ProTheism

It’s been about two years since I have heard the name “Screwtape.” I remember first reading The Screwtape Letters and Screwtape Proposes a Toast by C.S. Lewis and being completely taken by Lewis’ amazing ability to captivate spiritual warfare in fiction. And of course, who can forget Screwtape’s nephew Wormwood; with a name like that—the book must be good, right? Though the book is fiction, there is a backdrop of eternal significance to the letters; that being, the perpetual disposition of the soul. With the guidance of Screwtape, Wormwood will devour you. However, the consumption of your soul is not sudden, but leisurely. It’s intriguing the way Screwtape takes a person piece by piece like a game of chess. Slowly the pawns of each day’s decisions are persuaded for the taking; until the higher ranks of your fortification are left overpowered—not by brute force, but by the tickling misguidance of Wormwood and his uncle Screwtape.

Now I must confess, as much as I loved how Lewis brilliantly developed the correspondences, when I read Walter Martin’s Screwtape Writes Again, I found my self far more indulged by Martin’s book. Martin’s display of the correspondences between Screwtape and Wormwood seemed more provocative (and personal). I remember hardly being able to set the book down. Most likely, this was because Walter Martin was not only brilliant, but had the ability to bring passion and vibrancy into any discussion.

I’m reminded of Screwtape because of Steve Hays over at Triablogue. He has skillfully succeeded in appropriating Screwtape’s agenda into contemporary apologetics. Taking the fashionable notions of today’s most common delusions of Christianity, Hays pens (so to speak) a small post of Screw Tape Strikes Again! In a little more satirical approach, Screwtape guides Wormwood into the entire family of misconceptions, delusions, tactical divergences and blunt lies. If anyone is familiar with Screwtape, it’s a must read.