A number of people have asked my why my company is called Screwtape Limited, and why I use this name (and variants thereof) as handles/avatars etc..
“The Screwtape Letters” is an extraordinarily interesting book written by C. S. Lewis of Narnia fame. This book, which is a collection of letters, ostensibly from a senior Devil to his more junior nephew, is perhaps one of the most cleverly written Christian books of the twentieth century, and although some of it is rather dated (being written around the 2nd World War), it contains a surprising amount of insight into the way in which one leads the Christian life, without ever “telling you off” directly. Instead, one is lead to see parallels with the “patient” and how we react in certain situations, allowing the insight to be ours, rather than merely being “told”.
This was one of the first Christian books I read, and I must than Paul Bell, then a youth leader in my first church, who introduced me to it, as it has significantly influenced me ever since.