What to read next
by C.S. Lewis
The Screwtape Letters is C. S. Lewis's sly, unsettling look at temptation from the other side, told through the letters of a senior demon coaching his nephew in the art of quietly ruining an ordinary human life. It works less through argument than through imagination, so groups that enjoyed it often do well with books that either dig into the theology behind what Lewis is dramatizing, or that take the same subject of spiritual warfare and everyday distraction and make it practical for daily life. Some readers will want something equally short and richly discussable; others will be ready for a longer, more sustained study now that Lewis has primed them to think seriously about sin, prayer, and the unseen battle for the soul. The books below vary in length and tone, from bracing theology to hands-on prayer guides, but all of them pick up a thread Lewis leaves dangling.
Our The Screwtape Letters guide runs 14 sessions with 99 discussion questions.
These are guides from our own catalog, ordered by how much each book shares with The Screwtape Letters: subject and themes first, then the kind of group it suits, then the same author. It is an editorial comparison of what the books are about — not a ranking of which is better, and not a claim about what other groups chose.
by R.C. Sproul
Where Screwtape shows sin from hell's vantage point, Sproul shows it by contrast, holding up the sheer holiness of God until our sin looks as serious as Lewis suggests it is. It is a shorter study at 9 sessions and reads as straightforward theology rather than narrative, so it suits a group ready to trade Lewis's satire for a more direct, expository approach.
by Tyler Staton
Screwtape's demons work hardest to keep Wormwood's patient from praying, and Staton takes up prayer itself as the main event, treating it as a relationship rather than a technique. At 12 sessions it is a longer, warmer, and far more practical study, better suited to a group that wants to build habits rather than reflect on a story.
by Timothy Keller
Keller and Lewis share a conviction that ordinary spiritual life is where the real battle happens, and Keller devotes his book entirely to the discipline that Screwtape's demons fear most. This is a meatier, more theological treatment across 12 sessions, drawing on centuries of devotional writers rather than Lewis's fictional device, so groups should expect more sustained reading and less wit.
by Dane C. Ortlund
Ortlund's subject is the same one Lewis dramatizes from hell's side, namely how a person actually changes, but Ortlund argues it head-on through the gospel and union with Christ rather than through demonic letters. Its 11 sessions offer a gentler, more encouraging tone than Lewis's satire, good for a group wanting reassurance after wrestling with Screwtape's darker comedy.
by John Mark Comer
Comer's framework of the devil, the flesh, and the world is close kin to Lewis's picture of temptation as something that works through subtle deception rather than dramatic evil. Spanning 14 sessions with over a hundred questions, it is a longer and more practically structured study, applying the same insight to modern anxiety and habits rather than mid-century English life.
by Stephen Kendrick & Alex Kendrick
This book takes the military language Lewis's demons use naturally, war, strategy, an enemy's arsenal, and turns it into a hands-on manual for the reader's own prayer life. At 17 sessions it is considerably longer and more action-oriented than Screwtape, better suited to a group ready to move from reflecting on temptation to actively building prayer disciplines.
by Dallas Willard
Willard, like Lewis, is concerned with what ordinary discipleship looks like once the pretense is stripped away, though he writes as a philosopher-theologian rather than a satirist. It is a shorter study at 7 sessions but a denser one, asking a group to slow down and think hard about what it means to actually live as a follower of Jesus now.
by John Piper
Piper draws directly on Lewis's own thinking about joy and desire, making this a natural next step for a group curious where some of Screwtape's arguments about pleasure and distraction come from. At 13 sessions it is longer and more sustained, building a full case for finding satisfaction in God rather than delivering it through Lewis's short, biting letters.
Session and question counts checked .