These reviews will be guided by the purposes of this blog--reviews "of an eternal student bent on encountering the real Jesus, finding true religion and discerning pure philosophy."
Andrew Farley is the author of The Naked Gospel: The Truth You May Never Hear in Church (Zondervan 2009) and God without Religion: Can It Really Be This Simple? (Baker 2011)
Operation Screwtape is a re-presentation of C.S. Lewis' much loved Screwtape Letters. The book opens with the voice of a narrator who tells us that he's come across a foreign electronic document, a manual of spiritual war. The premise is that Christians can be subtly deceived through a multitude of misguided ideas, self-condemnation and pride, and Operation Screwtape is the fictitious--though not inaccurate--manual for the encouragement and provocation of these subtle deceptions.
As in Lewis' Screwtape Letters, the document is written by a sort of "director" or "general," but this one, unlike Lewis' "Screwtape," goes unnamed, and we're presented with one grand training document as opposed to several letters. It is broken up into three chapters--Steal, Kill and Destroy--each with several sub-chapters emphasizing specific stratagems (e.g. Steal Confidence, Kill Life, Destroy Enthusiasm).
Farley does fantastic work in employing Lewis' concept as an outline and, more than fifty years after the original Letters, filling it up with the issues that face the church of this generation. His wit in the presentation of these issues from the perspective of a dark power is, I dare say, on par with that of Lewis himself. Here's an example from "Steal Influence":
Now, concerning evangelism, some of their own do the work for us as they fixate on obtaining a nearly instantaneous decision from unsuspecting victims of their assault. The overt pressure applied by their "boldest" evangelists seems to yield few real converts, and many of their targets resist because they find the whole ordeal repulsive. Some even find themselves angered by the brash, impersonal measures designed to manipulate them into response. Of course, this translates into benefit for us as those same targets are only more difficult to reach upon their next attempt. [...]
Additionally, if everything is going well, these pressure tactics are then portrayed to the masses as the only proper form of evangelism. The majority of them will quietly loose heart as they naturally lack the brash personality needed to go confidently storming in. At this point, we inflict significant wounds through accusation. We simply exploit their feelings of fear and inferiority, such that they file themselves away as second-class citizens in the kingdom. We present them with the nearly undeniable fact that they are either unwilling or unable to "count the cost" and "pay the price," as their own teachers like to put it. Like clockwork, their self-evaluation is always followed by their self-condemnation. This always brings a smile to our faces.
No matter what your theological/philosophical leanings, there are countless convicting passages in Operation Screwtape. Readers will undoubtedly push back against some of Farley's perspectives with debate and disregard, but this short work, if read with honesty and humility, will have a tremendous impact on the way the reader thinks about his or her faith and his or her God. Five Stars.
Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases.
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