Analysis Of The Screwtape Letters By C. S. Lewis

1094 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Role of religion in english literature

Midterm Paper
The Western Religion text I chose to report on is The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. Lewis’s mother died at age 9, which lead to atheism and immense amounts of reading and writing at an early age. The Screwtape Letters is comprised of 31 letters. They are written by an Uncle Screwtape, a senior devil, to his nephew Wormwood, a junior apprentice devil. Uncle Screwtape refers to his nephew as the “patient” because he is the person they are trying to turn away from Christianity. Throughout the beginning of the letter, Screwtape explains ways for Wormwood to draw the patient away from religion. Later letters show Uncle Screwtape critiquing and still teaching Wormwood how to effectively convert people away from Christianity.
A main theme I saw in The Screwtape Letters was …show more content…

This is one of many ways the Devil can exploit you by getting you to go against the word of the Holy Spirit. “I will resettle you as you were formerly, and will make you more prosperous than you were at first. And you shall know that I am The Lord (Novak, 200).” After saying all this he will do for you, he adds “Thus I will cause you to follow my laws and faithfully observe my rules (Novak, 201).” These quotes from the section of Ezekiel in Judaism shows exactly the kind of relationship with God that Uncle Screwtape insisted his patients do now have. In Letter 16, Screwtape says going to church and other religious acts are a very bad thing for their patients, unless it is due to indifference. He opposes these things because being a unit of place and not of likings brings people of different classes and psychology together in the kind of unity “The Enemy”

Show More
Related

  • Sinners And Minister's Black Veil

    722 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jonathan Edwards’ sermon was themed for this congregation to repent so they could make an attempt to save their souls, and it also expresses that you are the sinner. Questioning that now, his entire sermon screams at us that it is us that the sinners, ‘you are sinners,’ but it Edwards doesn’t express that it is we that are sinners so it seems that he was excluding himself. His sermon was also spoken in a quiet, leveled and emotionless voice, monotone even, but even through his sermon lacked any sort of emotion or life, it caused the people of the congregation to feel emotional and angry. It might be the fact it was six-hours of the same sayings of being told ‘you are a sinner,’ or it could be how explicit it was because Edwards did not sugarcoat his sermon in the slightest. "The God that holds you over the pit of Hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect, over the fire abhors you..." is a quote by Edwards that portrays the power of God versus how weak and feeble humans are. Edwards portrays God in a menacing and relentless way so his congregation will fear God and the punishments of the sins they commit, which might be his way to help his

    Read More

  • Comparing Edwards' Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God and Patrick Henry's Speech in the Virginia Convention: Who Made the Best Argument?

    737 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jonathan Edwards creates a more effective argument for the intended audience in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” than “The Speech in the Virginia Convention” written by Patrick Henry, by utilizing various techniques. Patrick Henry makes a strong argument however in the end, Edwards’ sermon grows to be more effective. Edwards creates the argument by strengthening the writing through tone, structure, fallacies and knowledge of the congregation that became his audience. Henry’s piece uses methods of oratory persuasion but the actual topic of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” has an advantage from the start by appealing to fear, a fallacy of logic. Even with the strong basis “The Speech in the Virginia Convention” by Patrick Henry, Edwards’ “Sinners in the hands of an Angry God” proves the more effective piece in the end.

    Read More

  • Religion in Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving

    727 Words  | 2 Pages

    Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving is a novel in which religion is of great importance.   One of the main themes in this novel is faith in God and oneself, and even more, the conflict between belief and doubt.   Irving writes in such a way, that this is very evident throughout the book. John Wheelwright, at the start of the novel, is a young boy who does not seem to know much about how strong his faith really is.   Part of the reason for this, is that the choice between believing in and doubting God is that there isn’t any complete evidence that He even exists.

    Read More

  • Nathan Price: The Poisonwood Bible

    683 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Poisonwood Bible is the story of an evangelical Baptist preacher named Nathan Price who uproots his wife and four daughters from the modern culture of America and moves them to the Kilanga Village in the Belgian Congo as missionaries. He is bullheaded and obstinate in all his ways. His approach is inflexible, unsympathetic, and unaccepting of the culture and customs of the people of Kilanga. Nathan Price exemplifies the words of Romans 2:4 that says, “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” He did not share the goodness of God, but sought to spread his uncompromising pious agenda. Instead of leading people to God he turned them away.

    Read More

  • Analyzing 'The Screwtape Letters': A WWII Christian Dilemma

    911 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Screwtape Letters is one of the most popular works of prominent Christian writer C.S. Lewis. It documents the letters sent from the demon Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood regarding the damnation of an English gentleman living just before and during World War II. This novel is considered by many to be one of the best works by Lewis, but whether it is really worth the hype surrounding it is more subjective. Regardless of if it’s that good, however, it’s still a very interesting read and a fascinating glimpse into 1940s Britain and the moral dilemmas that were faced by good Christian people at the time.

    Read More

  • A Comparison of Winthrop and Edwards to the Apostles of Christ

    1954 Words  | 4 Pages

    Edwards, Jonathan. "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter. Canada: DC Heath and Company, 1990. 584-595.

    Read More

  • Harry Potter Through a Christian Perspective

    880 Words  | 2 Pages

    The novels of Harry Potter, written by J. K. Rowling are constantly in debate among Christians whether Harry Potter is preaching sorcery and paganism or that the books have a spiritual meaning deeper than most care to look at. It is easy to look through the books and find sources of witchcraft but one could say the same for sources of the gospel. Author, J.K. Rowland has stated that her own Christian faith has in fact informed her writing of the popular series. Many Christians say Harry Potter is incomparable to Christ, being far from perfection while Voldemort seems to strike a different chord of response as far as his character representing The Devil himself.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Pathos In Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

    1023 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1741, Jonathan Edwards, a Puritan preacher of that time, had one thing on his mind: to convert sinners, on the road to hell, to salvation. It just so happened to be, that his way of doing that was to preach the reality to them and scare them to the point of conversion. Sermons of this time were preached to persuade people to be converted and to me it seemed that Edwards just had a special way of doing it. Just as people are being influenced by rhetoric appeals today Edwards used the same method on his congregation. In “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Jonathan Edwards positively affected his readers using pathos, logos, and ethos, while trying to convince the unconverted members of his sermon to be born again.

    Read More

  • Strength Grown by Celie

    1005 Words  | 3 Pages

    Watkins, Mel. "Some Letters Went to God." . New York Times, 25 July 1982. Web. 21 May 2014. .

    Read More

  • Theme Of Christ In The Great Gatsby

    1883 Words  | 4 Pages

    Since the first storytellers, religion has played an important part in developing both character and plot. From Ancient Greece to Egypt to Judaism to Christianity, the basic stories of human origins have stood the test of time. Classic books such as The Great Gatsby, The Stranger, and Lord of the Flies are full of religious parallels and imagery. Conceptually, main characters of each work--Gatsby, The Stranger’s Meursault, and Lord of the Flies’ schoolboys attempt to be Christ-like figures, but whose demise is ironically brought about by their own sins.

    Read More

  • Religion as a Gothic Element in American Romanticism

    1697 Words  | 4 Pages

    Edwards, Jonathan. "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: Norton & Company, 1999. 200-211.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

    1071 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Rhetorical Analysis “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards uses imagery and symbolism to persuade the audience to become more devout Christians by channeling fear and emphasizing religious values. Jonathan Edwards was a Puritan minister who preached during the time of the Great Awakening in America. During this period of religious revival, Edwards wanted people to return to the devout ways of the early Puritans in America. The spirit of the revival led Edwards to believe that sinners would enter hell. Edwards’ sermon was primarily addressed to sinners for the purpose of alerting them about their sins and inspiring them to take action to become more devoted to God.

    Read More

  • Religion In A Good Man Is Hard To Find

    1140 Words  | 3 Pages

    As he proceeds through brief insights on his past, he illuminates the reader and the grandmother on clues as to where he began losing this faith. A large portion of The Misfit’s expulsion of religion is due to the way he feels he was wrongly treated when regarding his conviction for murder. “I was never a bad boy that I remember of,” (18) and that authorities “said what I had done was kill my daddy but I known that for a lie” (18-19) The Misfit claims, yet he was punished regardless, indicating to him a sort of inconsistency with the Christian promise that morally good people do not suffer as he did in the way of his jailing. or cut last sentence and separate to be more concise) He acknowledges that praying would most likely grant him some sort of moral satisfaction or salvation from sin, yet claims “I don’t want no help” (19). This shows how he has lost touch with religion and no longer sees the benefit to having faith in Christianity as a result of the lack of help he received while enduring hard times in jail. The Misfit concludes his denunciation of Christianity by claiming that Jesus had “thrown everything off balance” (21) and made a mistake in raising the dead. The fact that a man would make the life’s work of Jesus out to be an issue in society proves a loss of faith in Christianity, a belief system founded on the idea that Jesus Christ saved society. The heart of The Misfit’s conflict with religion lies in the opinion that he, a morally sound and religiously faithful man, was wronged, punished, and left out to dry by the promises to save him from suffering made by the religion he once trusted. In this way, The Misfit has lost his faith in religion as a result of the emotionally and physically challenging times he endured throughout the process of his

    Read More

  • Play: Freud's Last Session

    1099 Words  | 3 Pages

    C.S. Lewis was the 20th century’s most popular proponent of faith based on reason. As a child, he created an imaginary world where personified animals came to life, and later, he wrote the book, Chronicles of Narnia. How did he transform from a boy fascinated with anthropomorphic animals into a man of immense faith? His transformation to the Christian religion happened as his fame began to flourish. People wrote him, asking him about his claims about the truth of Christianity (Belmonte, Kevin). As I attended the drama of Freud’s Last Session, I was engrossed into the plot of the play and was constantly thinking about how it pertained to the objectives of the World Literature class. I not only connected the content of the play to its context, but I also reached out to apply the context to a discussion on a broader scale. I then discovered why the context of literature is imperative for true understanding of the w...

    Read More

  • Circles Of For-Ness Analysis

    688 Words  | 2 Pages

    That of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit” (Willard, 2012, pg 180). Our circle was very Christ centered, unfortunately, even if you are centered on Christ, the devil can begin to bring division if you are not on guard to stop him. The leader of the life group went on a mission trip overseas. When she returned, she suddenly felt that she did not need church in order to be a Christian, her and her family completely cut ties with us. We tried moving life group to another location, but slowly people who consistently came before stopped being consistent. Our game nights started becoming once every other month and then went away all together. Eventually several of the people in the group became offended for one reason or another and left for other churches to meet their needs. No matter how tight knit a group, it takes the devil getting his claws on one person to tear it all apart in some

    Read More

More about Analysis Of The Screwtape Letters By C. S. Lewis

Open Document