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“All extremes, except extreme devotion to the Enemy, are to be encouraged.”

Screwtape gives this advice concerning moderation in the seventh letter, in the midst of a discussion about World War II. The specific kinds of extreme passions Screwtape advises Wormwood to promote in the Patient are extreme patriotism or extreme pacifism. Screwtape tells Wormwood that it does not really matter whether the Patient is for the war (a patriot) or against the war (a pacifist). All that matters is that the Patient’s attitudes about the war be out of proportion with his present circumstances. When Screwtape tells Wormwood to create extreme emotions in the Patient, those wishing to avoid temptation might reinterpret Screwtape’s advice to mean: take the middle way. Extremity itself is destabilizing, The Screwtape Letters argue, and, when humans are unstable, they are more likely to stumble into sin. The Screwtape Letters emphasize moderation and diligence over excitement and euphoria. Because of this rational, workman-like approach to spirituality, C.S. Lewis’s Christian admirers sometimes describe him as “the apostle to the skeptics.” But Lewis’s critics have countered that the Christianity Lewis advocates can be dull and sterile.

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