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What, based on Screwtape’s advice to Wormwood, does it mean to be “merely Christian”? Might some Christian groups take offence or disagree with the idea of “mere Christianity” advanced within The Screwtape Letters?

Are readers of The Screwtape Letters supposed to empathize with, pity, or revile Screwtape? Given that Screwtape is evil, what are the negative implications of feeling for him? If human beings do feel for Screwtape, might this actually say something positive about humanity?

Describe the treatment of World War II within the book. Was C.S. Lewis trying to help his readers cope with the trauma of this international crisis? How might the advice in The Screwtape Letters change if it were given during peacetime?

The Patient, despite being the main human character in the book, is all but anonymous. Why might C.S. Lewis have intentionally kept the details of the Patient’s life vague? Does the lack of detail concerning the Patient’s life help reader to, or hinder them from, identifying with this character?

Wormwood’s version of events is always presented secondhand through Screwtape’s summaries of Wormwood’s letters. Why does C.S. Lewis exclude Wormwood’s side of the correspondence?

 

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