The Screwtape Letters

1.In Letter 1, Screwtape rebukes Wormwood for allowing the Patient to become a Christian and immediately offers a strategy: keep him thinking about his faith rather than living it, and use 'the stream of immediate sense impressions' to drown out any genuine spiritual reflection. Where do you see this strategy at work in contemporary Christian culture?

1.In Letter 6, Screwtape explains the strategic value of the 'domestic setting' — the home — as a place where irritations are constant, defenses are down, and the Patient is most likely to act contrary to his best self. Do you agree that home is a more spiritually revealing arena than, say, church or work? Why or why not?

1.In Letter 11, Screwtape distinguishes between different kinds of laughter and humor. He identifies 'flippancy' as hell's favorite — a humor that treats everything serious as comic and thus prevents any real engagement with truth or goodness. How would you distinguish flippancy from the genuine, life-affirming humor that Lewis elsewhere celebrated? Can you give an example of each?

1.In Letter 17, Screwtape discusses the demonic strategy around gluttony — and surprises us by focusing not on gross excess but on what he calls 'the gluttony of Delicacy': the fussy, demanding, never-satisfied pickiness that is all about self rather than nourishment. Have you ever recognized gluttony in this more subtle form — in food, entertainment, comfort, or attention?

1.In Letter 23, Screwtape celebrates the 'Church-hopper' — the Christian who has developed a critical eye for finding fault with every congregation and thus remains permanently detached from real, costly community. Does this portrait resonate with anything you've observed? What is the spiritual cost of approaching church as a consumer?

1.In Letter 27, Screwtape addresses the strategy of using 'historical perspective' and intellectual cowardice to keep Christians from firm commitment — nudging them to always see 'the other side' until they have no side at all. Lewis called this the sin of 'being open-minded as a permanent condition rather than a path to truth.' Where do you see this kind of paralyzed open-mindedness in contemporary culture or in yourself?

1.Screwtape's 'Toast' is a speech at a demonic graduation banquet, and he opens by lamenting the poor quality of modern souls being served as food — 'the gentle Pharisee, the scrupulous Judas.' What does this dark humor suggest about Lewis's view of what makes a soul 'flavorful' to hell — i.e., what qualities make someone more or less easily corrupted?

1.Throughout the letters, God is called 'the Enemy' — but Screwtape's descriptions of him, filtered through demonic frustration, are often unexpectedly beautiful. What portrait of God emerges from what Screwtape grudgingly admits about him? List two or three attributes that Screwtape acknowledges even while resenting them.

1.Lewis said that The Screwtape Letters was the most successful and the most hated of all his books — readers loved it but he found it oppressive to write. Why do you think inhabiting an evil character's perspective for an extended time might be spiritually draining? What does that tell us about Lewis's own spiritual seriousness?

1.Look back at the list you made in Week 1 of areas where you felt most spiritually vulnerable. Which of Screwtape's named strategies — distraction, flippancy, domestic irritation, spiritual troughs, pride disguised as virtue, anxiety about the future, etc. — most accurately names what you face? Be as specific as you can.

1.C. S. Lewis converted to Christianity as an adult after many years as a committed atheist and materialist. How do you think this journey shaped the particular targets he chose for Screwtape's attacks? What temptations might a former atheist intellectual understand especially well?

1.James 1:13–15 describes the anatomy of temptation: desire, enticement, sin, death. How does Screwtape's model of temptation — working through distraction, ambient atmosphere, and the corruption of good desires — map onto James's account? Where do they align and where does Lewis go further?

1.Which letter or theme from The Screwtape Letters had the most impact on you personally? What was it about that particular passage that got through your defenses in a way other things hadn't?