In this letter, Screwtape is flabbergasted at the quality of new, Christian friends that the patient has made through his new love. Screwtape suggests corrupting the patient's spirituality. He suggests that the best point to attack the relationship between the patient and his intelligent, Christian friends is the border between theology and politics. The best way to accomplish this is by creating a "historical Jesus."
I wasn't really sure what a "historical Jesus" was so I looked it up. Here is Wikipedia's definition:
The historical Jesus is the figure of the first-century Jesus of Nazareth as reconstructed by scholars using historical methods that include critical analysis of gospel texts as the primary source for his biography, and non-biblical sources for the historical and cultural context in which he lived. Use of the term "the historical Jesus" implies that the figure thus reconstructed differs from that presented in the teaching of the ecumenical councils ("the dogmatic Christ") and in other Christian accounts ("the Christ of faith").[1]
By using the intellect of this new group, Screwtape hopes to steer them towards a new definition of Jesus, until they are worshiping something quite different than the actual Jesus.
Screwtape uses 4 steps to create a "historical Jesus"
1. Make Him solely a teacher and conceal the similarities between His teachings and the teachings of all great moral teachers.
2. Do not allow man to realize that all great moralists are sent by God to remind man of the moral platitudes.
3. Destroy the devotional life of prayer and sacraments.
4. Create a false history and conceal the fact that man is usually converted by one event such as the resurrection or redemption. Let man believe that a complete biography of Jesus is the best way of conversion.
Screwtape than addresses Religion and politics. He states that God appreciates those men that allow their Christianity to flow over into his political life, but does not like Christianity to be used as a means for man's own advancement.
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