Customer Reviews

The Screwtape Letters Study Guide

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
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C.S. "Jack" Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters" is one of the great classics of Christian literature; well-written, educational, full of a deep faith, and funny. It can be a difficult book to get the full meaning of if the reader doesn't have a fairly comprehensive grounding in the New Testament, and a decent command of the English language. This is not to say that only biblical scholars or those with a college education can enjoy 'Screwtape', but high school students, or those new to (or not of) the Christian faith, may be confused by some references in the book. Lewis wrote the book for the average Briton of the 1940s, presupposing a higher command of the English language and familarity with the Bible than is common today. Enter Presbyterian pastor Michael Poteet and his study guide to "The Screwtape Letters".

Poteet writes the guide for readers with, I'd guess, at least an (American)10th grade reading level or the equivalent age elsewhere. He is especially good at ensuring the student understands the vocabulary used by Lewis. A good dictionary will come in handy here! Once a lesson is completed, though, the new words should be a firm addition to the reader's personal vocabulary. Poteet is also excellent with providing biblical references to ideas brought up in the individual letters, with some exposition.

Each lesson in the guide covers 2 or 3 letters in the book with plenty of questions, both multiple choice and essay style. There is an excellent answer key in the back for the instructor to base her or his response around. There is an excellent introduction to the course, which includes information about Michael Poteet as well as a short biography of Jack Lewis. There is a short list of further recommended readings, both by and about Lewis, as well as URLs for web pages that can help the student along. There are also several essay questions at the end for a student to base research papers of various length on.

While the study guide is designed for bright high school students, this would make an excellent asset for adults to use, eithier in a book reading group or in an adult Christian Education study group. The questions are perfect launching points for a spirited discussion of the book amongst any adult group. Each member of the group should have a copy of the Lewis book, of course, and I'd personally recommend the unabridged audiobook version voiced by John Cleese (available from Amazon) for in-class listening.

Yes, this book is a 99 cent cover with photocopied pages, but it is a scholarly work with great depth and variety, and the study sheets are reproducible for a whole classroom. If you want to use this just for personal purposes, the price is acceptable for the amount of material you receive. If you are a teacher and want to use it for your class (it is written at a high school level), it is a steal, considering that if the publisher would choose to print a softcover teacher's guide with separate student workbooks, the cost would be much higher.

(I'm taking a 14 and 15 year old through the book.) It's hard sometimes to know if the teens are getting it. Both have responded favorably to the vocabulary sections (which are tremendously helpful for their age group) and general questions. I think it's hard for them to internalize what they've read so the study guide allows them to apply it to their personal experiences.

The item is looseleaf copied pages of discussion, questions, and scripture references and a folder. There is a generous copyright on it, allowing "a teacher" to copy it for use in the home or classroom (multiple teachers must buy separate copies). So it's kind of expensive for single use but very reasonable if you copy it for a whole class.

Also, it is targeted for high school students, so it has things like vocabulary that adult classes will probably want to skip.

Using this guide in a Bible study and it is great.
Has enough questions and good ones at that to use with each letter as discussion questions.
Would highly recommend it for individual or group study.

The screwtape letters study guide is actually many white pages that are photocopied and come inside a flimsy folder. This is why I was surprised at the price I paid for it, because I felt that it was overpriced. On that note I planned on using this guide to help me map out a book study that I am leading and there are some very good questions that spark great discussions, however, there are also some "worksheets" and busy work type of material that are unnecessary unless you are teaching this in a classroom setting. Overall the questions in this product are very good and I don't regret buying it, I just wish it wouldn't have been so expensive or that it would come in a nicer binding!

The study guide is helping me formulate the wiles and schemes of our ememy. Some of which I would surely miss w/o the questions. Fortunately there is an answer guide. Well done.

Just for those who might be looking for a study guide to use with a Bible Study group for this book, be warned.
This is meant for Teachers and home scooling parents.
A number of my friends purchased it online for our Bible study group.

This study guide offers valuable assistance to those wanting to use the Screwtape Letters as a Bible study or simply as a teaching text. The questions are interesting and require some thoughtful answers. Thanks for the help!

I'm using this Study Guide with my Small Group Bible Study, and it is working well for us.

However, the Guide is written to be used in more of an academic setting and the vocabulary exercises and questions reflect that to some degree.

That said, though, the questions are thought-provoking and generate good discussion within the group.

This Guide is definitely worth the cost.