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  • The Screwtape Letters

  • Written by: C. S. Lewis
  • Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
  • Length: 3 hrs and 36 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (30 ratings)

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The Screwtape Letters

Written by: C. S. Lewis
Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
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Publisher's Summary

A masterpiece of satire, this classic has entertained and enlightened readers the world over with its sly and ironic portrayal of human life and foibles from the vantage point of Screwtape, a highly placed assistant to "Our Father Below". At once wildly comic, deadly serious, and strikingly original, C.S. Lewis gives us the correspondence of the worldly-wise old Devil to his nephew, Wormwood, a novice demon in charge of securing the damnation of an ordinary young man.

The Screwtape Letters is the most engaging account of temptation, and triumph over it, ever written.

(P)2006 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic Reviews

Audie Award Finalist, Inspirational/Spiritual, 2007

Known for The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis wrote the wittiest defense of Christianity ever. Humorist John Cleese won AudioFile Earphones for his 1999 enactment of the correspondence between two devils plotting the damnation of one man's soul. Ralph Cosham is a slightly less demented fiend, but the text itself remains hilarious.... Cosham's organ-like voice also lends resonance.... This is, therefore, the best audio ever spoken of the funniest defense of Christianity ever written." (AudioFile magazine) 

"Lewis' satire is a Christian classic....[his] take on human nature is as on-target as it was when the letters were first published in 1941." (Library Journal

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Life changing

Interesting fact - Soon after losing his mother to cancer at a very young age, Lewis abandoned Christianity and turned into a staunch atheist. But he was drawn back to his faith at a much later point in his adulthood, and eventually passed away in 1963 - as a Christian.

Now factor this in before you formulate your view of this book.

This isn't the work of someone who was a believer all his life. This was the work of someone who was born into faith, lost it and then found his way back to it - but this time, with a reverence and understanding that was sorely missing the first time around.

A question for the religiously inclined - would you rather open your ears to the words of someone who had lost, but later on, genuinely found God? Or to someone, who in the guise of a mortal who is fully attuned to the Power of God and his teachings, never truly found God in the first place? Leave this question to simmer in your mind...

When writing 'The Screwtape letters', a book about a demon of high-rank in the hierarchy of hell advising his nephew, 'Wormwood', on how to go about assuring that the patient that the young gentle-devil has been assigned turns to Satan - Lewis stated in the preface to 'Screwtape Proposes a Toast', a work written years later, that writing TSL was "not enjoyable" - simply because to write a book from the perspective of one of the devil's minions was to put yourself in the shoes of a being that sees pleasure in our pain, opportunity in our vices and fodder in those of us firmly set onto a path of damnation.

It's interesting to note that he felt that writing letters from the perspective of the patient's guardian angel was something he found himself incapable of - because to write from a perspective of heaven, you would have to be a heavenly being. He didn't feel up to it - but I would have loved to read it nevertheless.

I realize that I haven't even gotten to talking about the book yet and why it's a no-brainer GOAT in not just Christian theology, but in literature in general. I'm not going to sing praises for this book for the takeaways it gives to a practicing Christian (for there are others better suited to do that), but I will sing praises for the simple lessons in humanity this book can bestow upon you.

One - that of the vices of pride and acceptance. No, not the usual instances of pride we are accustomed to, but ones of spiritual and atheistic pride - of thinking that you're a step above others simply because of your beliefs towards a certain religion or your beliefs towards no religion at all. It doesn't matter how devout a believer of you are of any doctrine, if you readily disparage believers of other doctrines for no purpose other than "because that's not what I believe in".


“Your patient has become humble; have you drawn his attention to the fact? All virtues are less formidable to us once the man is aware that he has them, but this is specially true of humility.”


Two - that a dark road isn't necessarily the one with the loudest screams and the biggest crimes - but likely the one with the smaller malpractices and the more subtle evils. The kind that works on you over time, as opposed to the bursts of immorality that are few and far-between.


“Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts"


Three - and most importantly - disinterested love. Originally a doctrine by Saint Francis de Sales, Lewis reinforces in this book how the power of loving, without expecting anything in return, is what drives "the father below" nuts.

“The man who truly and disinterestedly enjoys any one thing in the world, for its own sake, and without caring two-pence what other people say about it, is by that very fact forewarned against some of our subtlest modes of attack.”

This book really moved me. Not on a spiritual level as Lewis may have intended - but on a more personal level.

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Excellent

Lovely
Hope all of C S Lewis’ books are made available to all who are interested

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Exceeded all expectations!

I went into the book without knowing anything about it except that it's author was C S Lewis. Let's say I read or in this case heard such an amazing book after a long time. I would suggest this to everyone. The narrator was more than I could ever ask for. His voice and tone matched very well with the character he was playing. It was awesome!

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