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A review by coffeedog14
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
dark
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
3.0
I read this once as a young and struggling christian kid, and found it very enlightening - it felt like somebody thinking about all this stuff as much as I was! Someone who maybe had a few more of the answers about things.
Looking back now as someone who doesn't believe, I can see alot more of the... red flags. Opinions and beliefs that I didn't understand or shrugged off as a youth, but not stand out to me as problematic, harmful, and in some cases the foundational beliefs of modern alt-right murder cults. Woops!
Looking past that however, the book is pretty fun for a series of mini-sermons. Putting it in the mouth of a Demon gives it just enough distance and amusement that they don't really *feel* like sermons, which makes it funny that C.S. Lewis said that he didn't really like writing the book because he had to put himself in the demon's mindset. My man, you finally found an interesting way to teach people some of these things, and you're too boring to handle it! Amazing.
I would say, go into this one with open eyes (it was written by a mid-century conservative christian - he's not like the *worst* but some weird stuff comes out) - but if you can look past that it's a quick read with a fun gimmick that it uses well.
Looking back now as someone who doesn't believe, I can see alot more of the... red flags. Opinions and beliefs that I didn't understand or shrugged off as a youth, but not stand out to me as problematic, harmful, and in some cases the foundational beliefs of modern alt-right murder cults. Woops!
Looking past that however, the book is pretty fun for a series of mini-sermons. Putting it in the mouth of a Demon gives it just enough distance and amusement that they don't really *feel* like sermons, which makes it funny that C.S. Lewis said that he didn't really like writing the book because he had to put himself in the demon's mindset. My man, you finally found an interesting way to teach people some of these things, and you're too boring to handle it! Amazing.
I would say, go into this one with open eyes (it was written by a mid-century conservative christian - he's not like the *worst* but some weird stuff comes out) - but if you can look past that it's a quick read with a fun gimmick that it uses well.