Letter 22 ......Finding Perfect Love

Screwtape begins this letter angrily, as the patient has found true love. The worst kind ever.

This girl is a Christian, a demure yet humorous, quiet, virginal, bread and butter Christian. The type that faints at the sight of blood, but dies with a smile.

Screwtape goes on to accuse God of being a hedonist (one who is centered on pleasure). Screwtape claims that fasting, vigils, stakes and crosses are a facade for what God really wants for us~which is pleasure.

Screwtape goes on to explain that everything has to be twisted before it can be used by them.

Here are some questions to discuss:
Describe the girl the patient falls in love with:

What does god really want for us?

Why does everything have to be twisted before the devil can use it?

Describe the women's family? Why do you think people change once they emerge from there?

What sounds do we hear in Heaven?

What sounds are heard in Hell and are filling the earth today?

Why is Screwtape transformed into a centipede?

Letter 21.....Who owns it anyway?

In this letter, Screwtape encourages Wormwood to attack the patient's peevishness. Now my vocabulary is not very large, so I had to look up the meaning of peevishness to fully understand the meaning. If anyone else needs help, here is the definition:
peevishness:
1 : querulous in temperament or mood : fretful
2 : perversely obstinate (a peevish child)
3 : marked by ill temper
What trespasses make us angry? Someone taking too much of our time? Someone overstepping their boundaries? Screwtape focuses on time throughout much of this letter. He points out that man assumes all things belong to him, including time and his body. I must admit, I never looked at my day as belonging to God. I actually thought I could give my time to Him. I do look at my body as mine since I occupy it. But, this letter points out how foolish we are. We did not create time or one ounce of our body (well, maybe we contributed to the fat and muscle tone). We just occupy both. How different we might behave if we thought we were working for someone else in this time and body.

Here are some discussion ?'s for today:

Who owns time?

Does this change how we should use it?

Who owns our bodies?

How would you feel if someone mistreated a gift you gave them?

Letter 20...Beauty and the Beast

In this letter, Screwtape discusses with his nephew the type of woman he would like to encourage the patient to "fall in Love" with. He goes on to disclose how the devils have been working for decades, using popular artists, dressmakers, actresses and advertisers to sell a certain type of woman that will appeal to a man's vanity. How true this is today.

Here are some questions to discuss with your students:
1. Why are attempts to forcibly end a man's chastity always unsuccesful?

2. Who does the devil enlist to help him influence man's definition of the "perfect" woman?

3. What type of woman according to the letter is pleasing to God? I will go ahead and answer that here, as it may be hard to discern in the letter: one who is charitable, readily obedient to marriage, coloured all through with the golden light of reverance and naturalness.

Letter 18....Falling in Love

This letter confused me a little. It almost seemed as if Lewis was suggesting marriage have nothing to do with love, which I heartily disagreed with. Was I confused by the worldly view of love today? I looked up marriage in my handy, dandy concordance, and there really wasn't much scripture about prerequisites to marriage. So, I remain confused. On to the letter:

This letter discusses falling in love. Screwtape points out that God wants either abstinence from us or complete monogamy in marriage. Screwtape discloses that the devils have made monogamy (staying with just one person) very difficult. The devils have done this by promoting the idea of "falling in love." He (Screwtape) explains that falling in love is a short term excitement that he wants humans to think should last forever. If that feeling of excitement doesn't last forever (which it won't) then a marriage should end.

I think the first point C.S. Lewis is trying to make in this letter is that the expectation that a long term relationship will have the giddiness of falling in love is not possible. That God describes marriage as "one flesh." God did not say marriage was a happy married couple or a couple that married because they fell in love, at least not in the way we define falling in love today. God created marriage so man and women could help each other, so they would not be lonely. Marriage does include love, but not the giddy kind of love we expect today, it has more of the enduring steadfast love. By expecting the excitement of new love to last throughout a lifetime will only produce disappointment.

The devils in this letter explain that they can use the idea of "falling in love" to tempt man to do many things. We will see exactly how this is done in the following letters.

Letter 17...Gluttony

This letter is about gluttony. What is gluttony? Gluttony is
1. Eating before the time of meal in order to satisfy the palate.
2. Seeking delicacies and better quality of food to gratify the "sense of taste."
3. Seeking after sauces and seasonings for the enjoyment of the palate.
4. Exceeding the necessary amount of food.
5. Taking food with too much eagerness, even when eating the proper amount, and even if the food is not luxurious.

So, while you may have thought gluttony was just overeating, it can also mean being too particular, eating just to eat or just focusing too much on food.

I never realized the true definition of gluttony included "Seeking delicacies, sauces and seasinings." I must admit, I fall into this category. We are vegetarians, and therefore, must be "priggish" when eating out with friends by refusing meat. I could easily turn vegetarianism into a large part of my day. Planning meals, going to this store for this and that store for that. Cooking detailed recipes to provide my family with sumptuous meals. Yep, it happens.

My husband has become spoiled by all this attention to diet and cooking. Sometimes after I've prepared a laborious meal he will exclaim, "Hmm, this needs something else, some sort of spice." Do you think it would be OK if I hit him with the gluttony stick?

Anyways, here's the questions for this letter:

How can focusing on food interfere with your life?

In what ways according to the letter are women made to be gluttonous?

In what ways are men to be made gluttonous?

Letter 16....Church shopping anyone?

One word that may help you understand this letter better is coterie: an intimate and often exclusive group of persons with a unifying common interest or purpose.

In this letter, Screwtape is alarmed that the patient has been loyal to one church.

What does he suggest Wormwood do about this situation?

What 2 reasons according to Screwtape is "church shopping" better than belonging to one church?

What does Screwtape suggest can be done between "party churches" to cause disruption?

Letter 15.....Live for the Present

Before we get started, here are a few words defined to help you understand the letter:

This topic actually came up in my Sunday school class this weekend. I've been amazed at how many times I've been able to apply what I've learned from these letters to my life throughout the past couple weeks and how much I've grown as a Christian.
We are studying Revelations, when the class began to argue over Millenium theory. Do Methodists prescribe to premellenialism, post mellenialism or amellenialism (Excuse the spelling, I'm too lazy to look it up)? Aagh, my mind screamed, just the topic to divide the class. Wouldn't Screwtape be happy. I happen to know one man in my class is very much a Revelations scholar. Stuck trying to figure out the future. I mentioned perhaps we should not put so much energy into trying to know the past (creationism) and trying to define the future, as we really need to focus on how we're living now.

Avarice: excessive desire for wealth or gain (hhmm, not much avarice in the world today, she says flippantly).

Philological: Study of literature or language.

Complacency: self satisfaction accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiency.

In this letter, Wormwood notes a lull in the war and wonders how he should take advantage of this lull. Should he use "Stupid confidence," or anxiety about the future? This question brings about a discussion of time. Time is defined as the past, present and future.

What is so bad about living in the past?

Why would the devils want us to avoid living in the present?

Which virtues look to the future?

How should we look to the past, present and future?

***Search for quotes about "living in the present" on google. Post your favorite quote here, remember to note the author.***

Letter 14....

This is a great letter, and one who's meaning is very hard to achieve. Why do we have such a hard time accepting compliments? I think the point that we should be just as happy for ourselves as we would be if someone else accomplished the same thing is a wonderful guideline.
My questions for this letter are simple:

What is the theme of this letter (remember the theme is the point the author is trying to convey) ?

What does God want for us?

Letter 13..The Blunders of Wormwood

Screwtape shames his nephew, Wormwood in this letter for allowing his patient to experience 2 real pleasures. This letter explains that the devils would rather keep people focused on things they don't truly enjoy. I don't think this means they have to focus on horrible things or even behaving badly, they just need to be kept busy doing things that really don't matter much.

Often, the things people enjoy are what God has given them in the form of gifts and talents. By using these talents they often become closer to God. Something so simple as a walk along a beautiful path can produce a sense of peace and delight that can bring one closer to God. Remember the verse, "Even the rocks cried out His name."

What do you think the "asphyxiating cloud" was that surrounded the patient on his walk from the old mill?

What characteristic does Pain and Pleasure bring?

What state does Screwtape want the patient to be in and why?

How can Wormwood turn this disaster concerning his patient around?

Letter 12....The Slippery Slope

In this letter, Screwtape congratulates his nephew on his progress. It seems his patient is spending increasing amounts of time with his new group of friends, and less time developing his faith. Sure, he still attends church, but his whole heart is not there. A "dim uneasiness" settles in. This "dim uneasiness" can cause him to repent and turn to God or guilt might build up and turn him farther away.

What will God not allow the devils to completely suppress?

What do you think the "dim uneasiness" is that Christians feel when they're being spiritually lazy?

What is the safest road to hell? How can we prevent this in our own life?

Screwtape says, "As one of my own patients said on his arrival down here, I now see that I spent most of my life in doing neither what I ought nor what I liked." Explain what this means? How does not following God produce this type of life?

Here's a link to a music video that sums it all up...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLJF9vaIJ_0

Enjoy!

Letter 11...The Art of Telling Jokes.......

I'm teaching my usual C.S. Lewis class online this week, so I'm just going to post their lessons here in case anyone is interested in doing them with their students at home.

Here are a couple words defined before you start to read, that will help you to understand the letter better.
Incongruities: not compatible, not harmonious
Flippancy: Excessive silliness and lack of steadiness especially regarding grave or sacred matters.

This letter discusses the patient's increasing circle of friends. Screwtape comments that much laughter can be heard and goes on to explain the 4 causes of laughter.

What are the 4 causes of laughter?

Which 2 causes are NOT useful to the devils?

Why do the devils hate fun?

Why is flippancy great for the devils? How can they use it to their advantage?

Letter 10...you are who you hang out with

At least that's what my mother told me, and what I tell my children. In this letter Screwtape encourages the friendship of friends with opposing morals and priorities. I have friends like this. Friends that say things that make me cringe. Friends that have worldviews different than mine. Yet, I still continue a friendship with them based on the hope that it is possible that they will see my life and change. Sometimes I rationalize it and tell myself, aren't we supposed to love the enemy? (That doesn't mean we have to be cozy with him though). So, I know this scenario all too well.

This letter gives us the perfect opportunity as families to discuss this situation. How we gradually can become the same as our friends. How it's dangerous to "play" along with people who do things we're opposed to. How we can gradually convince ourselves that their way may not be so wrong.

Some words were unfamiliar to me and defining them has helped me to understand the meaning of the letter. One word is:
Mammon: a term, derived from the Christian Bible, used to describe material wealth or greed.

Screwtape stated that in modern Christian writings he see a lot about mammon, but little warnings about world vanities, the choice of friends, and the value of time. This forces the question what do we value? Who are our friends and how do we spend our time? Truly looking at these things may change how we see ourselves.

Letter 9....How the enemy uses our trough times

In this letter Screwtape instructs his nephew how to properly exploit his patient's trough time. He outlines 3 ways to exploit the patient:
1. Use the trough times to tempt him into perversions of pleasure and also to make the pleasures less pleasurable.
2. The second method is to keep the patient ignorant of the natural ups and downs of life. Convince him that the highs may not return and that the present state must be accepted.
3. Another method is to directly attack his faith by convincing him that the time period of faith was just a passing phase.

A great list of discussion ?'s is located here: http://www.lovetolearnplace.com/LitGuild/Screwtape/ScrewTape9.pdf

Letter 8....slugging through the troughs

Ahh, what a beautiful letter. I'm lucky that I'm old enough now to be able to look back and to see God's hand in the hardest of times. I can see how some terribly difficult times and horrible things produced good in me and I am so thankful for those times. I must say, I've never not felt his effect as Lewis suggests in this letter, that after a few glimpses he leaves us, to grow on our own. Maybe, I'm not that mature yet and still require some hand holding.

It reminds me of a little girl I teach in my 3rd & 4th grade church group. She and her mom are homeless sometimes and she has quite a few emotional difficulties. Last week she asked me why God doesn't answer her prayers. Why doesn't he speak to her. I knew no "pat" answer would do. I explained to her that God doesn't "speak" to us in a voice as we'd expect. At least not to all of us. That sometimes he speaks through a feeling of comfort, or a feeling that you should take a different path. Sometimes he speaks through another person. I explained that we go through hard times and it seems like God's not there, but that we will learn from the hard times and become stronger from them. Then I hugged her, for this girl lives in a trough.

So, what can we ask each other about this letter?
Perhaps, how can your relationship with God grow stronger when you are in a trough?
How do we define "trough" periods?
Can you look back and see different trough periods in your various interests?

When we're in the trough, we can remind ourselves that the peaks will come back. They usually do.

Letter 7.....to reveal or not to reveal that is the question

Screwtape begins his letter by explaining why the devils are currently concealing themselves from humanity. With concealment they are able to do their work unseen, with belief in the devils humans can be terrorized, but also are forced to believe in the spiritual existence of both the devils and God. Humans through their desire to have things be proven, are more likely to believe what they can see.

Shortly after this point comes the most confusing passage to me:
"I have high hopes that we shall learn in due time how to emotionalise and mythologise their science to such an extent that what is, in effect, belief in us, (though not under that name) will creep in while the human mind remains closed to the Enemy [God]. The "Life Force," the worship of sex, and some aspects of Psychoanalysis may here prove useful. If once we can produce our perfect work--the Materialist Magician, the man, not using, but veritably worshipping, what he vaguely calls "Forces" while denying the existence of "spirits"--then the end of the war will be in sight." p 33.

What does he mean by materialist magician? How can one emotionalize and mythologise science? After researching this some, I've come to the conclusion that the enemy would benefit by humans emotionalizing their science through believing that "forces" cause significant life events, denying any spiritual realm. We can see this as psychiatry attempts to define conscience, mores and values. Remember earlier in the book we were introduced to materialism which defines everything as matter. This may help define the role of a materialist magician as someone who defines all events as tangible, explainable occurrences.

Soon, Screwtape moves into discussing the use of extreme factions in winning souls. He points out how a belief in any extreme can cause a soul to falter even if it's in the name of religion. This happens when the person begins to value the cause more than God himself. He winds up fighting for his own selfish agenda and puts God's name on it, which can be rather pretentious. Often the causes are untangible, distant causes that force one to concentrate on them rather than those around them that may need help.

He also describes how any factions, even in the church, can cause divisiveness. This divisiveness causes an us against them agenda that opposes elements of Christianity.

After reading this letter, it makes me think that our founding fathers had a good idea when deciding to separate church and state. You can see the divisiveness when you look at any cause that has Christianity mixed into it. It can even divide Christians
and certainly doesn't reflect well to the outside world. I realize that Christians need to act, and take a stance in things, but I think this must be done very carefully.

I found 2 very useful sites for discussion questions regarding this letter:

http://theplowman.org/2007/01/17/screwtape-letter-7/

http://www.lovetolearnplace.com/LitGuild/Screwtape/ScrewTape7.pdf

Until next time...Peace.

Letter 6..... more war and confusion

In this letter Screwtape continues to counsel Wormwood on the best way to use the war to align the patient with their side. The most important thing Screwtape would like to do is bring the patient to a place of maximum uncertainty. He would like the patient to be confused by both fear and hope. Screwtape even goes so far as to point out that God wants us to focus on what we do, the enemy wants us to focus on what might happen to us. How applicable this is to today, with our current state of economy. How often during these uncertain times do we worry so much about how much this might affect us, in oh so many various ways that we forget to consider that others may need our help too. I don't mean to imply that we completely forget our troubles, but to focus on what we can actually do to solve them, let go what we can not control and then look out to helping others in this time of need.

Screwtape would like the patient to consider his fears the cross that he must bear. He would like the patient to think that the fear is God's will. In our lives, when we're afraid we must remember Philippians 1:27-28 I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those that oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved, by God. 1 Peter 19 reminds us that when we suffer for God's will, we must commit ourselves to Him and continue to do good.

After emphasizing the importance of the allowing the patient to feel fear, Screwtape points out that no matter what there will be feelings of both benevolence and malice in the patients heart. Screwtape would like to direct the mailce towards those close to the patient, and the benevolence to those far away. I can see how this plays out in my own life. When I'm in a difficult situation and scared, it is so easy to lash out at those closest to me, even if they have nothing to do with the cause of my anxiety. Directing benevolence to those far from us, keeps it less real, and more fantasy. Acts of kindness or good works are much more tangible and felt more strongly when given to those around us as opposed to perhaps praying for those in a far off country, without any tangible acts being done.

A great list of discussion questions for students can be found here: http://www.lovetolearnplace.com/LitGuild/Screwtape/ScrewTape6.pdf

Letter 5....A Call to War

Here we go again, more reasons this book confuses me. In this letter, Screwtape warns his nephew Wormwood, not to revel too long in the development of the war. That quite to the contrary, war which a cruel and horrible experience can actually work for God. He goes on to say that Wormwood may find success in working with extreme patriotism or pacificism in his patient. That is what made my head spin. How can patriotism be bad? After thinking about it awhile you can certainly see how someone could put that ahead of God, the same with pacificism. An extreme in anything can become a negative.

So, the question of this letter is how can war work for God? Screwtape tells his nephew, "We may hope for a good deal of cruelty and unchastity (Unpure conduct~I had to look this one up). But,if we are not careful, we shall see thousands turning in this tribulation to the Enemy, while tens of thousands who do not go so far as that will nevertheless have their attention diverted from themselves to values and causes which they believe to be higher than the self."

Remeber from the last letter, the devil loves for us to look inward. War, even though it may not be approved by God, brings people together, fighting for causes other than themselves, and forces them to think about death and what they believe will happen after death. Screwtape says the devil's best weapon is "Contented Worldliness" when one is content with thinking of things of this world, and not things that are beyond this world, such as death and faith.

In this letter Screwtape points out that the devils can not even use suffering to bring humans to turn against God. For God has told them, that "suffering is a natural part of what He calls Redemption."

Vocabulary words for students:
unchastity
tribulation
tantalise
pacifist
redemption

Discussion ?'s: How can God win souls from war?
What is the devil's best weapon for winning souls?
What does suffering produce?
What does contentment produce?
How can extreme patriotism or pacifism lead one away from God?

Letter 4....no more lazy prayers please

It's letters like this one that twist my brain! Reading through the letter quickly, I get the impression that informal prayer with God is just what the enemy wants.

But wait, that's what I do. I'm pretty good at casual conversational prayer with God. I thought that's what we should be doing according to the verse that incites us to pray ceaselessly. I thought prayer was intended to build a relationship with God, so the more comfortable it is the better.

So what exactly is this letter supposed to tell me? Maybe that God deserves a position of reverence in our prayers. Maybe there should be more awe and fear in mine. In practice, prayer should be concentrated and focused. A formal position helps to keep us focused, not lazy. We should wait for God to answer our prayers instead of trying to force an answer or feeling on ourselves.

As for the class, the discussion director's role is to write a list of questions for the group to discuss. I hope they will address some of the following:
How does the enemy want us to pray?
How should we pray to God, in what attitude?

The connector's job is to make connections between the book and ordinary life:
How can we apply what we've learned to our prayer life?
Do we have a habit of prayer?
How should we approach God?

The literary luminary's role is to choose a paragraph or sentence from the book to discuss with the group. There are many possible passages they could choose for this. One migh be, "In reaction to "parrot-like prayers of his childhood" he may be pursuaded to aim at something entirely spontaneous, inward, informal, and unregularised; and what this will actually mean to a beginner will be ab effort to produce in himself a vaguely devotional mood in which real concentration of will and intelligence have no part."

Stay tuned for letter 5......

On to Letter 3......

Letter 3 is a study in ignoring the obvious sin in ourselves, while pretending to be pious. This pious attitude of course brings on judgement and can wreak havoc in the lives of our families and friends. How many times have I done this myself? The answer is too many to count~just ask my husband.

In this letter, Screwtape advises Wormwood to have his patient concentrate on "higher" spiritual activities and study. This study may lead to a bit of arrogance in the patient. One of the key phrases in this letter is when Screwtape recommends, "Aggravating that most useful human characteristic, the horror and neglect of the obvious." p12. Here is a wonderful note concerning this concept that I found on an anabaptist conference web site:

A Word from Dorothy
The horror and neglect of the obvious
One of my favorite "old" books is THE
SCREWTAPE LETTERS by C.S. Lewis, first published
in 1942. In it is this encouragement from the senior
devil to his apprentice devil: "...Keep his mind off the
most elementary duties by directing it to the most
advanced and spiritual ones. Aggravate the most useful
human characteristic, the horror and neglect of the
obvious...." (pp 20-21)
During the seasons of Advent, Christmas and
Epiphany, we prepare, we celebrate, we share. We are a
people who wait, who receive, who hope. This
important Christian season is also an important spiritual
discipline.
Yet, during this season, we sometimes neglect
the obvious. We scurry around, rushed and bedraggled.
We are pummeled by advertisements about objects and
things that would make us happy--or so they say. We
are harassed by ever more activities, ever more foods,
ever more events. So I wonder, what is the point? What
season is this anyway?
The devil's advice comes screaming at us--
"neglect the obvious". How do we, as Christians,
neglect the obvious? We neglect the children among us
who are lonely, have special needs, or are caught with
chronic illness. We neglect the youth among us who are
either very talented or very marginalized. We neglect
the neighbor who just lost a spouse or our fellow church
member whose diagnosis of cancer is a startling change
of life. We neglect the homeless who walk our streets.
We neglect the senior adult who has no visitors. We
neglect our own congregations who ask for leaders and
volunteers. We neglect ourselves and our spiritual
disciplines.

And so I thought our seasonal prayer might go
like this:
God of miracles and of new life,
we pray for the gift of vision.
Help us to see your world with compassion and love,
not hate and competition.
Inspire us to seek justice and love mercy.
Open our eyes to the obvious.
Take away our neglectful natures.
Give us patience in our waiting for your Son to bring
life to all. Amen.
----Dorothy Nickel Friesen

I think the message of this letter and what the enemy would like us to focus on is the scholarly side of Christianity. He would like us to be oblivious to the needs of those around us, either by being so self centered. We can even do this as Christians by focusing on lofty goals instead of the basic needs of those around us.

As for possible questions I hope my student that is the discussion director will ask:
What 4 ways is Screwtape suggesting Wormwood use to distract the patient?
1. Keep his mind on his inner life.
2. Keeps his prayers focused on spiritual needs, not actual basic life needs of others.
3. Have the patient focus on the traits of his mother that irritate him the most.
4. Have him read additional meaning into her words and tone.
What evidence do we have from this letter that the devils work together as a group?

As for the connector, I hope they might make some of the following connections:
What should we focus on in our lives?
What is more important, studying scripture or acting on it?
How can we prevent arrogance?

The literary Luminary might focus on the passage focused on above: the horror and neglect of the obvious.

Letter 2 of the Screwtape Letters......

In Letter 2, we learn that the patient has become a Christian. No need to worry says, Screwtape. The church itself can be used against him. Not the "Church" as it stands over time as an united body of Christians, but the patient's church itself. How can this be? The devil uses the image we have in our minds of the Holy church. The gothic style building filled with pious scholars. This image of course does not measure up to the true church we attend with the farmer sitting next to us in his not so Sunday best. The people inside the church are the same as the people outside the church, ordinary. How could they be seen then as holy? asks Screwtape.

Here are some discussion questions the discussion director in the group might ask:
How does the patient see Christianity at this point? He sees it as heavenly images.
How would Screwtape like him to see Christianity? As ordinary people, nothing special or miraculous.
What is the patient's worship like? Surface level, parrot type prayers with a bit of arrogance after his conversion sprinkled in.
What is Lewis warning us about? Looking at the church as a group of annoying, ordinary people which we are above.

Connector: How does Screwtape's plan to keep church ordinary tie in with yesterday's plan to barage him with jargon? Multiple images will confuse his belief or at least make it less holy.
How can we prevent this from happening in our lives?
How can we become more aware of the presence and beauty of God around us?
How does what we think about our fellow church members effect our spiritual lives?

Literary Luminary: The quote I chose, which summarizes the letter is this: "He has not been anything like long enough with the enemy (God) to have any real humility yet. What he says, even on his knees, about his own sinfulness is all parrot talk. At the bottom, he still believes he has run up a very favorable credit-balance in the enemy's ledger by allowing himself to be converted, and thinks that he is showing great humility and condescension in going to church with these "smug" commonplace neighbors at all. Keep him in that state of mind as long as you can." (Lewis, p 8-9)

I'm sure this isn't happening in our pews today....cough, cough.

The Screwtape Letters.....one by one

I must admit I'm probably the only person who had a hard time reading The Screwtape Letters. I had to twist my mind to process the opposite of what Screwtape, the devil, is suggesting. So, I've spent some time wrestling with it and have come up with a basis for my literature co-op class which I teach.

I'll be posting (hopefully) a lesson for each letter. I'm using literature circles to teach this book, but the questions produced by the literature circles could easily become discussion questions for the family. When using literature circles the students take the role of the teacher. Each student has a different role. If you're interested, the roles I've chosen are here:
http://www.abcteach.com/directory/basics/reading/literature_circles/
The students are to read one letter and then complete their role sheet which they will first discuss with their small group and then with the class at large.

The first lesson is based on the first letter. In this letter, Wormwood, tries to gain his patient for his father down under, by guiding his reading and encouraging time with his materialistic friend. Screwtape, the elder devil, suggests instead overloading the patient with jargon.

There were two words in this letter that I wasn't truly sure of the concrete meaning. The first was materialism. Materialism is the theory that physical matter is the only reality and that all processes and phenomena can be explained by physical matter. One can see how this belief would interfere with Christianity and why Wormwood would use it.

The other word I was not sure about was jargon. Jargon means confused,, unintelligible language. Strange, outlandish or barbarious language or dialect. It can also mean obscure or pretentious speech marked by circumlocution and long words. This is what Screwtape considers a superior method in keeping the patient from his enemy, God. We can definitely see this used in media today. And think how this applies to texting and how that threatens to change our language.

I think the overall purpose of this letter is to show how multiple media streams can distract a person. If Lewis felt this in his time, just think how much media has increased in the last decade with increased computer use, cell phones and multiple news channels filled with spin.

Back to the lesson. I put myself in all the roles, so I'd have material to help the students in case they are stuck doing this for the first time.
Questions from the discussion-director:
How does Wormwood attempt to hold onto his patient?
What does Screwtape suggest is the better way to keep him from the church?
How does the enemy use this idea today?

Literary Luminary: the passage I chose as most significant is: "Thanks to processes which we set to work in them centuries ago, they find it all but impossible to believe in the unfamiliar while the familiar is before their eyes. Keep pressing on him the ordinariness of things.

Connector:
How are we distracted from God today? How can we prevent distraction? Why must we prevent distraction? How can we benefit from limiting distractions?

You'll have to read the letter to find the answers.

Moving on to The Last Days of Socrates

I read the warning prior to reading Euthypro that this is not to be read like a book, as it does not have a plot line. Basically, it is the outline of an argument. I must admit by the end of the dialogue, I too like Euthypro wanted to scream; Socrates has a way of getting under your skin, like a burrowing mite.

Maybe it would be best to review deductive reasoning with your students before reading. That way they are aware of the argument and its twisting and turnings.
The basic argument of Euthypro is "what is Holy?" Remember, we aren't speaking of holy to our God, but holy to the Greek Gods.

The Modus Ponens for deductive reasoning assumes
"If p is true then Q occurs or is true
p.
Therefore, q occurs
(Rulebook of Arguments p38.)

Euthypro attempts to define holy as that which appeases all the gods collectively.

Used to define holiness, it would look like this:
If something appeals to all gods, than it is holy
Something appeals to the gods
Then it is holy.

Socrates argues that Euthypro can't prove that prosecuting his father for the murder of his hired hand appeases the gods. Therefore, we can't assume it is holy.

They than attempt to define holy. This proves very difficult to do. They ultimately prove that holy is a branch of justice.

Not all just things are holy
It is just
Then it might not be holy.

Holy is just a part of the whole concept of justice.

An exhausted Euthypro leaves before they can define holy as it relates to justice and the reader probably by now has a headache.

Perhaps in the Apology we'll find the definition of what Socrates considers holy.