Letter 18 Summary

Screwtape takes on the subject of sexual temptation. He takes another dig at Slubgob, the head of the Training College, for not training the young fiends very well on this subject. Screwtape's snobbery toward Slubgob has the potential to be an issue later on, as the reader will see, but apparently it is not an issue by the time "Screwtape Proposes a Toast" at the end of the book.

In this letter, Screwtape states that as far as sexual matters go, the Enemy's standard is either complete abstinence or complete monogamy. This is because sexual intercourse makes a man and a woman into "one flesh", as the Bible states, and this oneness is an eternal bond. Screwtape then comments on how God likes things to be diverse yet one. Some examples in addition to two people becoming one flesh are that even He...