Description
C.S. Lewis' masterpiece of satire on Hell's latest tempations and techniques and Heaven's Answer.
What if hell were organized as a fiendish bureaucracy with managers and field agents? Meet Screwtape, upper management and uncle to Wormwood, a field agent tempter who has been assigned a human patient to secure for eternity. Hell shares no love, but Screwtape undertakes the guidance and tutelage of his nephew.
In a series of letters, Screwtape offers advice and practicality to the young demon about the finer points of temptation, the weaknesses and foibles of human beings, and the disaster of his patient becoming a Christian. Though this certainly complicates things, the two infernal beings won’t let it stop them.
From this very skewed perspective, C.S. Lewis digs into human nature, revealing some interesting, and sometimes embarrassing, tendencies. Touching on everything from sleeplessness to the “absurdity” of God’s love for humanity, Screwtape imparts his wicked wisdom to Wormwood. Though the mirror he holds up to humanity is warped and cracked, it is still painfully revealing. Wit and parody mask a very serious analysis of what makes humans tick; and demanding the reader think, it can teach each of us how to resist the temptations and discouragement of the enemy!
"C.S. Lewis is the ideal persuader for the half-convinced, for the good man who would like to be a Christian but finds his intellect getting in the way." —New York Times Book Review