The Screwtape Blogs

Over the weekend, out of a diabolical curiosity, I read C.S. Lewis's book, The Screwtape Letters. I loved it. In fact, I bought it on Halloween (Yeah... that wasn't intentional, by the way), and I devoured it over the course of a few hours. However, the most interesting part about the book wasn't really what C.S. Lewis wrote about, but it was in the dedication that was written on the inside cover.

I get most of my books from used bookstores, and typically I get them from Green Apple Books in San Francisco, mainly because I live pretty close to it. When you buy used books, some old stuff is left inside it, and this particular copy of The Screwtape Letters had a note written by a sister to a brother that went along the lines of:

Dear Brother, (I'm paraphrasing here)

Remember when we went to that conference and you said that the Devil is waging an unseen war on our souls? Well, this book talks about that. It's not too long and it's an easy read, and there's not TOO many big words, even for you! 

- Jennie

Finally, there were some Chinese or Japanese-looking characters above the name Jennie.

I have no way of knowing how old this inscription is, or if this conference was in San Francisco or even if these people were Asian-American. But I have a lot of questions. What type of "conference" is this that she mentions? Who is Jennie? I know that often, Asian-Americans convert to an evangelical type of Christianity, and being in San Francisco, was this the case with the sister and brother? And finally, how the Hell (pun completely intended) did this book end up in the used religion section of Green Apple Books?

I bring this up because I think it addresses two common points in modern religion in America:

1) The allure of fundamentalism, and
2) The role of religion in a person's life now.

I think both questions are tied together. What is the role of religion in a person's life now? In an age that seems to be fairly set on the voluntary practice of religion, does the role of religion change from being actual life rules to merely a set of philosophical rules? If so, what is it that seems to draw people to religion, especially fundamentalist/evangelical religion? What is the appeal of being "born again" within a religion? Perhaps it is the idea of starting over, of starting with a clean slate, and the fervor or "newness" of a religion pumps people up and makes them go to conferences where they talk about the invisible war with the Devil. Eventually, this fire fades and then what? What role does religion play then?

Interestingly, Lewis talks about this loss of fervor in The Screwtape Letters pretty extensively. His observation is that often a conversion is a very public and very superficial thing, but when it gets down to the nitty-gritty, religion (and all things for that matter) scare people away. With that being said, is the allure of fundamentalism that it offers a simple, passionate and (to some) meaningful way to fulfill a role that religion so easily fills?

But if so, why did this dude donate this book?

Maybe he was just trolling his sister.

I could see that; sisters can be annoying.