Also, there is Jim Peschke’s book “The Michael Letters,” which turns the tables on the format and examines “The Screwtape Letters” from the point of a guardian angel.įor those who prefer an audio format, John Cleese’s audiobook version is well worth a listen. Cyprus’ “Letters to Bentrock.” Cyprus has a very modern and different take on the “Screwtape” format in that it takes place inside a prison (Cyprus was a prison ministry volunteer), which today’s younger and more jaded reader may find more engaging. These include prominent works such as Peter Kreeft’s “The Snakebite Letters” or his popular lecture “How to Win the Culture War,” Dwight Longenecker’s “The Gargoyle Code,” Richard Platt’s “One Devil to Another,” and J.B. The work remains a Christian classic that has inspired so many worthy imitators that the demonic advice format has almost become its own sub-genre.

He found them emotionally draining and was concerned about what effect getting better at thinking like a demon would have on him. This is why to this day, “The Screwtape Letters” remains one of Lewis’ most popular works, and although he wrote a sequel to it, “Screwtape Proposes a Toast ,” Lewis admitted he did not like writing the letters.

In fact, the genius of“The Screwtape Letters” is how it shows temptation as not being a single “big ask” by the devil, but a gradual process of rationalizing or moral laziness whereby we walk ourselves into damnation one step at a time. While straightforward, Lewis’ prose contains deep psychological insights into the human condition and a rather diabolical cunning that turns the most mundane events in the life of the “patient” into a path away from virtue and toward vice. But they are always explained in a way that condenses Lewis’ extensive literary and theological erudition into a very readable book. Throughout the letters, Screwtape offers Wormwood ample and well-thought-out advice on how best to damn the soul of an unnamed British man who is simply referred to as “the patient.” The letters cover a range of topics dealing with all the normal vices we are tempted with in life, such as pride, lust, gluttony, and moral laxity.

Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters.” Written in 1942, the book is a fictional series of 31 letters from a senior demon named Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood, who is still learning the ropes on doing what demons do best - tempting souls away from God. On the topic of temptation, there is one work that shines above the others: C.S.

The screwtape