The Four Loves, C S Lewis. (Paperback 1500889903)

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The Four Loves
Author: C S Lewis

The Four Loves is a book by C. S. Lewis which explores the nature of love from a Christian and philosophical perspective through thought experiments. The book was based on a set of radio talks from 1958, criticised in the US at the time for their frankness about sex. Taking his start from St. John's words "God is Love", Lewis initially thought ... more »to contrast "Need-love", such as the love of a child for its mother and "Gift-love" epitomized by God's love for humanity, to the disparagement of the former. However he swiftly happened on the insight that the natures of even these basic categorizations of love are more complicated than they at first seemed: a child's need for parental comfort is a necessity, not a selfish indulgence, while conversely parental Gift-love in excessive form can be a perversion of its own. Pleasures Lewis continued his examination by exploring the nature of pleasure, distinguishing Need-pleasures, such as water for the thirsty from Pleasures of Appreciation, such as the love of nature. From the latter, he developed what he called ?a third element in love...Appreciative love?, to go along with Need-love and Gift-love. A fictional treatment of these loves is the main theme of Lewis' novel Till We Have Faces. Storge ? Affection Affection is fondness through familiarity, a brotherly love, especially between family members or people who have otherwise found themselves together by chance. It is described as the most natural, emotive, and widely diffused of loves: natural in that it is present without coercion; emotive because it is the result of fondness due to familiarity; and most widely diffused because it pays the least attention to those characteristics deemed "valuable" or worthy of love and, as a result, is able to transcend most discriminating factors. Philia ? Friendship Philia in Greek is the love between friends. Friendship is the strong bond existing between people who share common interest or activity. Lewis immediately differentiates Friendship Love from the other Loves. He describes friendship as, "the least biological, organic, instinctive, gregarious and necessary...the least natural of loves" - our species does not need friendship in order to reproduce - but to the classical and medieval worlds the more profound precisely because it is freely chosen. Nevertheless Lewis was not blind to the dangers of friendships, such as its potential for cliqueyness, anti-authoritarianism, and pride. Eros ? Romance Eros for Lewis was love in the sense of 'being in love' or 'loving' someone, as opposed to the raw sexuality of what he called Venus: the illustration Lewis uses was the distinction between 'wanting a woman' and wanting one particular woman - something that matched his classical view of man as a rational animal, a composite both of reasoning angel and instinctual alley-cat. Agape ? Unconditional Love Charity is the love that brings forth caring regardless of the circumstance. Lewis recognizes this as the greatest of loves, and sees it as a specifically Christian virtue. The chapter on the subject focuses on the need of subordinating the natural loves - as Lewis puts it, "The natural loves are not self-sufficient"- to the love of God, who is full of charitable love, to prevent what he termed their 'demonic' self-aggrandisement. Lewis did not actually use the word agape although later commentators did.

ISBN-13: 9781500889906
ISBN-10: 1500889903
Publication Date: 8/20/2014
Pages: 56
Rating:

0 stars, based on 0 rating

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio CD
Members Wishing: 6
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

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Judi T. (jjt001) reviewed The Four Loves on 3/27/2006 + 27 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

A little hard to get into, but once you're engaged there are some really useful and thought-provoking ideas.

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nougat37 reviewed The Four Loves on 3/24/2009

Helpful Score: 1

Lewis takes us in, explaining the four loves of the world. At first, I found myself disagreeing with his definitions. As I read on, however, I found his reasoning sound. This book has given me insight to better understand how people view different kinds of relationships. I found the definition of 'friendship' extremely helpful to me personally.

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Alice K. (ilflatlander) - , reviewed The Four Loves on 8/6/2006 + 130 more book reviews

Discusses the different kinds of love by the author of "The Screwtape Letters".

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James S. reviewed The Four Loves on 7/30/2005

New Your Times Book Review says this book will be come a classic .

souls, virtue, love

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Caitlyn E. reviewed The Four Loves on 11/10/2010

This book was amazing! I loved the chapter on Friendship love - life and relationship changing!

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Alan H. (alanhagg) reviewed The Four Loves on 8/6/2010 + 22 more book reviews

Lewis does his usual great job of stripping the dross off a topic, and presenting it so that "normal" people can get a handle on Great Truths. While not a typical "Christian Book", (like any of Mr. Lewis' books are!), this is definitely a gem for those who wish to delve deeper into the structure of Christianity and the love God has for us all.

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Rhonda M. (k899) reviewed The Four Loves on 9/29/2006 + 36 more book reviews

classic book

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