The Four Loves Themes

In his exploration of the role of love in a Christian’s life, Lewis discusses four broad categories of love: Affection (basic fondness), Friendship, Eros (romantic and sexual love), and Charity (divine love). He also introduces three elements of love, which he calls Need-love, Gift-love, and Appreciative love. These three natural elements of love are present within each of the Four Loves, usually blended together in varying combinations. Each natural element, while…

Though Lewis argues that love always comes from God in some sense, the precise relationship between human and divine love is complicated. To explain this relationship, Lewis distinguishes “likeness to God” from “nearness to God.” All created things, especially humans, are “like” God in the sense that God made them. Nearness to God, on the other hand, has to do with growing closer to God spiritually, in one’s character. Likeness is given by God, while…

At their very best, natural human loves can become “glorious images of Divine love”—earthly reflections that show what God is like. But the ultimate point of Lewis’s book is to show that, by themselves, natural loves aren’t enough. People can sense that even their warmest Affection, most devoted Friendship, or most passionate Eros aren’t enough; they need something more than mere feeling in order to sustain them. In the end, this “something…