{"id":5104,"date":"2018-08-09T10:01:05","date_gmt":"2018-08-09T18:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=5104"},"modified":"2018-08-09T10:01:05","modified_gmt":"2018-08-09T18:01:05","slug":"the-screwtape-letters-preface-and-the-first-five-letters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2018\/08\/09\/the-screwtape-letters-preface-and-the-first-five-letters","title":{"rendered":"The Screwtape Letters: Preface and the First Five Letters"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_5106\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5106\" style=\"width: 199px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5106\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/screwtape-letters.jpg?resize=199%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt width=\"199\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/screwtape-letters.jpg?resize=199%2C300&amp;ssl=1 199w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/screwtape-letters.jpg?resize=768%2C1156&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/screwtape-letters.jpg?resize=680%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 680w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/screwtape-letters.jpg?resize=1200%2C1807&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/screwtape-letters.jpg?w=1600&amp;ssl=1 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 199px) 85vw, 199px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5106\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Screw\u00adtape Let\u00adters by C.S. Lewis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em>Blog read\u00aders: Chi Alpha @ Stan\u00adford is engag\u00ading in our annu\u00adal sum\u00admer read\u00ading project. As we read through three books by C. S. Lewis, I\u2019ll post my thoughts here (which will large\u00adly con\u00adsist of excerpts I found insight\u00adful). They are all tagged <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/tag\/summer-reading-project-2018\">sum\u00admer-read\u00ading-project-2018<\/a>. The sched\u00adule is <a href=\"https:\/\/xastanford.org\/summer-reading\">online<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This week we begin our final sum\u00admer bookk, The Screw\u00adtape Let\u00adters. Before I give some thoughts on this week\u2019s read\u00ading, I have some gen\u00ader\u00adal obser\u00adva\u00adtions.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The let\u00adters were orig\u00adi\u00adnal\u00adly pub\u00adlished as a week\u00adly ser\u00adi\u00adal, one let\u00adter at at time, in a church mag\u00ada\u00adzine.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The full text of <em>The Screw\u00adtape Let\u00adters<\/em> is avail\u00adable online at <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.truechristianity.info\/en\/the_screwtape_letters.php\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">http:\/\/www.truechristianity.info\/en\/the_screwtape_letters.php<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>The Screw\u00adtape Let\u00adters<\/em> is also avail\u00adable as an audio\u00adbook read by John Cleese(!) \u2014 check it out <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SBxpcGfznos&amp;list=PLA8BAC9375345E6C7\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">on YouTube<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SBxpcGfznos?version=3&amp;rel=1&amp;showsearch=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;fs=1&amp;hl=en-US&amp;autohide=2&amp;wmode=transparent&amp;listType=playlist&amp;list=PLA8BAC9375345E6C7\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p>On to the main course:<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Demon\u00adic cor\u00adre\u00adspon\u00addence in a hell\u00adish bureau\u00adcra\u00adcy is a genius idea for a book and I assumed it would have been fun to write, but Lewis said \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of all my books, there was only one I did not take plea\u00adsure in writ\u00ading.\u201d&nbsp;<em>The Screw\u00adtape Let\u00adters<\/em> \u201cwere dry and grit\u00adty going. At the time, I was think\u00ading of objec\u00adtions to the Chris\u00adt\u00adian life, and decid\u00aded to put them into the form, \u2018That\u2019s what the dev\u00adil would say.\u2019 But mak\u00ading goods \u2018bad\u2019 and bads \u2018good\u2019 gets to be fatigu\u00ading.\u201d (<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.cbn.com\/churchwatch\/archive\/2010\/09\/02\/c.s.-lewis-on-the-screwtape-letters-and-man-in-space.aspx?mobile=false\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">source<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I\u2019m glad Lewis put up with the fatigue. The result is tremen\u00addous. Let me begin with one of my favorite quotes from the book (from the pref\u00adace):<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are two equal and oppo\u00adsite errors into which our race can fall about the dev\u00adils. One is to dis\u00adbe\u00adlieve in their exis\u00adtence. The oth\u00ader is to believe, and to feel an exces\u00adsive and unhealthy inter\u00adest in them. They them\u00adselves are equal\u00adly pleased by both errors and hail a mate\u00adri\u00adal\u00adist or a magi\u00adcian with the same delight.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This para\u00adgraph has spe\u00adcial mean\u00ading to me as a Pen\u00adte\u00adcostal. Some cor\u00adners of the Pen\u00adte\u00adcostal world seem to believe there is a demon behind every headache and traf\u00adfic jam. But much of our soci\u00adety has a hard time acknowl\u00adedg\u00ading that there is any\u00adthing demon\u00adic about some\u00adthing as overt as Satan wor\u00adship. There is a more sen\u00adsi\u00adble posi\u00adtion which Lewis here describes and which the Apos\u00adtle Paul mod\u00adeled:&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Paul was com\u00adfort\u00adable with the spir\u00adit realm and demons rec\u00adog\u00adnized that he was a force to be reck\u00adoned with (Acts 19:11\u201316), but he did not obsess over it. He was not an easy man to dis\u00adtract. Once a demon was harass\u00ading him, but it took sev\u00ader\u00adal days before it got on Paul\u2019s nerves enough for him to respond to it (Acts 16:16\u201318). Strive to be like Paul \u2014 deal with the demon\u00adic realm with\u00adout becom\u00ading con\u00adsumed by the demon\u00adic realm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the first let\u00adter, Screw\u00adtape writes to Worm\u00adwood about how mod\u00adern trends have made demon\u00adic work eas\u00adi\u00ader:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your man has been accus\u00adtomed, ever since he was a boy, to have a dozen incom\u00adpat\u00adi\u00adble philoso\u00adphies danc\u00ading about togeth\u00ader inside his head. He does\u00adn\u2019t think of doc\u00adtrines as pri\u00admar\u00adi\u00adly \u201ctrue\u201d or \u201cfalse\u201d, but as \u201caca\u00add\u00ade\u00adm\u00adic\u201d or \u201cprac\u00adti\u00adcal\u201d, \u201cout\u00adworn\u201d or \u201ccon\u00adtem\u00adpo\u00adrary\u201d, \u201ccon\u00adven\u00adtion\u00adal\u201d or \u201cruth\u00adless\u201d. Jar\u00adgon, not argu\u00adment, is your best ally in keep\u00ading him from the Church. Don\u2019t waste time try\u00ading to make him think that mate\u00adri\u00adal\u00adism is true! Make him think it is strong, or stark, or courageous\u2014that it is the phi\u00adlos\u00ado\u00adphy of the future. That\u2019s the sort of thing he cares about.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Read\u00ading this para\u00adgraph remind\u00aded me of the Prime Min\u00adis\u00adter of Cana\u00adda, Justin Trudeau. He once famous\u00adly answered a ques\u00adtion about his cab\u00adi\u00adnet com\u00adpo\u00adsi\u00adtion by say\u00ading, \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=LLk2aSBrR6U\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because it\u2019s 2015!<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d This is the kind of thing Screw\u00adtape is talk\u00ading about. It\u2019s the kind of answer we have been con\u00addi\u00adtioned to respond to, and so it\u2019s the kind of answer a skill\u00adful politi\u00adcian gives.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lat\u00ader in the same let\u00adter, Screw\u00adtape makes a good point about sci\u00adence:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Above all, do not attempt to use sci\u00adence (I mean, the real sci\u00adences) as a defence against Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty. They will pos\u00adi\u00adtive\u00adly encour\u00adage him to think about real\u00adi\u00adties he can\u2019t touch and see. There have been sad cas\u00ades among the mod\u00adern physi\u00adcists. If he must dab\u00adble in sci\u00adence, keep him on eco\u00adnom\u00adics and soci\u00adol\u00ado\u00adgy; don\u2019t let him get away from that invalu\u00adable \u201creal life\u201d. But the best of all is to let him read no sci\u00adence but to give him a grand gen\u00ader\u00adal idea that he knows it all and that every\u00adthing he hap\u00adpens to have picked up in casu\u00adal talk and read\u00ading is \u201cthe results of modem inves\u00adti\u00adga\u00adtion\u201d.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I\u2019ve min\u00adis\u00adtered at Stan\u00adford since 2002, and in my expe\u00adri\u00adence math\u00ade\u00admati\u00adcians and stu\u00addents of the hard sci\u00adences have an eas\u00adi\u00ader time embrac\u00ading the gospel than do stu\u00addents of the social sci\u00adences or the human\u00adi\u00adties. In part, it seems to me, it is because&nbsp;social sci\u00aden\u00adtists tend to look for answers that \u201c<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2018\/06\/30\/the-abolition-of-man-chapter-3-appendix\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">explain away<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d where\u00adas hard sci\u00aden\u00adtists tend to look for expla\u00adna\u00adtions.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The final sen\u00adtence, though, is the real kick\u00ader. We assume some\u00adthing is true because a lot of peo\u00adple keep say\u00ading it and there\u00adby mis\u00adtake rep\u00ade\u00adti\u00adtion for rea\u00adson. When some\u00adone tells me \u201cthe Bible is full of con\u00adtra\u00addic\u00adtions\u201d I often dis\u00adcov\u00ader they don\u2019t have any to offer. They\u2019re not lying \u2014 they are mere\u00adly repeat\u00ading some\u00adthing they have heard so often that they assume it must have a sol\u00adid foun\u00adda\u00adtion.&nbsp; Some\u00adtimes there\u2019s more cog\u00adni\u00adtive dis\u00adso\u00adnance, such as when some\u00adone assumes the sex\u00adu\u00adal rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion has been a net pos\u00adi\u00adtive for soci\u00adety. In that case my inter\u00adlocu\u00adtor is usu\u00adal\u00adly ignor\u00ading or dis\u00adcount\u00ading evi\u00addence they have per\u00adson\u00adal\u00adly observed. But again, they\u2019re not con\u00adscious\u00adly lying. The sex\u00adu\u00adal rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion is near\u00adly always pre\u00adsent\u00aded as progress, and peo\u00adple assume that there must be some\u00adthing to that since it keeps get\u00adting repeat\u00aded.<\/p>\n<p>I am not say\u00ading we should mis\u00adtrust the con\u00adsen\u00adsus of experts who are speak\u00ading to us about some\u00adthing we have no knowl\u00adedge of. Defer\u00adring to expert con\u00adsen\u00adsus is an excel\u00adlent heuris\u00adtic, except when the con\u00adsen\u00adsus con\u00adflicts with some\u00adthing we know. In that case we humbly return to the evi\u00addence and think things through again, with open\u00adness to the idea that we might be wrong but so might the experts. Here\u2019s the rub: when it comes to things like moral\u00adi\u00adty and reli\u00adgion we will almost always have some direct knowl\u00adedge which we need to con\u00adsid\u00ader. And espe\u00adcial\u00adly with sub\u00adjects like moral\u00adi\u00adty and reli\u00adgion we need to remem\u00adber that both the experts as well as our\u00adselves have pow\u00ader\u00adful motives to not think things through all the way. All that to say: trust the experts, but not too much. Fur\u00adther\u00admore, don\u2019t assume our cul\u00adtur\u00adal con\u00adsen\u00adsus is the same thing as the expert con\u00adsen\u00adsus. If that was always the case, we would\u00adn\u2019t need experts!<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I\u2019ll con\u00adtent myself with shar\u00ading one final quote from the read\u00ading, this one from Let\u00adter Four:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It is fun\u00adny how mor\u00adtals always pic\u00adture us as putting things into their minds: in real\u00adi\u00adty our best work is done by keep\u00ading things out.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dis\u00adtrac\u00adtion is one of the chief ene\u00admies of spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal growth, and we live in an age that is full of it. Sus\u00adtained and slow thought is one of the chief instru\u00adments in our trans\u00adfor\u00adma\u00adtion. If Lewis is right and one of the infer\u00adnal legion\u2019s goals is to keep you dis\u00adtract\u00aded and pre\u00advent you from focus\u00ading, let that inform your use of apps and the inter\u00adnet. Just a thought. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Blog read\u00aders: Chi Alpha @ Stan\u00adford is engag\u00ading in our annu\u00adal sum\u00admer read\u00ading project. As we read through three books by C. S. Lewis, I\u2019ll post my thoughts here (which will large\u00adly con\u00adsist of excerpts I found insight\u00adful). They are all tagged sum\u00admer-read\u00ad\u00ading-project-2018. The sched\u00adule is online. This week we begin our final sum\u00admer bookk, \u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2018\/08\/09\/the-screwtape-letters-preface-and-the-first-five-letters\" class=\"more-link\">Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u201cThe Screw\u00adtape Let\u00adters: Pref\u00adace and the First Five Let\u00adters\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Thoughts inspired by the preface and the first five of The Screwtape Letters.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[230,229,236],"class_list":["post-5104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-resources-reviews","tag-c-s-lewis","tag-summer-reading-project-2018","tag-the-screwtape-letters"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-1kk","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5104"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5110,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5104\/revisions\/5110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}