About the Book
www.the-hijacked-mind.comC. S. Lewis and The Screwtape Letters
C. S. Lewis was a British scholar, novelist, and Christian apologist best known for works like The Chronicles of Narnia and the space-trilogy. In 1942 he published The Screwtape Letters, a satirical epistolary novel that flips the usual moral perspective by letting readers eavesdrop on correspondence between two devils.
Lewis's Life in Brief
Born in Belfast in 1898; educated at Oxford, where he later became a fellow and tutor in English literature.
Converted from atheism to Christianity in 1931, largely influenced by friends like J. R. R. Tolkien.
Wrote popular theology (Mere Christianity), fiction (Narnia, Space Trilogy), and scholarly works on medieval and Renaissance literature.
The Screwtape Letters: Core FactsThe Screwtape Letters unfolds as thirty-one letters from "Screwtape," a senior tempter in Hell's bureaucracy, to his nephew "Wormwood," guiding him in corrupting the soul of an unnamed British "Patient." Lewis dedicated the book to Tolkien; its installments first appeared in The Guardian during WWII, before being collected into a single volume in February 1942.
Structure and Plot
Thirty-one consecutive letters, each focusing on a particular tactic of temptation.
Screwtape's mentorship covers everything from exploiting pride and envy to perverting prayer and virtues.
The Patient's journey-from a nominal Christian to a committed believer-unfolds in parallel, often frustrating Hell's designs.
A final twist reveals Wormwood's failure, underscoring God's grace over devilish schemes.
Key Themes
Temptation as a subtle, incremental process rather than grand, dramatic sin.
The humor and horror of viewing human life from a diabolical perspective.
The war-time setting amplifies questions of fear, duty, and mortality.
Inversion of Christian concepts: Screwtape praises spiritual apathy and worldly distractions as virtues.
Style and RhetoricLewis uses irony, understatement, and mock-bureaucratic language to:
Illuminate how everyday choices can erode faith.
Satirize both human foibles and the devil's management style.
Engage readers with wit that sharpens theological insights.
Background of ConceptionLewis conceived the idea after a Sunday service in Headington, imagining how easy it is to dramatize evil and how nearly impossible it would be to render genuine angelic discourse. He even planned a companion piece from a guardian-angel's point of view but abandoned it, noting that true "heavenly style" seemed beyond his reach.
About the Author :
Matthew Simmons JOHNMATTHEW.MINISTRIES@GMAIL.COM www.the-hijacked-mind.comChristian Author and contributor, books: The Holy Bible: The Leningrad Codex (1000 AD) and The Codex Sinaiticus (written in 400 AD), The Soldier or The Apostate, Satan's Fall, The Exorcist Deliverance Ministry Heresy, Eternal Security?, Roman Catholicism: Mystery Babylon: The Purple, Scarlet Harlot, Abusing the Lord's Name in Vain, Sin, the Leprosy of the Soul, Minutes in Hell, The Revelation of the Christ, Jesus Freaks, The Screwtape Letters: Edited, Three Days in the Bowels of the Earth, Demonology of King James (1597), Fall of Satan, Martin Luther: The Jews and Their Lies. The Soldier of the Cross (these individual books are made out of the chapters from the book, Hijacked, to hand out individually). Most importantly, pick up the Bible, the Word of God. Search the rich veins of the gold mine of the sacred Scripture. The Word of God holds the title deeds to your eternal soul. The Word of God is the Magna Carta of liberty and holds the promises of the diamond-jewel royalty of heaven. The devil loves to see the Word of God collect dust, year after year, and never be read, and therefore, it is powerless. The Word of God is powerless until you read it, believe it, speak it, act upon it, and live by it. For the Word of God is for all people who believe it, seek it, and read it. We need to stop debating the Word of God and start declaring the Word of God. When you hear the Word, do the Word!I was sucked into the bowels and heartbeat of this supernatural war. When God called me to this ministry, I had an LLC roofing company, and God closed that door. He wanted me to carry a cross, crucified and sanctified. This ministry has prepared me, broken me and crushed me! It has brought me down to the bowels of despair. The cross has kept me in the fetters of sweet slavery. It has crushed my pity and peacock pride. It has crushed my arrogance. It has kept me on my knees before the throne and desperate for Jesus. Crushed is the god of self on the throne of my soul. I started this ministry out of the fountain of obedience, not for glory. This ministry is a cross that I carry; it is heavy; it is weighty, and it crushes me for God's glory. Out of tragedy, He turned it into blessings; He took my old song and made it a symphony.
