“THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS” by C.S. Lewis Week 9 THE ...

accurate historical picture of the life of Jesus. The biblical description of Jesus is sometimes referred to as the
Christ of Faith in this context. The Historical Jesus is thus based on the ancient evidence for his life such as in
fragments of early Gospels, and as preserved independently in the writings of neutral or hostile witnesses of the
period, such as in the writings of Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (see Josephus on Jesus and the Testimonium
Flavianum) and various Roman documents, such as the Lives of the Twelve Caesars by imperial biographer
Suetonius, and the correspondence of Pliny to Emperor Trajan. The purpose of research, into the Historical Jesus
is to examine the evidence from diverse sources and critically bring it together in order to create a composite
picture of Jesus. Use of the term the Historical Jesus implies that the figure thus reconstructed will differ from
that presented in the teaching of the ecumenical councils ("the dogmatic Christ").
Screwtape cites four reasons, to his advantage, for devotion to the “historical Jesus”:
1. They all direct men’s attention to something that does not exist, for each “historical Jesus” is
_________________.
2. The construction of each “historical Jesus” places an importance on some peculiar theory and distracts
people’s minds from ________ He is and ________ He did.
3. The “historical Jesus” destroys the ____________ __________ in the patient.
4. The “historical Jesus”, as biography, does not bring ___________ or ____________ to a saving
knowledge of God and therefore, into the Enemy’s camp.
In addition to the “historical Jesus”, Screwtape encourages Wormwood to exploit the natural connection between
Christianity and politics: “… make men treat Christianity as a means; preferably as a means to their own
advancement, but failing that, as a means to anything – even social justice.” (or, we could add, a Republican- led
executive or legislative branch!)
So what, then, is the heart of the Gospel
I Corinthians 15: 12-18 12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that
there is no resurrection of the dead 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been
raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even
found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it
is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ
has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in
Christ have perished.
“You see the little rift ‘Believe this not because it is true, but for some other reason.’ That’s the game.”
-Screwtape
Letter XXIV
Theme:
“You must teach him to mistake the contrast between the circle that delights and the circle that bores him for the
contrast between Christians and unbelievers. He must be made to feel (he’d better not put it into words) ‘how
different we Christians are’; and by ‘we Christians’ he must really, but unknowingly, mean ‘my set’; and by ‘my
set’ he must mean not ‘the people who, in their charity and humility, have accepted me,’ but ‘the people with
whom I associate by right.’” pp 112, 113
Screwtape calls ____________ _______________ the “strongest and most beautiful of the vices”. Why do you
think he believes this
Screwtape tells Wormwood to keep the patient confused: “What you want is to keep a sly self-congratulation
mixing with all his thoughts and never allow him to raise the question ‘What, precisely, am I congratulating
myself about’” What persons in the New Testament exhibited a similar attitude