Summary of The Screwtape Letters chapters 16–30

 

Letter	Key targets & tactics Screwtape recommends	Spiritual counter-lesson Lewis is teaching
16	Push the patient to “church-hop,” judging congregations for style, politics, or personalities, so he never settles long enough to receive grace.	Perseverance in an imperfect local church is itself an act of humility and obedience.
17	Exploit “gluttony of Delicacy”—not excess food, but the self-centered demand that every little preference be met (“all I want is …”)—to breed irritability.	True temperance is self-forgetful gratitude, not merely austere restraint.
18	Twist modern slogans about “falling in love” so the patient confuses transient feelings with the vow of marriage, either idolizing romance or fearing commitment.	Love is an act of the will ordered to charity; feelings follow but cannot replace covenant fidelity.
19	Encourage him to make “unselfishness” his end—so he secretly congratulates himself on sacrifice and resents others when his hidden program isn’t noticed.	Charity aims at the other’s good, not at curating a moral self-image.
20	Feed sexual day-dreams: either unattainable “spiritual” beauties or vulgar false ideals—keeping him from loving an actual, embodied woman within God’s design.	Chastity begins in the imagination; gratitude for real people replaces fantasy.
21	Inflame his sense of “my time,” “my things,” and “my rights,” so every small interruption feels like theft.	Time and possessions are gifts held in stewardship; gratitude dissolves possessiveness.
22	Use fatigue to trigger irritability, then conceal God’s presence by noise and “nothingness”—lulling him with small comforts and petty grievances.	God may feel absent, yet perseverance in prayer under dryness matures faith.
23	Promote fashionable “historical Jesus” quests that reduce Christ to a moral teacher and keep the patient chasing novelties instead of obeying revelation.	Authentic faith submits to the Jesus of Scripture, not the latest reconstruction.
24	Turn his fiancée’s sincere piety into spiritual pride; make him measure her holiness—and his own—against others with contempt.	True holiness produces humility and compassion, not superiority.
25	Craft an addiction to “the horror of the Same Old Thing,” driving him to boredom and restless change for its own sake.	Christian faith sanctifies routine; stability cultivates depth and joy.
26	Distort the lovers’ generosity into mutual black-mail: each demands gratitude for sacrifices, breeding bitterness.	Love gives freely and thanks freely, refusing to keep score.
27	Make him overvalue spontaneous feelings in prayer; when dryness comes he will presume prayer “failed” and give up.	Faithfulness endures aridity, trusting God beyond emotional consolation.
28	Lull him with safety, prosperity, and long life—worldly delay that keeps death (and decisive repentance) out of mind.	Remembering mortality sobers the soul and spurs readiness for eternity.
29	In wartime air-raids, swing him between cowardice and reckless bravado; either extreme chokes reason and charity.	Courage is a mean between fear and rashness, anchored in trust.
30	As severe bombing arrives, stoke “fatigue and anger” so the patient snaps at loved ones and wallows in self-pity.	Suffering can enlarge patience and love when offered to God moment by moment.