The Screwtape Letters, Lord Foulgrin’s Letters & The Ishbane Conspiracy

When I was originally on Tumblr, I did these two as separate reviews, so I thought for WordPress I would bring the two together.

“The more often he feels without acting, the less he will be able ever to act, and, in the long run, the less he will be able to feel.” –The Screwtape Letters

These two are faith-based, the source content being C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters, where all three follow letters written from one demon to another, a boss to a subordinate, containing plans on how to bring ruin to humankind through spiritual warfare. The differences between the two and The Screwtape Letters is the language used, obviously Ishbane and Foulgrin being more modern whereas Screwtape is not, and the former two are written as more of a narrative scenario with multiple characters who interact with one another and do not solely rely on the letters to tell the story, whereas the latter is more strictly letter based and profound. This is not to slam either party, because I loved reading The Screwtape Letters, but sometimes you do need that modernity for personal relating to your own scenario.

We all have free will, but subtle things happen in life that are not in our control that sway our decisions and actions. This is Christianity’s way of saying that. There are people in the Christian community who will not talk about demons, or even matters of the enemy and the spiritual warfare that comes with it, but we need to be able to talk about it. We need to be able to answer questions that others are asking and not be afraid just for the sake of the demonic being a thing. Foulgrin strictly talks about the father and how his choices affected his family, then Ishbane expands by focusing on the kids from that family, now that they are older, and how their choices affect their friends and those they interact with.

I would encourage younger people to read these two, especially in the Christian community, because again this is a topic that gets swept under the rug, at least from my experience growing up in church. If you are looking for more narrative, go for these two; if you are looking for older language way more discussion-inducing, I would go with Screwtape.

You can get The Screwtape Letters here. You can get Lord Foulgrin’s Letters here. You can get The Ishbane Conspiracy here.