The Screwtape Letters

Since the young man is connected to “intelligent” Christians through his beloved, Screwtape says that Wormwood must now work to “corrupt” the patient’s spirituality. He suggests having the patient focus on the political applications of Christianity, preferably to the extent that he begins to see Jesus as primarily notable for espousing some modern social philosophy: “[W]e do want, want very much, to make men treat Christianity as a means; preferably, of course, as a means to their own advancement, but, failing that, as a means to anything—even to social justice” (26). Screwtape cautions, however, that people earnestly acting on Christian belief in the political realm would be catastrophic, as it might lead to a “just society.”

Screwtape comes up with an approach to use the patient’s girlfriend to the devils’ advantage. She considers those who do not share her Christian belief as “ridiculous.” In her, this belief is not so much pride as it is unfamiliarity. However, Screwtape suggests that they may be able to get the young man to copy her attitude toward outsiders: “Can you get him to imitate this defect in his mistress and to exaggerate it until what was venial in her becomes in him the strongest and most beautiful of the vices—Spiritual Pride?” (130).