Trafford Publishing: The Screwtape Email

Here is the full reference card for this book...

If you'd rather place an order by talking to one of our cheerful order desk clerks, please call 1-888-232-4444 (USA and Canada only) or 250-383-6864. From Europe, ring our UK order desk clerk at local rate number 0845 230 9601 (UK only) or 44 (0)1865 722 113.

The Screwtape Email

by Arthur H. Williams Jr.

117 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-0430; ISBN 1-4120-0067-X; US$16.95, C$25.09, EUR16.40, £11.40

This satirical work of religious fiction explores Christian faith from the underside. It was written as a sequel to The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis.

Read more!

about the book about the author sample excerpts or Table of Contents catalogue info

About the Book

This book is darkly funny as it explores temptation in the classic tradition of satire. Dark as the subject may be, however, grace overcomes evil. That victory leads to hope.
For the purposes of this book, the discovery of Screwtape's email correspondence continues to be a mystery. However, this email adds insight into Screwtape, the supervisor of demon tempters. Screwtape treats the apprentice tempters in the same way that Mr. Wilson treats Dennis the Menace. He has to operate on several levels to maintain his position, his wicked schemes and his ambition. References to his supervisor, Beelzebul, are found in Matthew 10:25; Matthew 12:24-27; Mark 3:22 and Luke 11:15-19. Flaming is the practice of sending resentful comments to an insensitive person who has violated customary practices on the Internet. When someone is flamed, the words that are in capital letters show what is being screamed at the person.
"Black Hole" is a term used in physical science, and it refers to the stripping away of all qualities as an object enters it. Figuratively, it means the loss of all memories of who and whose we are, so that we forget and we are forgotten. The gravity in a physical black hole is so strong that nothing can come out of it, not even light. "The Light" refers to the Light of the World and this Light overcomes darkness. (John 1:4-5) In near-death experiences, people have reported seeing a welcoming light, sometimes at the end of a tunnel.
A warning is in order. Since he is a self-important, bumbling and unfeeling wet blanket, the reader should not be surprised that Screwtape is not nice. Still, what else would be expected of such a demon? He is seeking the greatest harm for the greatest number of human beings. In addition, Screwtape may pull the wool over our eyes about ideas and facts. Therefore, the reader should not assume that what is said here is true, for false statements are of no concern for an agent of the father of lies.
Reviews
I enjoyed very much the email messages from Screwtape. You keep very well in the spirit of Lewis, but you also address many of more recent currents of the culture and the ways in which people are enticed off course. I think that Lewis would recognize your work as an effective continuation of his own.
W.A.K. in North Carolina
I enjoyed reading it. I had read "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis and this book brings it up-to-date.
A.S.E. in Illinois
It contains timeless truths as well as refearences to current events.
C.E. in Illinois
It was fun to read and I got a lot out of it.
R.D.S. in Virginia
"THE SCREWTAPE EMAIL chases the reader from one human situation to another with a great diverse collection of metaphors to illustrate. The first response is, 'Ah, I don't do that.' But immediately the next thought is, 'Well, maybe I do!' The use of hyperboles turns human foibles into humor, so we can endure the images of ourselves, while at the same time it provides a serious warning to beware tricks of the Tempter."
-M.A.O. in North Carolina

About the Author

Born in Washington, DC, in 1932, the author began school in a two-room country school in upstate New York. In that time before World War II, Niskayuna County was rural. Renting a farm house on the Mohawk River, the family had access to the river. One of the author's chores was to feed the worm farm with used coffee grounds. Rowing out to an island one day, proved to be a disaster when the author got back after dark. Let's just say he did not do that again!
After living in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the family moved to Alexandria, Virginia, and the author entered George Washington High School (now a middle school). Running in cross country and track provided some valuable lessons in life. Coach "Fitz" Fitzgibbons would get teams to school early to watch films of races in the Olympics, and he would stress the styles of running. He set the tone for the teams when he said, "Even if the referees don't see you cheating by elbowing or tripping, if I see you, you are off the team."
The author attended Virginia Military Institute and graduated from Washington and Lee University, both of which are in Lexington, Virginia. In between his junior and senior years in the university, the author served as a student minister at Second Presbyterian Church in Petersburg, Virginia. There he met and courted Virginia Crowder, and they were married the following summer. He was in the U.S. Army for two years at Fort Knox, Kentucky. After graduating from seminary in Austin, Texas, the Williams (Art, Ginny and sons, Harlan and Don) went to serve a two-church field in Arkansas. Then the Williams moved to serve a church in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. After a year in graduate study at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, the Williams went to serve another church in the Shenandoah Valley, and daughter Jean was with them. He received the degree of Doctor of Theology from Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany. They moved to the coast of North Carolina, then to West Virginia, and finally back to Virginia, where the author retired. They have three children and five grandchildren.
With others, the author submitted "One New Man, A Symbol of Faith in 1970" to the Synod of Virginia, Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (Minutes, May 26-28, 1970, pp. 87-90), and it was adopted by the Synod as a statement "that false theological teaching about racism needs to be exposed to the light of the gospel." Publications by the author include "The Trinity and Time," Scottish Journal of Theology (Vol. 39 No. 1, 1986, pp. 65-81; and "Theology in an Eschatological Matrix," Scottish Journal of Theology (Vol. 42 No. 3, 1989, pp. 289-302). The author translated (from German to English) "Dimensions of Time" by Wolfgang Achtner et al. (ISBN 0-8028-4998-9), and it was published in 2002 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
Since retiring in 1994, the author has served part-time as pastor of small churches in Virginia. His other activities have included amateur radio, fishing and boating (taking boating classes up through celestial navigation), reading, writing and gardening.

Sample Excerpts or Table of Contents
Sample Excerpt (from pages 65-69)
From: Screwtape
To: Wormwood, Junior
Your frenzy of activity indicates that you are finally waking up to the seriousness of your situation. Things can't get much worse, I am afraid. The demons who are my superiors are beginning to take notice of your failings, and of course that is also a reflection on me. You have been floundering around like a fish out of water.
Since you have drawn the attention of the Powers That Be Below, they have a suggestion for leading your client astray. Now that the training classes for church officers are over, it is just a matter of time before he is installed in the governing body. That means you have some time to work on this project. When I say work, I don't mean lying back and gathering wool.
Here is the suggestion. Start pumping your client up with all kinds of fluff. You know the kind of stuff I mean. Tell him that he is wise and trained in the better things. I know that it will turn your stomach, just as it does mine just now in writing about it. That is all part of the game that demons play. You have to learn to take it.
Now the next part is a judgment call. As an apprentice, you have not shown good judgment that helps the cause of our Father Below. Act carefully from now on. After you have built up his ego, and when you deem him ripe for the picking, then you must find something that upsets him. Don't waste your time trying to find something minor, thinking that he will not do much damage there. Go with what you find, and any damages demons suffer will be regarded as the cost of doing business.
The point is to get him really upset, so that he suspends the use of critical thinking. You especially want to keep him so busy that he does not have time to deal with the issue in prayer. I guess now is the time to remind you of the courses you had on interruptions in prayer. Here is the time and place for putting that theory to work.
From: Screwtape
To: Wormwood, Junior
Yes, it does sound odd to hear a supervisor telling you lead a client to prayer. However, prompt him to pray, not in petitions for guidance, but to pray in demands for justice for the honor of the Enemy. You do see the difference, don't you? If he asks for guidance from the Enemy, that means that he will be receptive to that guidance, however it may come. That is a situation to be avoided at all costs. Terrible things have happened for the Nether World because of this openness.
If you can persuade your client that it is necessary to protect the honor of the Enemy, then most anything can happen. Did you not read about the Inquisition in Spain, or the Holocaust in Germany? When it is a matter of honoring the Enemy, people can be led to do the most inhumane things conceivable.
When this course of leading your client into extremism is mentioned, it is necessary for an apprentice to understand that there are limits here. You understand that extremism works in our favor, but it must not be seen to be what it is. You must keep things hidden as much as possible. Use implied understandings where possible, so that the words are not used to betray what is happening.
From: Screwtape
To: Wormwood, Junior
Have you lost your mind? Can't you retain a bit of what we have discussed? Remember back to our discussion of survivalism as a means to sabotage the church. In his desire to serve the Enemy, he will look for ways to protect the church, and that will serve the purposes of the Nether World.
Now, when I pass along a suggested course of action and a particular approach, you should not be so lazy as to assume that you are limited only to what has been literally said. Use your imagination. Go beyond what I suggest for your consideration. That requires some diligence on your part, but that's what it is all about.
Since you seem so dumb about these things, let me just say that you are not limited to one kind of extremism. There are so many kinds of extremism that I could not list them all. Any of those do-gooder organizations have extremists in them. Get his dander up about violence on television; or pornography, especially child porn; or health foods; or the welfare system; or get him into a crazy militia.
Am I getting through to you? Are you following what I am saying? Extremism lives up to its name. It cuts off communications with others, because the members of the extremist sects already have all the answers. What they lack is power. Very often that is the hook to set into your client. Find a vulnerable spot in his life, and point out to him his impotence to do anything about it. Nag him about it. Vex him until he cannot sleep for worrying about it.
From: Screwtape
To: Wormwood, Junior
Beware the ides of March! Your recent messages sounded so upbeat that your most recent one came as a shock this morning. You do well to fear for your very existence.
Since your client has announced his intention to enter seminary to prepare for entering the ministry, there is little we can do to change it. However, you should know from your studies that some of our better clients have been in the ministry. Rev. Jimmy Jones is an outstanding example of what can be done by demons, if you set your mind to it. Priests who have molested children are another example. Most of our demonic successes have been on a smaller scale, however.
Now, the first thing to keep in mind is that you need to work on the central area of his life at this point. It is the calling of a person that is most vulnerable. Don't try something so dramatic as challenging the calling itself. That will happen naturally when he gets bogged down in the minute details of Hebrew and Greek.
Remember what we talked about in reference to his having been shaped by the media to look at appearances. You will call his attention to how boring all those tiny details are. Will it matter to a person who is near death whether your client knows a particular conjugation in a Hebrew or Greek verb? Furthermore, you can help him when he is in seminary by leading him to ask whether attendance at chapel worship is necessary. Whisper to him: Chapel is for children, not for adults. That is a version the line we feed adults about attendance at Sunday School, and it works very well for the Nether World.
You will help him see that he is above the busy work that is required for ordinary people. You must insist to him that he is not ordinary, for he has a special calling that no one else has. That calling sets him apart from all other humans. That is a useful hook for demons to use.
From: Screwtape
To: Wormwood, Junior
Now, it seems that I have to spell obvious things out for you. Do you see that his calling is an opening for us? It is the heart of his motivation to struggle through all difficulties. That's why you have to be very careful in subverting his calling, but also it is where you can do the most for the Nether World.
There is a very subtle difference between a calling to serve the Enemy and a desire to enhance your own self-importance. Don't give up too easily when a person seems adamant about serving the Enemy. Just bide your time. Humans are notoriously unstable in their commitments. Your task is not to prevent his entering the ministry, but rather it is to use him for the purposes that serve demons.
Think of the access to other people this client will have. He must be conditioned to think of inappropriate things so as to be ready to harm other people at their vulnerable times: sickness, death, loss of loved ones, and other tragedies. All these come to mind at first. But also there are happy times when people are vulnerable also: births, weddings, anniversaries and celebrations of all kinds. When we have an demon at work to hurt people at these times in their lives, we have a harvest of bad things for the Nether World.
Think also of setting your client up to increase hostilities in troubled marriages, in troubled families with teenagers, and in labor relations with employers. When we think of all the trouble your client can cause, it boggles the mind of most demons.
From: Screwtape
To: Wormwood, Junior
Go back to elementary principles! This client is no different from other clients. The fact that he is going to seminary does not mean that he has suddenly acquired a suit of protective armor. The Enemy has not handed him a laser sword to do battle with evil, as in Star Wars. He is just a human being, and you should treat him as such.
As a matter of fact, his increased visibility as a representative of the Enemy brings with it an increased possibility of corruption. In order to get to that point, you must do what seems to be contrary to our demonic intent. You must build up his ego about this calling. Give him strokes, so that he feels that he is taking a step above ordinary folks. This preparation will set him up for all kinds of disappointments later on.
Divert his attention from the loneliness of the clergy. They tend to be idolized by church members, at least at first, and we encourage that. Once they have been set up that way, then we encourage them to snipe at his faults so that he can be attacked, indirectly and directly. But I am getting ahead of myself.
The strategy to follow right now is to begin setting him up for a letdown later. Suggest all kinds of exciting things that are bound to happen in seminary. All of the professors will be interested in him personally. All subjects will thrill him to the core of his being. There will be no boredom there, and all his classmates will be just like him.
You can see where that is going. Once he gets to seminary all these illusions will burst like bubbles and he will ready for a solid depression. In that depressed state, you can work on his sense of calling again, and you can turn it more towards his own needs. Then we've got him! The Nether World will have another victory.

Catalogue Information