The Screwtape Letters: Temptation, Sin, and the Christian Life

About this course

C.S. Lewis wrote The Screwtape Letters as advice from a senior devil to his nephew, a junior tempter, about how to drag a new Christian away from God a little at a time. By turning the moral world upside down, Lewis shows us what temptation actually looks like in an ordinary life: not dramatic evil, but small redirections of the heart that we barely notice. This course pairs the book with a six-part lecture series taught by Dr. Jerry Root of the C.S. Lewis Institute, one of the foremost readers of Lewis alive. Each week you watch a lecture of about thirty-three minutes, read the matched letters with your Bible open, and then work through a set of discussion and reflection questions written to take you into both the lecture and the text. The goal is not to admire Lewis. The goal is to see your own heart more clearly, to recognize the schemes of the devil, and to fight sin with the means God has given.

Lessons

1. Welcome00

   Welcome

   How this course works and why we are studying The Screwtape Letters.

   Self-paced
2. Lesson 1 — Background01

   Lesson 1 — Background

   An introduction to Lewis, to the book's upside-down design, and to the spiritual realism that makes Screwtape worth a Christian's careful attention.

   33 min
3. Reflect — Background02

   Reflect — Background

   Discussion and reflection questions for Lesson 1.

   Self-paced
4. Lesson 2 — Lewis's Concept of Hell03

   Lesson 2 — Lewis's Concept of Hell

   Lewis pictures hell as a self that has curved in on itself, fed by appetite and competition. This lesson examines that picture and what it reveals about the direction of our own small choices.

   33 min
5. Reflect — Lewis's Concept of Hell04

   Reflect — Lewis's Concept of Hell

   Discussion and reflection questions for Lesson 2.

   Self-paced
6. Lesson 3 — Pride05

   Lesson 3 — Pride

   Pride is the sin that grows fat on the soil of every virtue, including humility itself. This lesson hunts pride in its disguises and sets the true humility of Scripture against it.

   33 min
7. Reflect — Pride06

   Reflect — Pride

   Discussion and reflection questions for Lesson 3.

   Self-paced
8. Lesson 4 — Akrasia, the Lust of Deceit07

   Lesson 4 — Akrasia, the Lust of Deceit

   We are experts at lying to ourselves, at knowing the good and not doing it, at feeling deeply and never acting. This lesson exposes the deceit and the gap between conviction and obedience.

   33 min
9. Reflect — Akrasia, the Lust of Deceit08

   Reflect — Akrasia, the Lust of Deceit

   Discussion and reflection questions for Lesson 4.

   Self-paced
10. Lesson 5 — The Sins of the Flesh09

    Lesson 5 — The Sins of the Flesh

    We are body and soul together, and what we do with the body shapes the soul. This lesson examines gluttony, drink, and lust, and the disordered appetites that lie beneath them.

    33 min
11. Reflect — The Sins of the Flesh10

    Reflect — The Sins of the Flesh

    Discussion and reflection questions for Lesson 5.

    Self-paced
12. Lesson 6 — Escaping the Wiles of the Devil11

    Lesson 6 — Escaping the Wiles of the Devil

    The book ends not in defeat but in deliverance. This lesson gathers up how a Christian is kept through the long fight, and how the patient is finally and forever saved.

    33 min
13. Reflect — Escaping the Wiles of the Devil12

    Reflect — Escaping the Wiles of the Devil

    Discussion and reflection questions for Lesson 6.

    Self-paced
14. Closing13

    Closing

    A final look at the whole study, and a closing reflection to carry out of the course.

    Self-paced