Register for this course early as we expect it to fill and close! Lewis’ imaginative explications of the conditions of Hell and our sinful “thoughts” are the best of their kind in the last 700 years!
Total number of class meetings: 7
Duration of each class: 55 minutes
Prerequisite: The ability to enjoy reading and discussing the work
Suggested grade level: 10th to 12th grade
Suggested credit: ½ semester Literature. For a full semester credit, follow with Dr. Russell’s The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton in March.
Instructor: Dr. Henry Russell
Instructor Email: maryshire@gmail.com
Course Description: Clive Staples Lewis quietly sought to be the Dante of the modern world. His imaginative explications of the conditions of Hell and demonic “thought” are the best of their kind in the last 700 years. In The Screwtape Letters the experienced tempter Uncle Screwtape seeks to educate his nephew Wormwood in the proper way to undermine a human soul.
The muddled semi-thinking promoted by an educational system that ignores not only theology but basic logic proves one of the Infernal world’s greatest allies. It is further aided by a selfish notion of rights with no accompanying duties and modern man’s sentimental view of his virtues based only on kind emotions that require no sacrifice. But in many ways the heights of the book are achieved as Uncle Screwtape rails against the unfairness of the God he has rejected, giving the kind of truly Christian vision of the power, beauty, wisdom, and boundless energy and love of God that atheists want no one to remember has always been the Catholic concept of the divine. To know yourself much better, and to know God well indeed, read this book.
Course outline:
Class 1: Biography
Class 2: Letters 1-6
Class 3: Letters 7-12
Class 4: Letters 13-18
Class 5: Letters 19-24
Class 6: Letters 25-30
Class 7: Letter 31 and Screwtape Proposes a Toast
Course Materials: The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis (https://amzn.to/3LJtC0y)
Homework: Approximately 20 pages per week. About an hour’s reading. There will be computer-graded quizzes available after each class, and a final.
- Teacher: Henry Russell