The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

The book in “three” sentences:

• This book consists of 31 letters from one demon (Screwtape) to his charge and nephew (Wormwood). Screwtape directs Wormwood in how to tempt “the patient” (a man) away from faith in God and into an eternity in hell. Screwtape’s strategy is to first keep the patient from placing his faith in Jesus, and when that fails, corrupt his faith through three principle powers: the World, the Flesh and Religion. Under the umbrella of these three powers C.S. Lewis unpacks his theology on topics such as materialism, pride, gluttony, sex, war, etc. In the end, Wormwood’s patient dies and passes securely to “the enemy’s house” (heaven). Wormwood, on the other hand, is subject to the fate he desired for “the patient” – an eternity of torment. 

Big Ideas:

1. Lewis uses these fiction letters to illustrate very real biblical truths. For example, this narrative rests on the understanding that 1) There is a real enemy (the devil and his demons) 2) that is working tirelessly and strategically, towards the goal of your eternal destruction 3) leveraging lies as his primary tool. 
2. Lewis uses the contrasting style of Wormwood and Screwtape to show that temptation is often more dangerous when it’s subtle and when you’re unaware that you’re on the wrong path. Throughout the book, Wormwood wants to tempt the patient into blatant and despicable sins while Screwtape cautions, “the safest road to hell is the gradual one – the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.” In another letter, Screwtape reinforces his view stating that the work is much easier when you keep “men ignorant of your existence, making them into skeptics and materialists.”
3. The initial attack consisted of trying to keep the patient from faith (more precisely from contemplating higher things such as faith) by distracting him with the lower things of this world. Screwtape describes keeping a former patient from asking himself existential questions, that may lead to a realization that there is something more by reminding him that it’s lunch time. How true this is in the age of distraction. Our constant connectivity and frenzied pace of life leaves little to no space to think about higher things. We’re literally distracting ourselves into eternity. In fact, Screwtape schools his nephew that “the enemy” (God) even uses difficult events such as war, disease, famine, to awaken us from our moral slumber and shake off our distractions. These events cause us to wrestle with mortality, force material things into the background and cause us to ask the important questions.
4. The second attack came after the patient had become a Christian, and attacked the “anti-climax”. Screwtape explains that the anti-climax is the dry-spell following the emotional honeymoon of conversion. Screwtape argues that the anti-climax is something that “the enemy” (God) allows so that his followers learn not to be always carried by their emotions, but choose to follow, out of free will, and even when it’s difficult, because this is love. God wants us to love Him, He wants loving sons and daughters, not servants or robots, compelled by emotion and obligation. Screwtape shrewdly observes that the anti-climax is an opportune time to attack with the lie that “because we don’t feel as ecstatic as before, it must’ve been all imagined, or we simply got carried away.” 
5. This theme is continued in a subsequent letter (probably my favorite passage in the entire book). Screwtape coaches Wormwood that the honeymoon phase and the anti-climax are just the first in a series of emotional and spiritual “hills and valleys” in the life of a believer. Naturally, Wormwood wants to attack the patient during one of the valleys, but Screwtape cautions his nephew that the “enemy” (God) is actually more active in the valleys. God relies on valleys more to accomplish his will because much like during the anti-climax, he doesn’t want to override people’s wills, he wants people to freely conform their wills to his. For this same reason He doesn’t use more of his power to be sensibly present to humans. He doesn’t want to ravish them, only woo. Throughout life, “He continually withdraws (from their conscious experience) to leave them to carry out, from the will alone, duties that have lost all relish. Hence, the prayers offered in dryness are the most pleasing to him.” Screwtape ends by stating that “their cause is in great danger when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending to do his will, looks around and seeing no sign of him, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.” 
6. Another attack targets the idea of over-reliance on emotions. Specifically, Screwtape advises Wormwood to sabotage the patient’s prayer life by making him think that his prayers are only effective if he feels something. For example, a prayer for courage is only effective if he suddenly feels courageous. The lie is that if praying doesn’t instantly produce the emotion or feeling it must not work and we might as well not bother praying.
7. The tempters spend several letters discussing how to turn the patient into a hedonist, by tempting him with various physical pleasures. Screwtape reminds his nephew that physical pleasures were created by the enemy (God), and he is very pro-pleasure (Psalm 16:11). Thus, the pleasures are not bad in and of themselves, they are just raw material. So, they will need to be twisted to an unnatural usage or disordered (overly-emphasized) in order to be useful. Of particular interest to Screwtape are:
   • Gluttony. He instructs Wormwood that gluttony isn’t just about eating to excess but letting your belly be the focus of your life. Overemphasis on diet, or quality to the point that it crowds out God is equally useful. 
   • Prosperity. He counsels his nephew that middle age prosperity is an opportune time to attack. This stage breeds comfort and identification with the world.
   • Chasing experiences. Screwtape calls this, “the horror of the same old thing”. He states that making humans afraid of boredom, and inciting them to constantly chase novelty is a very useful vice. It drains the bank account and is by nature subject to the law of diminishing returns.
8. One post-conversion strategy employed by Screwtape was to try to make the patient’s faith a means to an end, other than Christ. For example, tempting the patient to make his primary aim a better life, social justice, or personal gain. These aren’t bad objectives, but anything placed in front of Christ is an idol and can be used to bring about the patient’s eventual destruction. 
9. Relationships were another important attack vector. Screwtape and Wormwood plotted to use “bad company to corrupt good morals.” They attempted to surround the patient with flippant people, shrewdly noting that flippancy can be used to hide faults and deaden the senses to reality. They even discussed the ideal way to try and sabotage the patient’s marriage. Screwtape noted that attacking both spouses with selfishness in between the honeymoon period (when their emotions carry them into unselfishness) and the time where they are spiritually mature, was the strategy most likely to succeed.

Things to implement

1. Be more in tune with my hills and valleys. Ask God during the valleys, “what are you doing here? How are you forming me? If your intention is to develop something in me, show me what it is.”
2. Thank God for being with me, even when I don’t sense Him or hear Him. Persist in prayer even when I don’t feel anything.
3. Intentionally limit food and experiences. I’m not sure what this looks like, but I was convicted that this takes up too much of my headspace.