Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil (Eph. 6:11).
I have rediscovered The Screwtape Letters (1942) and its sequel essay Screwtape Proposes a Toast (1958) by C.S. Lewis.
I first read them long ago, in my youth, and found them both interesting and instructive. I never thought I would return to them, but I did so at the request of my parishioners. Listening to them again felt like experiencing them for the very first time!
It is a very vibrant philosophical work that―in a vivid, witty, and essayistic form―portrays two realms, two paths, and two visions of faith and love between which every person must choose during his earthly life.
The Characters’ Names
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. The 1976 edition This time, I could not help but notice the original names of the characters and their Russian translations. In the English original, the book is titled The Screwtape Letters. The name Screwtape is a brilliant linguistic invention by Lewis: “screw” (meaning a screw, to tighten, and slang for a prison guard) and “tape” (referring to red tape, that is, the binding of bureaucracy). Together they evoke a “twisting tape”―an image of someone who “screws down,” “tightens the noose,” oppresses the soul, and suffocates it. In the Russian translation, the name “Balamut” stuck―from the verb “balamutit,’” meaning to muddy the waters, confuse, or stir up discord. While demons certainly do this, the original depth of the name is clearly lost. The name of his nephew, Wormwood, was transformed by the Russian translator into “Gnusik” (from “gnusnost,’” meaning foulness or vileness); although it hints at nastiness, it completely loses the fearsome Biblical symbol of the bitter star “Wormwood” falling from the heavens (cf. Rev. 8:11).
This translation nuance is not merely philological meticulousness. It is a reminder that any reading of literature is already an interpretation; reading foreign literature is doubly so. We must always distinguish between and take into account both the source text and the translation, while refraining from hasty judgments about the book’s content.
In the case of The Screwtape Letters, the Russian versions of the names of the two demons, although they do not reproduce the literal meaning of the original, feel completely natural and do not disrupt the overall context of the narrative.
Background of the Book
The Screwtape Letters was written during a difficult time for the UK and the entire world—the years of the Second World War. In 1941, Lewis, a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Magdalen College of Oxford University and a brilliant preacher, was invited to give radio broadcasts and speak to British soldiers. It was during these appearances that he conceived the idea of talking about faith in an unusual, “inverted” way—from the perspective of a tempting demon.
The Screwtape Letters was originally published by installments weekly in The Guardian, an Anglican Church newspaper, from May to November 1941. The author later named the addresser Screwtape, and by 1942, the individual letters were compiled into a book. Interestingly, Lewis himself admitted that writing this book was not fun: “I never wrote with less enjoyment.” He said:
“But though it was easy to twist one’s mind into the diabolical attitude, it was not fun, or not for long. The strain produced a sort of spiritual cramp. The world into which I had to project myself while I spoke through Screwtape was all dust, grit, thirst, and itch. Every trace of beauty, freshness, and geniality had to be excluded.”1Sixteen years later, in 1958, Lewis wrote a sequel—a short story titled Screwtape Proposes a Toast, first published in 1959. In it, Screwtape delivers a speech at a graduation banquet for tempter demons, criticizing contemporary trends in British education and society.
Malicious Advice from an Old Devil
It feels as though The Screwtape Letters would seem more complete and fulfilled if it also included Wormwood’s replies. Apparently, by leaving things unsaid, Lewis intended to encourage readers to think and fill in the blanks for themselves. And he succeeded.
Before us unfolds a wide array of demonic temptations, revealing their very core. All these seductions appeal directly to human vanity and pride.
The book is structured as a series of malicious, inverted advice:
“…Everything is turned upside down, even to the point where God Himself is called the Enemy (with a capital ‘E’!).”2Demons tempt people using sensory images, fears, doubts, and intellectual ideas. They plant these directly as inner thoughts or indirectly through people who submit to them.
In the modern world, the most powerful channels of temptation are the media, history, other humanities, and mass culture. We can also add the internet, which did not exist in Lewis’ time.
It is they who substitute original, righteous concepts and perceptions with false ones―justifying and praising untruth and sin, while condemning and vilifying truth and righteousness. They attempt to confuse and distance humanity as much as possible from simple questions and answers, and from a clear understanding of good and evil.
Christians must remain vigilant of modern threats and know how to resist them. The Apostle Peter warns us: Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. 5:8).
Two Designs: God’s and the Demonic
Each of Screwtape’s letters is dedicated to specific passions and stages of spiritual life, focusing on their pitfalls from the perspective of a tempter.
On the demon’s side are deception, false hopes, and promises, a person’s excessive anticipation of pleasures, cultural stereotypes, and trends.
On the human side are the original natural order of things, common sense and, most importantly, the grace of God. Lewis emphasizes that demons act not only against God and humanity, but against nature itself―the very essence of man and all of creation, brought into being by the loving Heavenly Father.
God creates and unites to give life, preserve, and heal. He, all of His creation, and man are a living unity in diversity. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life (Jn. 3:16). This is the Creator's plan―not to destroy, but to save; not to divide, but to unite with Himself through faith.
Demons, on the contrary, attempt to divide everyone and everything in order to destroy. First, they separated us from God, plunging us into perdition―an eternal, graceless existence. The Prophet Isaiah, speaking of the fall of Lucifer, son of the morning (Is. 14:12), put words of pride into the mouth of the fallen spirit: I will ascend into Heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High (Is. 14:13–14). And immediately following is the Divine verdict: Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit (Is. 14:15). Pride, the desire to exalt oneself above God, is the root of the falling away. Then, through temptations, demons separated and continue to separate people from God, fighting against His saving Providence. They divide to conquer and drive toward death. As for God, He unites us to save and resurrect.
C.S. Lewis Through the mouth of Screwtape, Lewis himself lays out this distinction with utmost clarity:
“We want cattle who can finally become food, He wants servants who can finally become sons.”3Or in another place:
“Do what you will, there is going to be some benevolence, as well as some malice, in your patient’s soul. The great thing is to direct the malice to his immediate neighbors whom he meets every day and to thrust his benevolence out to the remote circumference…”4Screwtape also mentors his nephew:
“Once you have made the world an end, and faith a means, you have almost won your man, and it makes very little difference what kind of worldly end he is pursuing. Provided that meetings, pamphlets, policies, movements, causes, and crusades, matter more to him than prayers and sacraments and charity, he is ours.”5The Apostle Paul reminds us of the true nature of this struggle: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph. 6:12). It is not people who are our enemy, but the dark forces behind their delusions and sins. Therefore, our weapons must be spiritual. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting (Mt. 17:21)―only by the grace of God, granted to us in the Church Sacraments.
God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble (Jm. 4:6). In these brief words of the Apostle James lies the key to understanding the whole drama: the devil’s pride led to his fall, and that same pride is the primary weapon he uses to ensnare human souls. The apostle then goes on to give us a promise and a command: Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (Jm. 4:7).
Misconceptions
The portrayal of temptations by the enemies of mankind in Lewis’ book raises no questions for the Christian reader. However, certain aspects of demonic society appear controversial and are, in all probability, fictional devices serving the literary plot.
This chiefly concerns the book’s implied concept of the birth of demons, their kinship ties, and their varying ages. Although St. Maximus the Confessor (seventh century) held a controversial view regarding the possibility of a certain spiritual birth among angels after creation,6 no theologian has ever suggested birth within the demonic realm. This contradicts the very nature of their existence, which is entirely aimed at division, destruction, murder, and ruin. Those who destroy themselves spiritually and strive to kill others spiritually are incapable of spiritually begetting even their own kind.In Christian theology, it is commonly accepted that all angels were originally created by God in an unknown, exceedingly large number, which was necessary for the Creator and Provider. Subsequently, out of pride, a portion of the angels led by the devil fell away from God (ranging from one-hundredth to one-third of the total number, according to various traditions). There is no procreation among either angels or demons. Their total number has remained unchanged since the moments of creation and the fall. There are exactly as many angels and demons today as there were after the expulsion of the demons from Heaven.7
Furthermore, nowhere in Christian Tradition is it claimed that demons in hell literally feed on other, less fortunate demons and the souls of the sinners who ended up there. This is clearly Lewis’ own invention.
Fiction, not Theology
Therefore, Lewis’ work should be treated as Christian fiction―nothing more, nothing less. We should not elevate the writer’s works to the status of theological treatises.
C.S. Lewis was an Anglican, but he strove to write “mere Christian” books for everyone, so that Christians of any denomination could find universal Christian truths in them. The Screwtape Letters is a prime example of this approach. It is an engaging spiritual guide written “by way of contradiction,” helping readers view spiritual warfare from an unexpected angle and teaching them to recognize the enemy’s tactics. After all, to defeat an adversary, you must understand how he thinks and acts.
Herein lies the undeniable value of this remarkable book—one well worth returning to time and again, offering new insights with every reading.
The enemy of mankind tries in every way to trouble our consciousness and our lives, ultimately to suffocate our souls with pride and malice. We, as Christians, must understand this and wage spiritual warfare, armed with sobriety, prayer, fasting, humility, meekness, and love for Christ.
