C.S. Lewis is one of my all time favorite authors. This list of 25 books that influenced my life could probably include several of his writings, but that would be unimaginative. So I have chosen just one to include here as a placeholder for several others.
Of all the Lewis books, The Screwtape Letters
The letters mentioned in the title of the book are those of Screwtape, a highly placed veteran demon serving “our father below”. He is writing his nephew, Wormwood, a junior devil working on the front lines of temptation and deceit with a particular human. Screwtape shares his wisdom on ways to confuse, deceive, distract, tempt, stall, or lead astray the target from any involvement with God.
The entire book is brilliant, of course, but what makes it all come together as one of my favorites is the way it’s all done with such irony and satire. You read Screwtape’s ideas and sometimes find yourself thinking, “Oh yeah, that’s happened to me!” Or you hear about the demons setbacks and you realize, “Ah, yes, I can remember those moments too….”
You must be an incredibly self-aware person to write a book like this, and then you must become vulnerable to actually publish it. Lewis is all of that, and he adds his usual brilliance to the writing and insights. At the end of the book I admired Lewis all the more.
So why does it make my list of books that influenced my life? Because it made something as mysterious and dangerous as spiritual warfare into a simple game. I read the book about the time the Exorcist movie came out, and while others were deep into the horror of Satanic issues I was chuckling at the follies of a junior devil named Wormwood. That’s not to say I didn’t take spiritual warfare seriously, and not to say I am dismissive of things Satanic. But I do see things through a prism of satire and humor that knocks old Satan down to size.
For that I am thankful. The book opened my eyes to the simple ways I am distracted from purity in my soul. It made me realize that Satan can lose, be stupid, and get exceedingly frustrated. It made me understand the importance of resisting temptation. It made me stronger, wiser, and more open to self-reflection. And it made me aware there really is a battle amidst us.
And for those reasons it makes my list of 25 books that influenced my life.
Want to read more of my top 25? Here is the list thus far:
Celebration of Discipline – #1
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings – #2
The Cost of Discipleship – #3
The Screwtape Letters – #4
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – #5
Only the Paranoid Survive – #6
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold – #7
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – #8
Truman – #9
Shantaram – #10
The Maltese Falcon – #11
The Shadow of the Wind – #12
Survey of the New Testament – #13
Calvin & Hobbes – #14
Celtic Daily Prayer – #15
Managing the Nonprofit Organization – #16
A Wrinkle in Time – #17
The Practice of the Presence of God – #18
Catch 22 – #19
The Tortilla Curtain – #20
The Kingdom of God is a Party – #21
Earthkeeping – #22
Reviving Ophelia – #23
The Grapes of Wrath – #24
Peanuts – #25
