Differences In C. S. Lewis 'The Four Loves'

C.S. Lewis, a prestigious author of multiple well-known novels and a former professor at Magdalen College and Cambridge University, furthered his studies at Oxford University. Later on in his life, in fact, the year of the death of his beloved, Joy Davidman, he published a Christian novel, The Four Loves, focused on the four types of human loves, including affection, friendship, Eros, and charity or Agape. According to Lewis, Eros means “being in love” (Lewis 91) and charity refers to selfless giving, while expecting nothing in return. Although the human loves, Eros and charity, are both forms of Godly love, there are differences between the two that set them apart from each other. Within The Four Loves, at the beginning of the chapter on Eros, Lewis introduces the love, Eros or love’s contemplative, by revealing, “By Eros I mean of course that state which we call ‘being in love’; or, if you prefer, that kind of love which lovers are ‘in’” (Lewis 91). In other words, Eros is the

Both Eros and gift-loves, not the divine ones within charity, are natural images of God or resemble God. As for Eros, this type of love resembles God’s love for us as individuals, if it is ordered properly. God’s love for us as individuals is then revealed within an individual’s focus on a particular person, rather than on sexual desire. However, while Eros and gift-love resemble God, the divine gift-love and need-love within charity do not resemble God; instead, they are given to human beings by the grace of God. Due to loves bestowed by God, specifically the supernatural need-love, Lewis describes that “…in the last resort, we must turn down or disqualify our nearest and dearest when they come between us and our obedience with God” (Lewis 124). In other words, charity takes priority above Eros because Eros may have to be relinquished if it becomes a