“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to
disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe,
and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in
them. They themselves are equally pleased by both
errors and hail a materialist or a magician with
the same delight.”
— C.S. Lewis
From Preface to The Screwtape Letters
A brief introduction of the book
C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters, first published in 1942, remains one of the most enduring Christian classics. Written as a series of letters from a senior demon, Screwtape, to his inexperienced nephew Wormwood, the book offers satirical advice on how to corrupt a human soul, here known only as “the patient.” Through this ironic framework, Lewis exposes human weakness, spiritual temptation, and moral compromise.
The idea came to Lewis in 1940 during a church service, and the letters were first serialized in The Guardian magazine before becoming his first major commercial success. Though Lewis’s friend J.R.R. Tolkien disliked the book’s humor about demonic powers, Lewis defended it as a way to bring readers to serious self-reflection under pretense of being a kind of joke.
The book critiques hypocrisy, temptation, and spiritual complacency. Screwtape’s guidance shows how evil subtly distorts truth by mixing lies with fragments of goodness to lead humans away from God. Rather than dramatic possession, Lewis portrays temptation as quiet corruption through pride, distraction, and self-deception.
Set against the backdrop of World War II, The Screwtape Letters uses dark wit to explore the spiritual battle between good and evil. Its main characters include Screwtape, the cunning senior devil; Wormwood, his naive trainee; the “patient,” a young Englishman who gradually turns toward faith; and the “Enemy,” who is God.
This book serves as both satire and moral instruction, reminding readers that even ordinary actions carry eternal weight. As the preface warns, the devil is a liar, thus understanding his tactics is essential to spiritual growth and discernment.
Letter 1
In Letter 1, C.S. Lewis exposes the devil’s primary strategy of keeping humans distracted from truth through jargon, materialism, and the pressures of ordinary life. Screwtape warns Wormwood never to argue or appeal to reason, since argument can awaken thought and draw the “patient” onto the God’s ground. Instead, Wormwood is told to rely on jargon: empty, fashionable language that focuses on emotional or cultural appeal rather than truth. By keeping the patient preoccupied with the physical world and the opinions of others, the devil ensures that spiritual realities remain distant and unreal.
Screwtape recalls how he once “rescued” a man from conversion by interrupting his reflective thought with hunger and the distractions of everyday life, convincing him that a dose of “real life” was enough to dismiss spiritual questions. The pressures of the ordinary thus become one of Hell’s most effective tools, as humans are more easily enslaved by familiarity and comfort than by overt evil.
In contrast, the divine strategy centers on awakening reason and genuine science, fields that direct the mind toward unseen truths and the order of creation. While the devils fear reason and true scientific inquiry, God uses them to draw humans toward reality itself.
Letter 1 contrasts the diabolical aim of dulling thought and trapping the soul in the material with the divine invitation to think, seek truth, and see beyond the surface of “real life.”
Letter 2
In Letter 2, C.S. Lewis reveals how the devils exploit a new Christian’s early experiences in church to corrupt his faith, turning even religious practice into a tool for temptation. Screwtape admits frustration that the patient has become a Christian but reassures Wormwood that church attendance itself can be used to extinguish spiritual growth. The patient’s idealized image of “the body of Christ” quickly clashes with the disappointing reality of ordinary people in an unremarkable building. By focusing his attention on trivial annoyances (the squeaky boots, off-key singing, and awkward faces of fellow worshippers) Wormwood can turn reverence into irritation and holiness into hypocrisy.
This strategy feeds pride and self-righteousness: the patient begins to view himself as spiritually superior to his flawed neighbors, forgetting that his own vices are equally real. Screwtape’s great fear is that the patient might one day perceive the true Church: the eternal, invisible communion of believers “spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners.” Instead, the demons work to keep his focus on superficial appearances.
Meanwhile, God uses this same disappointment for redemptive ends. The Enemy allows early disillusionment to move believers from emotional enthusiasm to deliberate, faithful action. True spiritual maturity arises not from pleasant feelings but from persevering when inspiration fades. In learning to love and serve God amid imperfection, the believer becomes freer, steadier, and ultimately harder to tempt. Thus, what Hell intends as disillusionment, Heaven transforms into the groundwork for enduring faith.
Letter 3
This chapter centers on domestic relationships, particularly between the patient and his mother, showing how everyday irritations can become fertile ground for spiritual corruption. Screwtape instructs Wormwood to exploit habits of thought and tone, encouraging mutual annoyance and self-righteousness while keeping both unaware of their own faults. The diabolical goal is to replace genuine charity with a sense of injured virtue, so that each believes they are acting justly while harboring resentment. Yet, beneath this manipulation, God’s strategy allows such tensions to become opportunities for humility, patience, and self-awareness, turning irritation into a means of spiritual growth rather than division.
Letter 4
Letter 4 explores how prayer, when distorted, can become an empty exercise rather than a true communion with God. Screwtape teaches Wormwood to replace sincere prayer with a vague “devotional mood” built on emotion and spontaneity rather than focused intention, keeping the patient’s mind self-absorbed instead of God-centered.
By encouraging the patient to chase feelings or pray to imagined pictures of God, the devils ensure that prayer remains inward, sentimental, and detached from reality. In contrast, the true danger for the devils lies in “the nakedness of the soul in prayer,” when the patient sets aside emotions and mental images to meet the real, invisible presence of God, which is a moment of authentic connection that breaks through all diabolical influence.
Letter 5
Letter 5 reveals the devil’s surprising unease with war, as Screwtape warns that conflict, far from serving Hell’s interests, often awakens spiritual awareness and courage in humans. While Wormwood delights in chaos and suffering, Screwtape reminds him that war can drive people to prayer, sacrifice, and thoughts of eternity, things that strengthen faith rather than destroy it. The devils prefer peaceful, prolonged decay in nursing homes, where patients die surrounded by comforting lies and spiritual unawareness, over sudden wartime deaths that find men prepared to meet God. While the devils teach humans to fear death and cling to the world, the Enemy uses war to strip away illusions of permanence and draw souls toward selflessness, redemption, and eternal perspective.
Letter 6
This chapter explores how devils exploit human anxiety by keeping people fixated on the uncertain future rather than the present moment, where God’s grace actually operates. Screwtape warns Wormwood that “suspense and anxiety” effectively barricade the mind against God, since the future (being unreal and unknown) can be filled with endless imagined fears. God, however, gives strength only for the trials of today, teaching real resignation and trust through present suffering.
Screwtape also advises manipulating the patient’s self-awareness by encouraging self-consciousness in prayer and charity, but outward focus in anger and lust to distort spiritual growth. He insists that real moral danger lies not in abstract attitudes but in daily, concrete malice toward one’s neighbors, and that virtues are harmless unless they reach the will (what God calls the “heart”) and become embodied habits.
Letter 7
This letter exposes how devils exploit both human ignorance of spiritual realities and the misuse of religion for worldly causes. Screwtape explains that concealment of demonic existence is usually most effective, since disbelief in spirits allows devils to promote materialism and skepticism, shaping humans into “materialist magicians” who deny God but worship impersonal “forces.”
He also delights in the human tendency toward zeal and factionalism, encouraging people to turn their devotion toward political or ideological extremes rather than to God Himself. The ultimate strategy is to make Christianity a means to some worldly end, whether patriotism, pacifism, or modern causes like social reform, so that the patient values movements, meetings, and policies above prayer, charity, and obedience. In contrast, God’s aim is for faith to remain the end itself, with worldly affairs serving only as material for loving obedience to Him.
Letter 8
Letter 8 explores the cyclical nature of human spiritual life, emphasizing the Law of Undulation and how devils exploit periods of spiritual dryness. Screwtape explains that humans, being “amphibians” of spirit and body, naturally experience peaks and troughs in devotion, and the devils seek to misinterpret the troughs as permanent, fostering despair, complacency, or denial of faith. In contrast, God uses these low points to deepen spiritual growth, teaching reliance on will, perseverance, and contentment regardless of feelings. The letter underscores that God “cannot ravish, He can only woo,” meaning true devotion arises from freely chosen obedience rather than coercion, making the troughs essential for developing genuine, intentional faith.
Letter 9
This chapters investigates how devils exploit spiritual troughs and periods of low morale, particularly through distorted pleasures, subjective feelings, and the illusion of “phases.” Screwtape emphasizes that troughs leave humans emotionally barren, making them susceptible to sensual temptations and other distractions that promise temporary relief but distort God-given pleasures. Devils also manipulate temperaments, encouraging despair or complacency depending on the patient’s tendencies, while persuading him to view his faith as a passing phase, relying on jargon, historical concepts, and subjective reasoning. The letter underscores that spiritual reality is defined by truth, not feelings, and that temporary emotions should not dictate the commitment of the will to God’s enduring truths.
Letter 10
The discussion here is focused on how peer pressure and social vanity can subtly corrupt a Christian’s faith and behavior. Screwtape highlights the danger of the patient associating with sophisticated, sceptical friends, which encourages him to live two parallel lives: one socially cynical and one spiritually sincere, fostering pride, hypocrisy, and self-satisfaction. The devils exploit labels like “Puritanism” to trivialize virtue and sanction unchristian behavior, while the patient’s gradual adoption of attitudes contrary to his beliefs exemplifies how pretending can reshape the soul, turning social conformity into a powerful tool against integrity and spiritual growth.
Letter 11
Letter 11 reveals how humor, one of humanity’s greatest gifts, can be twisted into a powerful diabolical weapon. Screwtape despises true joy and music, because they are echoes of Heaven: real, spontaneous, and rooted in the divine presence. While fun promotes virtues like charity, courage, and contentment, the devils prefer humor in its corrupted forms: jokes that excuse sin and flippancy that deadens seriousness. By turning cruelty or cowardice into something “funny,” humans destroy shame and admire vice. Flippancy, meanwhile, hardens the soul, dulls the intellect, and blocks real affection or reverence. Thus, the devils twist laughter and entertainment (meant to reflect divine joy) into noise and mockery that insulate the soul from truth, dignity, and God Himself.
Letter 12
One of Hell’s most subtle and effective tactics is not violent sin, but slow spiritual drift. Screwtape delights in keeping the patient externally religious (still attending church, still “doing well enough”) while inwardly decaying. This lukewarm state produces a vague uneasiness instead of true repentance, a hazy guilt that deadens the will without awakening the soul. Through distraction, habit, and half-hearted duties, Wormwood ensures that the man avoids genuine contact with God.
The greatest triumph, Screwtape explains, is not in great crimes but in small sins: a slow, gentle slope toward nothingness, where life is wasted not in passion or rebellion, but in empty comfort and meaningless routine. The safest road to Hell is the one without milestones, warnings, or shocks; just quiet spiritual erosion.
Letter 13
This marks a turning point where the patient briefly awakens from spiritual drift through genuine, God-given pleasures: a simple book and a walk in nature. These real pleasures reconnect him with reality, peel away the crust of vanity, and restore his true self, showing that authentic enjoyment can be a divine touchstone that reawakens the soul. The devils, however, seek to corrupt pleasure by twisting it, using it at the wrong times or in excess, and by replacing real delights with hollow distractions and social standards.
God’s detachment aims to free humans from self-will so that they can become fully themselves, while the devils’ detachment divorces them from reality and individuality. Because small, humble pleasures carry innocence, humility, and self-forgetfulness, Screwtape seeks to eradicate them, knowing that a person who enjoys something simply and sincerely is resistant to pride and vanity. This letter reveals that God works through reality, through true pleasure, pain, and the faithful exercise of the will, while Hell thrives in unreality, imitation, and passive sentiment without action.
Letter 14
Humility is the devils’ most dangerous enemy because true humility erases self-absorption and pride by turning the soul’s gaze entirely outward: to God, to others, and to reality itself. Screwtape warns that once the patient becomes aware of being humble, the virtue is weakened; self-consciousness transforms humility into pride. The devils therefore twist humility into a false belief, a low opinion of oneself, so that humans become dishonest and endlessly preoccupied with their own worth.
In contrast, true humility is self-forgetfulness: the ability to rejoice in one’s gifts or another’s equally, as in the beauty of a sunrise or a work of art, without comparison or vanity. God’s purpose in humility, as in all virtues, is to shift attention from self-assessment to gratitude and action, to form habits of the will that reflect love and thankfulness for life as a divine gift, free from the clamor of self-will.
Letter 15
This chapter explores humanity’s relationship to time and the contrasting ways God and the devils use it. God desires humans to live with a double awareness: of eternity and of the present. That is because only the present moment touches eternity and offers the real experience of freedom, obedience, and grace. In the present, humans can act justly, love, and give thanks, whereas eternity grounds their perspective in what truly matters beyond time.
The devils, however, seek to obscure both by trapping the mind in the future, which is the most unreal and speculative dimension of time. Preoccupation with the future inflames fear and hope, fills the imagination with unrealities, and diverts the heart from present duties. Screwtape’s insight that “nearly all vices are rooted in the future” reveals that sins like greed, lust, fear, and ambition depend on anticipation, not reality, while true virtues such as gratitude and love dwell in the present or past. Thus, the more humans live “hag-ridden by the Future,” the less they live in the real, grace-filled now where God is actually present.
Letter 16
The devils rely on the strategy of turning the believer’s relationship to the Church into one of judgment rather than participation. Screwtape urges Wormwood to make his patient a “church connoisseur,” someone who samples congregations and critiques sermons instead of receiving truth with humility. This critical spirit replaces unity and obedience with pride and division, fragmenting the Church into cliques and factions.
Two model churches are presented: one led by a vicar who has diluted Christianity into harmless moralism, ensuring no fresh truth reaches his flock; and another led by Fr. Spike, whose faith is poisoned by hatred and self-righteousness. Both achieve the same end, which is keeping worshippers from real spiritual nourishment. Against this, God desires the patient to come to church with humble receptivity to any nourishment, a state of openness where even simple truths can pierce the heart. In contrast, the devils seek to make the man a critic rather than a pupil, for a soul that judges cannot be transformed.
Letter 17
Letter 17 exposes gluttony in its subtler, more insidious forms, showing how even refined tastes can enslave the soul. Screwtape contrasts the gluttony of Excess, the obvious overindulgence in quantity, with the more socially acceptable gluttony of Delicacy, where the sin lies in obsession with precision and comfort rather than abundance. The patient’s mother exemplifies this “All-I-want” attitude, more precisely her fussy, exacting demands for simple foods make her a source of misery to everyone around her while convincing herself she is temperate. Her life revolves around food and disappointment, creating unkindness and domestic tension.
Men, by contrast, are more easily trapped through vanity, becoming self-styled connoisseurs who pride themselves on refined taste and unique discoveries. In both cases, Screwtape’s goal is the same: to make food, or any small indulgence, the center of self-importance, so that the soul’s charity, humility, and obedience become entirely dependent on whether its trivial appetites are satisfied.
Letter 18
The devils corrupt God’s design for sex and love by transforming what was meant for unity into an instrument of self-centered pleasure and instability. Screwtape reveals that God’s standard (either complete abstinence or unmitigated monogamy) is subverted through the idolization of romantic passion. By persuading humans that “being in love” is the only valid basis for marriage and that such emotion must be permanent, the devils replace covenantal fidelity with emotional volatility. What God intended as an act of union, fidelity, and co-creation becomes a pursuit of excitement and self-gratification.
Screwtape’s contempt for love itself exposes Hell’s central lie: that all existence is competition, not communion. God’s creation of love, manifest in the Trinity, in the organism, and especially in the family, stands as a direct contradiction to Hell’s principle of rivalry.
The devils twist love by inverting its order: what God promises as the result of obedience (lasting affection and unity), they make the prerequisite for commitment. Yet even in their rebellion, Screwtape admits a truth he cannot deny: whenever a man and woman unite sexually, they enter into a transcendental relation that reflects divine intention. This spiritual reality, meant for eternal joy, is precisely what Hell seeks to trivialize, detach from fidelity, and turn into a source of bondage rather than blessing.
Letter 19
This part of the book explores the radical divide between Heaven and Hell through their opposing views of love. Hell sees existence as competition, where every self seeks to consume another, while Heaven sees love as unity (many yet one) where each self finds joy in another’s good. Screwtape cannot comprehend God’s disinterested love, believing it must conceal a selfish motive, because Hell’s nature makes self-giving unthinkable. For the devils, “being in love” is not good or bad in itself but raw material to be twisted: either to feed pride and lust or to detach the heart from real charity and obedience. Love is the one reality Hell cannot understand or corrupt without destroying itself.
Letter 20
This chapter focuses on the ongoing spiritual danger of sex, love, and marriage, showing how natural desires are twisted by demonic forces and cultural trends. God allows temptations to exist to cultivate virtue, courage, and deliberate obedience, providing humans the opportunity to grow in freedom while also offering a way of escape. The devils exploit sexual desire by promoting impossible ideals and manipulating taste, using fashions and imagery to direct desire toward unattainable or harmful forms.
Males, in particular, are tempted by both the “terrestrial Venus,” which can align with God’s plan, and the “infernal Venus,” which fosters brutal or selfish desire. This seems to looklike Freud`s Madonna-mistress complex. The most effective diabolical tactic is convincing humans that yielding is the only way to satisfy temptation, though God provides the means to resist. Cultural agents, such as artists and advertisers, are historically used to reinforce these false ideals and misdirect desire.
Letter 21
At this point, the discussion heads towards pride and peevishness, showing how the sense of personal ownership (over time, body, or even God) becomes a tool for the devils. Screwtape explains that irritation over interruptions stems from the false belief that one’s time is one’s own, fostering pride and ill temper. Christians are called to recognize that everything, including time and possessions, belongs to God, and any claim of ownership is a denial of His sovereignty. True spiritual freedom comes from surrendering all to God, aligning personal will with divine creation rather than asserting dominion over gifts that are ultimately His.
Letter 22
The theme of love comes again into the picture, highlighting Screwtape’s horror at the patient falling for a godly young woman. The girl’s Christian character, intelligence, and wit make her profoundly resistant to demonic influence, and her family’s holiness permeates their home, spreading a “deadly odour” of virtue that undermines Hell’s schemes.
Screwtape sarcastically calls God a hedonist because divine design fills the world with natural pleasures and promises eternal joy, making it difficult for devils to corrupt humans. He fears the woman would even laugh at him, as her discernment and humor expose the absurdity of Hell, demonstrating the power of genuine love and holiness to resist temptation.
Letter 23
The “Historical Jesus” industry is like perpetually trying to assemble a perfect portrait of a person by tearing up the authentic photo and gluing pieces back together based on the changing demands of the art gallery. Every few years the gallery demands a new style – Impressionism, then Cubism, then Abstract – so the pieces are rearranged, ensuring the worshipper is always focused on the frame and the fleeting trends, never on the actual face that stands before them.
The devils exploit intellectual trends and political engagement to corrupt the patient’s faith. Screwtape praises the search for the “historical Jesus” because it diverts devotion to unreal, reinvented figures and distracts from the true Jesus revealed through the Resurrection and Redemption. Similarly, turning Christianity into a tool for social justice or political agendas substitutes faith with worldly causes, creating a rift where belief is valued for practical outcomes rather than truth.
The devils thrive on faction, polarization, and extremes, promoting “Christianity And” (the distortion of the faith in which Christianity is treated not as an end in itself, but as a means to achieve some external goal) instead of genuine devotion. God’s strategy, by contrast, focuses the believer on the Resurrection, Redemption, and knowing Jesus as the Messiah, preserving the faith’s spiritual and historical core.
Letter 24
The patient’s growing love for a godly young woman exposes him to both positive and negative spiritual influences. Screwtape advises Wormwood to exploit the patient’s desire to belong to her circle, turning admiration into spiritual pride by making him exaggerate minor defects in the group and mistake social belonging for genuine Christian maturity. This pride and subtle confusion (confusing affection for spiritual congruity and the clique for the Church) undermine true faith. At the same time, this chapter acknowledges that peer influence can be positive when godly behavior is genuinely contagious, drawing the patient toward authentic spiritual growth.
Letter 25
The two devils exploit humanity’s craving for novelty and fashion to distract from the essentials of faith. Screwtape highlights “Christianity And” as a strategy to mix the faith with passing trends, shifting attention from truth to temporal or fashionable concerns. The human horror of the “Same Old Thing” prevents contentment and gratifies desire for constant novelty, undermining both material and spiritual pleasure. While God’s rhythm unites change and permanence, the devils twist it into unrelenting, costly, and un-rhythmic novelty. In ideas, this manifests as asking whether something is “relevant” rather than whether it is true or prudent, leaving the mind occupied with unanswerable questions and vulnerable to corruption.
Letter 26
the devils exploit the ambiguity of Love during courtship to undermine true and lasting charity. Screwtape shows that mistaking fleeting sexual excitement for genuine love allows the devils to establish unrealistic expectations of lifelong unselfishness, creating rules the couple cannot sustain. This forced, self-conscious “Unselfishness” fosters secret resentment, self-righteousness, and trivial quarrels, as each partner sacrifices superficially while harboring bitterness, ultimately souring the relationship and leaving true charity undeveloped.
Letter 27
This letter emphasizes the importance of prayer and shows how devils exploit human misunderstandings of distractions, time, and history. Screwtape advises Wormwood to make the patient focus on distractions, doubt the efficacy of petitionary prayer, and misunderstand God’s perception of time, creating confusion about free will and the results of prayer. Humans see time sequentially and fear their prayers are predestined or ineffective, whereas God sees all existence in an eternal “Now,” making every prayer a genuine, free act. The Historical Point of View further undermines decision-making by teaching humans to focus on context, development, and trends rather than on whether statements are true, cutting generations off from one another and fostering intellectual stagnation.
Letter 28
Aging can be exploited by devils through attrition and attachment to the world, slowly eroding spiritual vitality. Screwtape prefers the patient to survive into middle age because the long years allow the devils to foster quiet despair, idealization of youth, and prosperity-driven attachment to earthly life, creating a creeping death of the soul.
Believing that the world can be perfected substitutes for true hope in Heaven, deepening worldly attachment. “Real worldliness” develops gradually through prosperity, reputation, and routine, often mistaken by humans for maturity or good sense. From the devil’s perspective, a long life offers time to corrupt; from God’s perspective, it provides opportunity for virtue, resistance, and preparation for eternity, with detachment as the key divine strategy.
Letter29
Courage is to virtue what concrete reinforcement is to a structure. In times of calm (peace), a building (a person’s character) might seem sturdy even if made of weak material (conditional virtues). But when the earthquake hits (danger and testing), the true structure is revealed. God designs the world to have these earthquakes because He values structures reinforced by courage: the deliberate, willed action that holds the virtue firm when failure is imminent and risky.
This letter examines how the devils twist genuine virtue into vice by corrupting courage, love, and moral integrity through fear and hatred. Since demons cannot create virtue, they must exploit the virtues God gives, leaving Him a “foothold” even in the wicked. Fear and hatred are fused: fear brings pain, and hatred compensates for it, numbing shame and wounding charity.
Yet cowardice poses a dilemma for Hell: it can lead to repentance, humility, or moral awakening when humans face their fear honestly. God allows danger precisely because courage tests the reality of every virtue, proving whether faith and morality endure under threat. For devils, only the sinful act itself matters; the emotion means nothing unless it produces disobedience, so their goal is always to secure the deed that separates the soul from God.
Letter 30
Letter 30 reveals how demons corrupt the human sense of truth by exploiting fatigue and confusion between what is false and what is real. Screwtape emphasizes that Hell cares only for results, not feelings; true virtue lies in consistent, obedient action, even when emotion is absent. Fatigue becomes a weapon when it breeds resentment, impatience, and a false sense of entitlement to rest, tempting humans to surrender just before relief arrives.
Most insidiously, the devils twist the very idea of reality: when goodness or joy appears, they label it as unreal and sentimental, but when evil or suffering strikes, they call that “the harsh reality of life.” This inversion blinds the soul to divine truth, turning faith into fantasy and making despair and cynicism seem more “real” than love or grace.
Letter 31
Now, this is the last letter and it concludes with the patient’s deliverance into Heaven, showing the utter defeat of Hell and the triumph of divine grace. At death, the patient first sees Wormwood clearly, recognizing both his tempter’s role and his complete loss of power. What follows is instantaneous liberation, a final cleansing from all fear, pain, and confusion as faith becomes sight and all suffering is revealed to have led to joy.
The dying soul realizes that every earthly horror was only a narrowing before freedom, a pattern that ends in peace and glory. Then, seeing “Them” (the angels) and finally “Him” (Christ), the patient encounters ultimate reality: blinding light to demons but perfect clarity and love to the redeemed. In that vision, all former desires fade, replaced by infinite joy, humility, and the fullness of life beyond death.
Screwtape proposes a toast
At a banquet in Hell, Screwtape gives a speech to a group of young tempters who are about to start their work on Earth. He complains that the human souls they now get are boring and weak compared to the great sinners of the past, like kings and tyrants. But he says this isn’t really bad news, because there are now more souls than ever, and they are easier to corrupt. He explains to them that modern people are shallow, lazy, and easily influenced by their surroundings. They sin not out of passion or strength, but out of habit and carelessness,which makes them perfect targets for Hell.
Screwtape then praises how demons have twisted the idea of democracy. Instead of meaning equal rights, people now use it to mean “I am as good as you,” which encourages envy and destroys excellence. As a result, people start to hate anyone who is smarter, better, or different from them. Schools stop rewarding talent so that no one feels “less than,” and society becomes full of average, easily controlled people. This, Screwtape says, helps Hell because such people are easier to manipulate and lead.
He ends by raising a toast to the Tempters’ Training College and to the wine made from “Pharisees”, hypocritical religious people whose fake holiness still provides Hell with the best kind of sin.
Last thoughts
My question is this: if, according to this book, there are both devils and Heaven with angels, and especially considering that what these devils aim for is to turn people away from Christianity, what were they doing before the rise of the Christian faith? What is the author’s argument if we take into account that Christianity is a relatively new religion, while before it there were polytheism and animism, which have existed for thousands, even tens of thousands of years?
Who knows? Perhaps, from many people’s point of view, there has always been one God, but He was perceived differently by humans throughout history, and at some point, He decided to incarnate. After all, in the book, this is presented as God’s great advantage over the devils: “Because you were never a human, ah, the abominable advantage of the Enemy!” (p. 14).
If you think you want to read more about God, but from a different perspective, a philosophical one, why not check my review on Nietzsche`s Thus Spoke Zarathustra?
