The first time I read C.S. Lewis was in 6th grade when our class read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. Although our teacher never mentioned how it was Christian allegory, my education and upbringing allowed me to know that it was such. Later I went on to read the complete Chronicles of Narnia, which I own in the special edition hardcover (an amazing work!).
More recently I decided to read The Screwtape Letters, which are letters that are written from a senior Devil to a younger devil, a tempter, giving him advice in the process of corrupting the soul of a young man and condemning him to eternal damnation.
C.S. Lewis' vision of “sin” isn't one that even implies homosexuality – nay – he attacks sins that truly blacken our souls. Greed, lust, anger, hatred, pride…Screwtape really outlines how easily our ambivalence to sin allows us to become bad people.
To my point: in the edition of the book I read which was written in the 1940s, there was an added section at the end which Lewis wrote in 1963 called Screwtape Proposes a Toast in which Screwtape is addressing a graduating class from Hell's university. I was blown away by how accuratly Lewis stated how our country is currently becoming part of the 'flat Earth'. Though 40 years in the past, one could swear he was talking about today, about 2007. From the bluntness of our education system to the pains of the middle class, to the idea of idea of equality and democracy, Lewis says what's wrong with our country, today, better than any other I have seen.
It's a short story, and I hope everyone has 10 minutes to give it a read……….Screwtape Proposes A Toast
…the Chronicles of Narnia when I was in the 5th grade, in about 1960. I did not catch the religious overtones of the work. We rented the movie of Witch etc. a couple of months ago, and found it excellent, even though we are avowed agnostics.
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Greed, lust, anger, hatred, pride… I actually do believe that you are referring to a passage from Proverbs 6.
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The “six, yes unto seven” is meant for emphasis.
I was aware of the Christian implications when I first read the series in third grade. Frankly, the books are written purposefully as a stalking-horse for Christianity, and I'm not convinced they have a place in public schools.
That said, I did find the Screwtape Letters amusing. Particularly the letter where the demon preaches that evil finds its greatest hope in the future. Convincing people to live in the future, we're told, has mortals take their eyes off their daily life, and accept sin. Only those who remain aware of the present can live as they are to. I always thought of that as strange talk for a religion whose main lever is promises of redemption, either in Heaven or as part of the Second Coming.
(I will note that this passage comes close to accepting the fundamental values of self-awareness that form the crux of many Eastern religions. Christianity is at its best when it is most like those religions, and least like Christianity.)