Letter 19 Summary

Screwtape becomes a bit cautious in this letter. He has asserted that God likes to bring love into the human equation and does indeed love the human creatures. In the devils' world, this is heresy, which he is anxious to explain away. He is also concerned Wormwood has perhaps shown Slubgob his unflattering references to him in his letters. I was just joking, Screwtape, says, in effect. He wants Wormwood to know he really holds Slubgob in the highest respect, but he also wants Wormwood to lock up his letters in a safe place.

Screwtape refutes the idea that God's motivation (and even His Being) is love, an idea he himself has spoken of several times. Of course, from Hell's viewpoint, love is an incomprehensible impossibility. God must be up to something so devious and selfish the devils simply have not found it...