Letters 1–8

01 Labels before reasons · pp. 3–4 Screwtape recommends jargon, fashionable judgments, and ordinary distractions that prevent the patient from examining a claim. SOSP question: Read beneath our own branding.

02 The disappointing congregation · pp. 5–6 The new convert’s image of Christianity clashes with ordinary neighbors and the unglamorous work of participation. SOSP question: Distinguish expectation from what people actually do.

03 Domestic pinpricks · pp. 7–8 Spiritual preoccupation, imagined motives, and unequal rules for interpreting words and tone reinforce mutual irritation. SOSP question: Ask rather than assign intention.

04 Prayer and the manufactured feeling · pp. 9–10 Screwtape redirects prayer toward desired moods and an imagined object rather than the God Lewis presents as real. SOSP question: Do not grade a ritual by emotional performance.

05 War is not the final objective · pp. 11–12 Wormwood’s delight in suffering is rebuked when suffering may strengthen the patient’s faith or redirect his concern. SOSP question: Ask whose desired outcome is being optimized.

06 Imagined futures and actual conduct · pp. 13–14 Anticipated possibilities displace present responsibility; remote benevolence coexists with cruelty to people nearby. SOSP question: Separate a present choice from every imagined outcome.

07 The unseen tempter and the faction · pp. 15–16 Screwtape discusses concealment, mythologized science, and causes that absorb religious commitment. SOSP question: Do not turn a new community into a superior inner circle.

08 Undulation · pp. 17–18 Lewis’s account contrasts recurrent human troughs and peaks with an enduring direction of will, and contrasts divine love with demonic absorption. SOSP question: Avoid interpreting every low point as spiritual failure.