OVERVIEW
OVERARCHING THEMES
THEOLOGICAL THEMES:
1 Timothy 4:1; John 13:2;
Acts 5:3; Job 1:12-21;
1 Kings 22:1-23; Matthew 13:19
STUDY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
The Characters in the Screwtape Letters:
Heaven/Yahweh
The Underworld/Satan
The Patient
Wormwood
The Father Below is Satan
Slubgob is the head of the Training College that future tempters attend.
Glubose is the patient’s mother’s tempter.
Toadpipe is Screwtape’s secretary.
Slumtrimpet is the patient’s girlfriend’s tempter.
VOCABULARY
• Materialist
“a person who considers material possessions and physical comfort as more important than spiritual values.
• a person who supports the theory that nothing exists except matter and its movements and modifications.
• “an atheist and philosophical materialist”
• Jargon
Language that contains uncommon vocabulary resulting in vague meaning; gibberish
• Totter
To sway or shake as if about to fall
• Fuddle
To cause to be confused or intoxicated; muddled or confused state
STUDY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Paragraph 1and 2
• What is significant about the label that Screwtape uses for the man that Wormwood is tempting?
• What scriptural evidence, if any, if any, is there for each human having their own personal demon who tempts them on a continual basis.
There is evidence in MATTHEW 18:10 and HEBREWS 1:14
• What does Screwtape conclude as it relates to the ability of the patient to reason?
• How is this true in your life and what can you be doing about it?
• How does jargon contribute to Screwtape’s strategy?
2 Peter 1:16
Luke 1 introduction
1 Corinthians 15
In paragraph 3 after introducing the topic at the end of paragraph 2, Screwtape is reminding us of the inescapable realities of the physical or material world.
Matthew 6:25-34
Romans 1:18-22
Psalm 19:1-2
Conclusion:
The best scenario for Screwtape is for the patient not to read anything, but to pass himself off as a know it all due to his ‘research’. How often do we see this today when people search something on the internet, read one or two articles, and then call that ‘investigative research”? The root sin in this sort of endeavor is pride as we all too often have a tendency to think too highly of ourselves and our ‘research’.