'Gluttony In C. S. Lewis The Screwtape Letters'

Whether in delicacy or excess, gluttony is the most readily accepted of the seven deadly sins. Guinness argues both that, in the modern world, gluttony of delicacy has replaced the gluttony of excess and the proper response to this vice is courage under suffering.
When we think of gluttony, we tend to envision endless tables of food sprawled out before a man who could stand to skip a few meals, however, while this is one way in which gluttony presents itself, it is not the form we find often within the modern Christian’s life. Rather, the most common form of gluttony in the Christian’s life is that of delicacy. In his book, The Screwtape Letters C. S. Lewis utters these words through the pen of his character Screwtape, a demon corresponding with a demon-in-training, “Your patient’s mother… would be astonished… to learn that her whole life is enslaved to this kind of sensuality, which is quite concealed from her by the fact that the quantities involved are small” (Guinness, pg. 4-10). Screwtape continues, revealing that this woman is

Guinness writes, “Gluttony is a form of seeking that consumes in order to find, yet ends in losing. Courage under suffering and persecution is a form of being consumed that seems to lose, yet ends in finding.” (Guinness, pg. 4-21). Of course, we are not to seek out suffering, however, if one is struggling with gluttony, the suffering will be provided through the fight against this sin. If the struggle is with gluttony of excess, then the suffering will come through the necessity of self-control, conversely, if the struggle is with gluttony of delicacy, the suffering will be found in the diminishment of food throughout life. In his book, The Imitation of Christ, Thomas à Kempis writes, “It behooves you, therefore, to remember the great, serious things others have suffered for Me, so that you may the more lightly bear your little grief” (Guinness, pg.