Cartas del Diablo a Su Sobrino

I don't know where to start with reviewing The Screwtape Letters. Perhaps with the fact -- probably already well-known to people who get my reviews in their inbox -- that I am not a Christian, but a Unitarian Universalist. But I do love reading C. S. Lewis' work: I think he was very good as using cool intellect and reason to examine himself in his faith (not just the faith of others, which would likely be unbearably holier-than-thou), a process myself and other UUs tend to value highly. He was ready to think about his faith, and seek answers -- or understanding, at least -- of things others deem unfathomable, the whys of things.

The Screwtape letters is a fictional frame for more of that work, really. He examines the ways that people are lead away from their faiths, not just through large sins like unchastity but through being proud of humility, for example... And the way he puts this makes it not only an examination of Christian goodness, but general moral goodness.

Definitely worth a read for that, and amusing in it's own way, as well -- old Uncle Screwtape's unfortunate transformation, for example.

A senior devil gives advice on tempting humans to his nephew, a junior devil

Excellent full-cast dramatization of this C. S. Lewis classic."Diabolical" Radio Theater at its best."The story is carried by the senior demon Screwtape played magnificently by award-winning actor Andy Serkis (“Gollum” in Lord of the Rings) as he shares correspondence to his apprentice demon Wormwood." (from audio jacket)4.5 ★

I've put this on my shelf to re-read in print. Not all books can be thoughtfully processed while driving. It was not dense, but the style, a one-sided correspondence, brooked no distraction. I don't believe in the devil, and the depiction of the bureaucracy devoted to his service was comical. The insight into man's behavior and faith, and how they might be manipulated, and are in fact constantly manipulated by the forces of good and evil, was cogent to the point of discomfort at times. Will be looking for a copy at a book sale.

 A bundle of incomplete, disordered letters fall into your lap in the candle light. Each letter's subject centers on a patient that needs tending by its invisible guide. The letters urge the recipient to work fast, avoid the Enemy, and labor to bring his patient to a glorious feast Below. The letters describe strategy for Man's destruction. The letters are written in scrawled, inky handwriting. The letters are signed "your affectionate uncle Screwtape."This collection of fictional letters from one demonic spirit to the other is a fascinating concept contrived by the great CS Lewis himself. Each letter is carefully composed in an oily, inky-black tone belonging to a well-experienced Devil named Screwtape as he instructs his nephew in training on how to condemn a human soul. Although laced with scholarly, sometimes difficult words with deep concepts and long rabbit trails, the Screwtape Letters were surprisingly enjoyable.I find the term "patient" that Screwtape and Wormwood speak of an intriguing concept. A patient, as if the human was sick and needed treatment. This one word alone creates an unsettling atmosphere to the reader. Something's just creepy when you introduce diabolical, mad scientists and doctors, Screwtape and Wormwood being no different.The Letters are almost like a Biblical devotion of what NOT to do. Time after time I would read Screwtape's advice and be forced to think: "Wow, I never thought of that as a sin before. I never thought that could be a stumbling block. I never thought that Satan could use that against me." Granted, CS Lewis's story is complete fiction, but the concepts and ideas remain true. Screwtape's deep philosophies on pride, for one, is an enlightening concept. There was so much Wormwood could do if he could simply get his unnamed patient to be prideful.My critiques are few. The readers enjoying this story must take in account that not everything Screwtape says lines up with the Biblical facts of Salvation, God, Hell, or souls. Lewis disclaims this fact in the Letter's preface: "Readers are advised to remember that the devil is a liar. Not everything that Screwtape says should be assumed to be true even from his own angle." In the book, Screwtape seems to believe that Salvation can be lost--rather, it can be renounced, and with it, the soul's eternal security. He makes mention of this often in the book, and this, plus Lewis's comment about Susan in the Last Battle, I assume he believes you can "give back" your Salvation. According to Jesus in John 10:29, "No man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand."Another Biblical inaccuracy takes place near the end of the correspondence. Screwtape mentions a Feast where the demons devour lost human souls they've dragged to Hell. In the terms he describes it, it appears that these souls are consumed, totally, by the demons who currently reside in Hell (quite comfortably, it would seem). In the Bible, Jesus mentions that "the worm dieth not," the "worm" being mankind's soul. So unless the devoured soul continues to be conscious in the demons' bodies, in fiery agony for eternity, this picture Lewis has described can't be considered accurate. Also, Satan is implied to be living in Hell with his demons, all of them unbound and free to do evil. The only demons in Hell, currently, are the ones that have been bound there specifically by God and His angels. The others are free on earth, in no torment...yet. In Lewis's work, it appears as if Hell were a "base" of the demons. Their Heaven. It doesn't sound like a place of torment for them.Bear in mind with these inaccuracies that Lewis does mention in his preface that not all of which you read, even coming from Screwtape, is true. Screwtape gets much of his information from Satan, who is a liar.I find it interesting, and almost sad, that the demons can't comprehend Love. Multiple times Screwtape is baffled over why God would love His creation so much. Why one measly soul is so important to Him. Screwtape vents that it must be some secret He and His creatures are keeping from them. It can't possibly be as simple as He says it is.All in all, I really enjoyed this book, heavy as it may be.Things to Watch Out For:Romance: Demons speak of sex, the way it was intended, and then the way they can twist it to their own means. They use sexual temptation to trip up the patient, but they didn't use descriptions that were too uncomfortable. Demons don't care about going into detail. They don't have the same desires as Man.Language: Talk of damnation, "Hell forbid," "By Hell."Violence: talk of the blitz and bombings during the War, detailed descriptions of human soul consumption and the likeDrugs: mention of smoking and drinking by the patient or other humans that Screwtape talks ofNudity: NAOther: Some slight Biblical inaccuracies such as losing Salvation, Hell, and eternal suffering of souls

A "what not to do" guide for Christians. Gotta love it.

Brilliant satire on the human condition

Gran libro, toca temas complejos de formas muy practicas y resumidas, en ocasiones demasiado, el autor no se propone ahondar en ninguno de sus temas, sino que salta entre uno y el otro como mejor le parece, pero te lleva consigo en sus saltos. Es una obra sencilla para adentrarse en la literatura de C.S. Lewis

Libro magnífico. Si eres cristiano, te recomiendo totalmente que te des el tiempo y lo leas. A mi me lo recomendó mi pastor.

Muy bueno y edificante. Al final de cuentas Lewis nos da una buena información acerca de como los diablos actúan en nuestra vida y yo lo confirmo junto con él; porque lo he vivido. Recomendable al 100%

Con un lenguaje ameno, sencillo y creativo, C. S. Lewis enseña acerca de la virtud cristiana y el papel de la voluntad en la piedad cristiana.

Es impresionante! El análisis de la tentación es de gran ayuda para la vida espiritual

This is my copy, which is on my favorites' shelf. Wonderful! Makes one think about the reality of the prince of this world and his tactics.

El libro está escrito con el uso de figuras literarias que permiten afirmar y llegar a conclusiones opuestas a lo que narra por la propia actividad del lector. Definitivamente una obra maestra la que CS Lewis escribió en estas páginas.

A one sided conversation between Wormwood and "Your affectionate Uncle Screwtape." Screwtape responds to letters written by Wormwood, we never see the letters the nephew has written. This book is very well written and surprisingly is still relevant today, especially towards the end with some of Screwtapes comments.

Excellent book on how a devil is trying to think how to fool humans. This leads to great little sermonettes in the form of letters.

In a series of letters written from one demon, Screwtape, to his nephew and trainee demon, Wormwood, Lewis exposes the nature of temptation and how easy it is to rationalize sin. It didn’t take me long to realize that Lewis had “stopped preaching and started to meddling”. I didn’t like what I saw reflected in my own life. Lewis died before I was born, yet his theological, philosophical, and cultural observations still feel fresh and relevant.

Entertaining (there's some sharp social commentary), and I found having to reverse the psychology, as it were, a useful intellectual exercise that worked my brain nicely (and, I think, helped me get the theological points Lewis was making). My copy ends with a "Screwtape Proposes a Toast," which I found *quite* tedious, unfortunately. Well worth a read, even if you're disinclined (as I am) to take the religious aspects.... religiously. *looks askance at LW3*

A creative look into how the demonic works in the lives of Christians. This book reiterated the fact that we don't always smack right into sinful things--if so, we'd recognize sin more often and say no from the beginning. More often than not, sinful things begin with a little attitude, a little grievance, something small...and fester and grow into something big. How unfortunate that a sinful thought would just need a tiny seed--that we are so willing to water, when a pure and holy thought needs God's constant reminding and coaxing and prodding in us for us to allow it to flourish. Praise God that he does remind us and coax us and prod us--he really does deeply love us all!

An entertaining counter factual account of the Christian life. Some of the arguments are a bit beyond me, but the basics are sound. Makes the reader contemplate the real meaning of being a true Christian.

 Boring. Boring and moralistic. Boring and moralistic and designed to help us improve ourselves.

This book is part of my C.S. Lewis collection. I went through a huge phase where I was just obsessed with anything and everything by him. While I don't agree with all of his theology, I do love his writing style and the things he has to say about faith. He was a good one.

I came to this work expecting it to be a clever yet annoying apologetic for Mr. Lewis' vision of Christianity. While it is an apologia, it's remarkably fun listening. Mr. Lewis puts into Screwtape's letters some things he probably couldn't have gotten away with in a different format. I'm not sure, but it certainly seems like there were some very direct personal jabs in "Screwtape's" letters. Much to my surprise, there is a whole lot of really juicy insights into human psychology and the human condition here. Even when I disagree with his conclusions (most of the time) I have to admire his insights.

I also have to admire his rhetorical skills. For all that I disagree with him, I wouldn't want to debate him. The man is damn good at constructing a logical argument.

If I were a younger person, and had been raised in Mr. Lewis' variety of Christianity, I probably would have loved this work. I imagine a lot of liberal Christians take great comfort in Mr. Lewis's implicit contention that loveing Christianity is objectively true. I can see why this work has stayed so popular for so long.

Weirdly enough, this felt less directly didactic than his Narnia books. Then again, I read the Narnia series expecting a fantasy adventure story. If I had expected it to be apologetics in fantasy form I might have felt less beaten by the metaphor hammer.

I am very likely to re-read this one. While "simply" a series of letters, what Screwtapes includes and excludes from his letters shapes a story with a lot of depth and complexity. Aside from that, this is worth examining for the quality and depth of the rhetorical/argumentation skills displayed. I think I can learn alot about constructing persuasive arguments from this work.

Sometimes I hold off on reviewing "classics" because everyone tells me how danged "classic" they are and I tend to not trust things that are "popular." So, the long wait (my whole life) before I finally read C. S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters and the appended "Screwtape Proposes a Toast."

Wow! It is good. It is, despite some dated references in a dated setting, still relevant to present-day mankind and their souls. The story is so well-known, and so easily findable on Wikipedia and the like, that I won't give any sort of recap. A million other reviewers have praised this work's virtues, so I will just say that Lewis's take on how and why mankind could be tempted to hellfire is brilliant.

As I said, still relevant too. I will give a few examples of Lewis's prescient warnings and insights. In "Screwtape Proposes a Toast" he derides the educational system.

"At universities, examinations must be framed so that nearly all the students get good marks. Entrance examinations must be framed so that all, or nearly all, citizens can go to universities, whether they have any power (or wish) to profit from higher education or not. At schools, children who are too stupid of lazy to learn languages and mathematics and elementary science can be set to doing things that children used to do in their spare time. Let them, for example, make mud pies and call it modelling." (pp. 125-126)

How familiar does that sound? The dumbing down of our educational system? The rampant student loan debt because everybody MUST go to college!

Or on the pitfalls of democracy. Democracy as in everyone is equal, which is how the demons want to define it. "..they [the humans] should never be allowed to give this word a clear and definable meaning." Why? Teach man that instead of all men being created equal, and how every man is equal before the law, the government, and God, no, falsely teach man that "all men are equal" (p. 122, emphasis in the original). Why? "As a result you can use the word democracy to sanction in his thought the most degrading (and also the least enjoyable) of all human feelings. You can get him to practise, not only without shame but with a positive glow of self-approval, conduct which, if undefended by the magic word, would be universally derided." (p. 122).

Does that not sound like the decline of Western thought and values in a nutshell? "We are all equal! All the same! Democracy! So do what everyone else is doing!" Or, to give it a socialist tinge, which is what Lewis mainly meant I think. You would not steal another man's property as a burglar, but call it a tax to pull down the rich so all men are at the same level! Democracy!

A classic, and rightly so. Highly recommended.

Reviewed ISBN 0684831171. Two prefaces by the author included.

enjoyed it although it was hard for me to get through it

Always a good read with insight into temptation and the human condition.

I don't consider myself a particularly religious person, but I enjoyed The Screwtape Letter immensely. It has a lot of great observations on life and what it means to be a person that can be enjoyed by everyone, not just the Christians or prospective Christians that Lewis was writing towards.

Favorite quote:

"All mortals tend to turn into the thing they are pretending to be. This is elementary."

A striking approach to literature about the devil, sin and evil in the world. The Screwtape Letters is a satirical Christian apologetics novel written in epistolary style by C. S. Lewis, first published in book form in February 1942. The story takes the form of a series of letters from a senior demon, Screwtape, to his nephew, a junior "tempter" named Wormwood, so as to advise him on methods of securing the damnation of a British man, known only as "the Patient". C.S. Lewis provides a series of lessons in the importance of taking a deliberate role in living out Christian faith by portraying a typical human life, with all its temptations and failings, as seen from devils' viewpoints. Screwtape holds an administrative post in the bureaucracy ("Lowerarchy") of Hell, and acts as a mentor to Wormwood, the inexperienced tempter. In the body of the thirty-one letters which make up the book, Screwtape gives Wormwood detailed advice on various methods of undermining faith and promoting sin in the Patient, interspersed with observations on human nature and Christian doctrine. While it resonates I did not find it compelling, merely entertaining at its best moments.

Nothing like reading the Screwtape Letters to renew to see how fickle we are and how much we need to approach one another with a good dose of humility and forgiveness. I typically read it once a decade as a reminder.

I'm really not sure what the author was going for but this was not fun to read. It was not funny or clever or even especially original. There was a point when I though Lewis was going to use a plot twist to improve the story (when Screwtape start apologizing for his excessive language) but that patched itself up too nicely.

There was really no conflict or antagonist (or even protagonist, for that matter). All in all it was a dull book that came of more like a poor man's sermon than viable literature. Truly disappointing!