Independent Reading Journal 10-1-08

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. 1961. Macmillan Company.

So I was talking the other day and I mentioned I was reading Screwtape Letters. I had always heard a lot about it because of people I knew and my family all knew about it, but this person I was talking to had never heard of it. it occurred to me that maybe not everyone knows about this book even though it's pretty well known. Here's the basic premise of the book: Screwtape a demon working for Satan writes a series of letters to his nephew Wormwood. Wormwood is sort of a demon in training, so Screwtape's letters usually talk about how to handle human subjects (people the demons are responsible for getting to Hell). He gives Wormwood lots of good demon advice of how to sway the person and defeat their enemies working for Him (God). So far I have only seen Screwtapes side of the correspondence between the two, but apparently Wormwood writes back because Screwtape references letters he received. It's interesting, witty, and philosophical. At times some things seem to go over my head and I need to go back and re read and re think for a while. It's definitely a book that makes you think.