LotR Blog

Hey guys!

I'm going to need the e-mail addresses of everybody who wants to read Tolkien's works and join my blog:

www.squirrelinsanity.blogspot.com

if you want to join and haven't told me, please post that you want to join and give me your e-mail address. I need e-mails to invite you to write on the blog. We'll be starting ASAP after the last C.S. Lewis class. Hopefully we can figure everything out before then and start on Sat. the 25th. People I've already heard from:

Glennellen, I already have your e-mail.
Anna
Meghan
Ari, I need to know if you are definitely going to join us.

Also, if you read this, please make sure everyone else in the class reads it and knows about it.

Sorry I'm late!

Hey everyone, I have been on time for the first two online classes but late for the third and a tad bit late for the fourth. Please know that I've posted my comments on the last two letter we read and am continuing making more comments for the other letters. Please read them when you can! Thank you guys!!

~Glennellen

Letter 18...Falling in Love

This letter discusses falling in love. Screwtape points out that God wants either abstinence from us or complete monogamy in marriage. Screwtape discloses that the devils have made monogamy (staying with just one person) very difficult. The devils have done this by promoting the idea of "falling in love." He (Screwtape) explains that falling in love is a short term excitement that he wants humans to think should last forever. If that feeling of excitement doesn't last forever (which it won't) then a marriage should end.

I think the first point C.S. Lewis is trying to make in this letter is that the expectation that a long term relationship will have the giddiness of falling in love is not possible. That God describes marriage as "one flesh." God did not say marriage was a happy married couple or a couple that married because they fell in love, at least not in the way we define falling in love today. God created marriage so man and women could help each other, so they would not be lonely. Marriage does include love, but not the giddy kind of love we expect today, it has more of the enduring steadfast love. By expecting the excitement of new love to last throughout a lifetime will only produce disappointment.

The devils in this letter explain that they can use the idea of "falling in love" to tempt man to do many things. We will see exactly how this is done in the following letters.

Letter 17...Gluttony anyone?

This letter is about gluttony. What is gluttony? Gluttony is
1. Eating before the time of meal in order to satisfy the palate.
2. Seeking delicacies and better quality of food to gratify the "sense of taste."
3. Seeking after sauces and seasonings for the enjoyment of the palate.
4. Exceeding the necessary amount of food.
5. Taking food with too much eagerness, even when eating the proper amount, and even if the food is not luxurious.

So, while you may have thought gluttony was just overeating, it can also mean being too particular, eating just to eat or just focusing too much on food.

How can focusing on food interfere with your life?

In what ways according to the letter are women made to be gluttonous?

In what ways are men to be made gluttonous?

Letter 16...Beware of Loyal churchgoers....

One word that may help you understand this letter better is coterie: an intimate and often exclusive group of persons with a unifying common interest or purpose.

In this letter, Screwtape is alarmed that the patient has been loyal to one church.

What does he suggest Wormwood do about this situation?

What 2 reasons according to Screwtape is "church shopping" better than belonging to one church?

What does Screwtape suggest can be done between "party churches" to cause disruption?

Letter 15.....Live for the Present

Before we get started, here are a few words defined to help you understand the letter:

Avarice: excessive desire for wealth or gain (hhmm, not much avarice in the world today, she says flippantly).

Philological: Study of literature or language.

Complacency: self satisfaction accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiency.

In this letter, Wormwood notes a lull in the war and wonders how he should take advantage of this lull. Should he use "Stupid confidence," or anxiety about the future? This question brings about a discussion of time. Time is defined as the past, present and future.

What is so bad about living in the past?

Why would the devils want us to avoid living in the present?

Which virtues look to the future?

How should we look to the past, present and future?

***Search for quotes about "living in the present" on google. Post your favorite quote here, remember to note the author.***

Letter 14....

This is a great letter, and one who's meaning is very hard to achieve. My questions for this letter are simple:

What is the theme of this letter (remember the theme is the point the author is trying to convey) ?

What does God want for us?