The Screwtape Letters By C.S. Lewis

Strange Name… If you haven’t read the book The Screwtape Letters, it is likely that you don’t know why it has the name Screwtape in the title. It’s an usual name for a book.

Much like Dante’s Inferno in feel, C.S. Lewis’ intent in writing The Screwtape Letters was to show his readers the dangers of mortal sins.

Why from the viewpoint of a demon? Interestingly, Lewis doesn’t teach us through a lecture (though one of the things he’s known for is being a professor at Oxford). Instead, through a series of thirty-one letters from one demon to another, Lewis opens our eyes to the many ways that we can be led to sin and be led astray.

C.S. Lewis, after converting in 1931 to Christianity, remained an orthodox Anglican for the rest of his life. The idea of Mortal Sins is one of the beliefs of the Anglican Church. It is also a largely held belief of the Roman Catholics. J.R.R. Tolkein, one of Lewis’ closest friends, was Roman Catholic, and was a large influence on Lewis’ conversion to Christianity.

Hellfire & Damnation!!!

So what exactly is this book about? A fictional character, a demon named Screwtape, writes a series of thirty-one letters to his nephew Wormwood, a younger, inexperienced demon. Screwtape advises Wormwood on different things to help his “patient” fail in his faith as a Christian.

Example: Screwtape chastises Wormwood for letting the Patient convert to Christianity, but tells him that all is not lost. Screwtape knows a trick to dulling a newfound faith: distraction. Distraction is what will keep the Patient from doing good things, and therefore, will keep him from practicing Christianity as he should.

Screwtape tells his nephew that “the safest path to hell is the gradual one.” The process of corrupting a soul is a slow one, but it leads that person away from heaven, and that is what the demons want. It is what the devil wants.

So, how does it end? The reason demons want to send souls to hell is because that is what they eat. The patient dies in an air raid over London during World War I, and his soul goes to heaven. This is bad news for Wormwood the demon, who now will be eaten by other demons, including his uncle Screwtape.