TSL 33% Retrospective!

I'm about a third of the way through The Screwtape Letters, and I think it's a good time to look back and see what I've learned and what I think, etc. As always, Clint Eastwood provides the proper taxonomy for a holistic evaluation of anything.

At 11 chapters read, we can look at the morals in order

1. Hard science is Godly, soft science -- not so much
2. Not-so-persevering saints -- even Christians can be damned if they're 'Christians'
3. Praying for idealized (and therefore imaginary) people doesn't work, and contempt is bad for relationships
4. Actual prayer does work, though -- so long as it's aimed at God and not a Papier Mâché God. Also: People don't really want divine intervention, probably
5. War: Not as good for Satan as you might have thought. (No Atheists in Foxholes, etc.)
6. Imaginary virtues aren't really virtues at all. That virtue you thought you had? Probably imaginary.
7. The Masquerade, also don't be an extremists in anything but Love of God
8. The Law of Undulation -- people move in cycles
9. A Moderated Religion is No Religion at all. Also, forbidden pleasures are more tempting when people are at low ebb
10. Don't be friends with trendy atheists
11. Flippancy & Irony are damning and don't justify bad behavior by saying, "Hey, man -- it was just a joke!"

The Good

There's a lot of good here. If the theology isn't exactly Calvinist (and in some ways glaringly not so), the practical implications line up with Calvinism well enough that it might as well be. This stuff is meant to be instructional and it is. I can usually find some nits to pick but as I read through the 11 chapters of advice, I don't find much to disagree with.

I also like the world and the character voices. The idea of a huge demoniacal bureaucracy full of reserved, even polite demons carrying out a highly civilized war against Heaven where, even in private missives, their manner is cultured and diplomatic is both amusing and intriguing. The parallels with a chummy, if somewhat socially competitive academic environment are equally interesting. Screwtape and his ilk are remarkably relate-able for  a minion of infinite darkness.

I'd like to see more of this world -- I'd even like to see a story or two set there.

The Bad

Despite a charming world and an author who writes his characters well, it's still a big edifying plate of vegetables -- more than a decade ago I brought and read it, but my recall is very limited. I suspect that around chapter 3 or so, I tired of being lectured at, and skimmed the rest for anything really interesting about the world or characters.

While I could recommend it on its merits as a lecture series, I would have to caveat that by saying, it feels a bit like a daily scolding.

One would think that the assurances of Calvinism would mitigate that somewhat (in theory, we shouldn't fear Hell the way Anglicans do: we, like them, slip up from time to time, but unlike the Anglicans our souls are not in mortal peril from our mistakes -- Calvinist Saints persevere!), but in practice, it's the same deal: when we slip, we should take that as a warning that our souls may not be as saved as we would like to presume: in Calvinism, James is not exhorting us to do better, he's instructing us on the mortal signs of damnation -- teaching us how to identify the 'Saints' among us who, it turns out, are not Saints at all. And should we read James and take any comfort in the belief that we, ourselves, are moving toward the Christian ideal, Screwtape is quick and consistent in his reminders that Humans excel at deluding themselves about their own virtue and safety.

In practice, the difference in theologies makes things worse for the Calvinist, who might be damned and if he is, there's literally nothing he can do about it. 

The Ugly

Doubt in one's salvation, from a Calvinist perspective, makes the whole thing somewhat dreary and disturbing. Of course some of this is a requirement for the narrative: a Calvinist Screwtape Letters would have the demons sitting around watching passively as the Celestial Sorting Algorithm inexorably moves the Elect into Heaven and the Reprobate into Hell.

No action on their part would be required because individual humans' fate would be determined by the incomprehensible and the ineffable. Not much of a story there.

This whole thing becomes a bit alarming -- but worse, it raises the question of the pillar from which the author lectures: the only point of reality we have is the Bible. However flawed our ability to understand it is, it's the only source of guidance and truth in the universe. As we extrapolate from there, we inevitably create errors.

I think a huge source of these errors comes from trying to logically understand concepts like eternal damnation -- particularly in the context of something like a story where it has to hold together in a human-understandable way.

While Lewis doesn't show his proof, I think it's fair to say it's something like this:

1. God allows humans to be damned and suffer forever because of their decisions
2. This must mean that God values allowing humans to make such critical decisions more than he values the safety of their souls and their eternal well being
3. Since we're talking about an infinity of pain and despair, he must value something called 'free will' to an infinite level

That's logical -- it justifies damnation -- but I don't think it follows. And my (ignorant layman's) read of the bible doesn't help: in some passages we choose (Joshua). In others, we have no choice (Ephesians). Human exegesis tries to split those atoms, but I think that runs into the same set of errors the logician makes: we might find a consistent and logical interpretation of different verses, but it's based on human logic.

In the end, I think that human articulations of God's values or plans are fine in fiction, but when Lewis aspires toward apology that requires what I suspect is an unwarranted faith in his own reason... and that makes the whole exercise just a very little bit ugly