John Walkup
Emeritus Professor, Texas Tech University
Faculty Commons National Representative
Do you ever wonder, as I do, if the demon of C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters is on the loose on your campus?
I started to think about the obvious signs of major spiritual battles underway.
Dispirited and Discouraged
I regularly meet with groups of Christian faculty who seem intimidated, dispirited, or otherwise incapacitated relative to the challenge of living for Christ on their campuses and reaching out to those all around them who are lost.
I wonder– if Screwtape were on the loose, how would he be trying to influence Joe or Jane Christian professor? Maybe he would try these:
1. Get us to value status and position above all else. Keep the approval of men far above the approval of Christ. Make us afraid of doing anything that would somehow diminish our status in our colleagues’ eyes.
2. Whisper that resistance to the Christian message on campus is so strong that it would be foolish to even speak up. After all, who is really interested? Make us forget that someone cared enough to talk to us about Him.
Playing It Safe
3. Convince us that our only outlet for ministry is in our church. Better to speak about God within the safe confines of the church walls two hours a week, than to represent Him in the academy where we spend over 50 hours.
4. Tell us that all we are hired to do is to teach our subject. It would be inappropriate to wander outside those boundaries or to be concerned about a student’s character development. That was the old way; to focus only on the academic is much more progressive.
5. Get us involved in moral compromise so that we are ashamed of our witness. Keep our problem hidden so that we live with guilt, feeling totally alone and trapped. Tell us that revealing our struggle to a Christian colleague will not help, and that no one will really understand us and accept us.
6. Help us see that we are too busy to meet with any other Christian faculty. If we object, show us all the quirks and faults in other faculty members, so that we don’t want to be around them. Teach us to be very critical of the actions and motives of others.
Life In The Cocoon
This list could clearly be extended. I’m sure that if Screwtape exists, he has a much longer one. Having been a professor for nearly 30 years, and now doing ministry with professors, I’m convinced that this strategy for keeping us silent in our cocoons has been more than effective—it’s been a stunning success!
My prayer is that we’ll fall at the feet of Jesus and ask Him to convict us if we’ve bought into some of Screwtape’s strategies.
May we fear the Lord Jesus’ displeasure more than that of our skeptical colleagues. May we experience the victory that being open with our struggles, claiming His promises, and taking even small steps of faith will bring.
© 2006 John Walkup