didn’t write in a formal sense to be regarded as scripture, yet there are so many spiritual truths in this text to open our eyes to what is going on around us in the spiritual world.
Typische nepheid van Amazon. Weet zo’n boek dat zogenaamd de kaft heeft op de afbeelding maar in werkelijkheid is het zo’n smerig goedkoop kaftje. Nooit meer boeken kopen bij Amazon –
Nice
CSS –
The Screwtape Letters including Screwtape’s Toast at the end, should be required reading in every high school. The premise of the story is how humans can easily succumb to the insidious nature of evil, but they can also triumph over it. It’s told through a Demon’s letters written with such wit & sarcasm to his newly-minted demon nephew to provide guidance on the intricacies of temptation. The story is set during World War II & I believe was meant to be a cautionary tale, but C.S.Lewis must have had a crystal ball because this has turned out to be an excruciatingly accurate portrait of our society and politics today. The recent graduating classes from Temptors Training College for Young Devils must be larger than ever! Highly recommend this read.
Nicholas Costi –
C.S. Lewis is probably the seminal author on scholarly Christian fantasy, but the more nonfiction his work gets, the less coherent his points get. The Narnia books work so well as Christian allegory because they are focused on a narrative string that makes you think less of the moral relativism he peppers into his nonfiction writing.
This one is kind of in the middle, and its hard to fault it for its major problem because it’s also the most coherent point in the book. The head demon is writing a series of letters to his dear nephew, Wormwood, on the ways to corrupt a man. But since he’s always relating it to Christianity and Christianity in itself is out of vogue in this manner, there’s often no footing for the reader to grab onto.
A lot of times I will read what Lewis says two or three times and I still can’t understand what he’s saying, but I do get the main points. The whole idea is that the demon is trying to convert the man through subtle means, not to simply get him to become evil but to do a “death by a thousand cuts” approach, gradually chipping away at him until he submits to evil. Part of the reason it’s harder to relate to is that the evils in the modern world are so much worse with things like gang violence and active shooters, to compare them to a man who has simply been sent to hell because he failed to go to church on Sunday almost seems trite.
And yet, despite that, the fact that Lewis is so dead set on his concept is what makes so many other things in his books often feel creepy and prophetic. Because even though the actions of the demons in the book might not ring true, the means through which they do it seem to unveil more universal truths about humanity in general seem blatantly obvious and disturbingly real.
Some examples of brilliant quotes in this book include:
“Hence we always try to work away from the natural condition of any pleasure to that in which
it is least natural, least redolent of its maker, and least pleasurable. An ever increasing craving
for an ever diminishing pleasure is the formula.”
“While the spirit can be directed toward an eternal object, the animal side is subject to the undulations or flow of time and change”
and:
“God wants men to be concerned with what they do, our business is to
make them concerned with what happens to them”
When cut into quotes and aphorisms it is one of the most brilliant books ever written, and full of cheeky humor that makes the seriousness of the content more palatable. You can strip the Christian allegory out
of Lewis’ writing entirely and you will still be able to extract universal golden truths about the nature of
evil itself. At the same time, I have to be totally honest that it often feels that his obsessive nature over “the word of God” in and of itself and the general innocuousness of some of these inner machinations, combined with the fact that it is often written in impenetrable mid-1900s UK slang that something gets lost in translation.
But since the whole point of the book is the innocuous facade on which evil picks away at man itself I can’t really fault it entirely on the means he is using. It’s only to state that while the book is a clever idea with some disturbing moral truths it can also be hard to digest in its entirely for the aforementioned reasons. Perhaps if Lewis was less of a Christian apologist and wrote solely on the concept of universal evil he might have struck even bigger chord.
Karvi –
C.S. Lewis is a great author. This is a very thought provoking book. Every Christian & non-Christian should read.
Anto jonse –
Mooi boek voor niet al te veel geld. Heb dezelfde edities van ‘Mere Christianity’ en ‘Miracles’ ook, fijne boeken om mee te nemen in het openbaar vervoer of in een park.
Alleen jammer dat Amazon boeken verstuurd in een dun kartonnen brief, zonder enige vorm van bescherming. Op zich geen groot punt voor een budget boek als deze, die van mij kwam ook in goede staat bij mij thuis aan: Is alleen een punt van waarschuwing wanneer er verwacht wordt dat het boek feilloos aankomt wanneer het besteld wordt bij Amazon.
Fabiola Queiroz –
Ótimo livro!