INCORRUPTIBLE LOVE: A book review of The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis
by David Bradshaw, My Idea Factory
Introduction
We speak of love as a single emotion, feeling or decision, but the truth is there are at least two very different varieties that lie beneath a single word: being loved and loving. And beneath that are two sources from which we can draw our love from: human nature and divine nature.
The word love, like a multifaceted diamond, sparkles in all directions at once. However, the English word “love” has been diffused by the nuances of it’s many potential meanings.
Parents love their children, friends can love one another and lovers may feel passionate love toward each other. All three of these human-based loves have one thing in common: the need to both love and to be loved back.
But in all the universe, there is only one type of love that is Divine-based, and therefore entirely incorruptible, according to the beloved 20th century scholar and author C.S. Lewis (1898–1963) — unconditional love or charity, derived from the Greek word “agape”.
“The human loves can be glorious images of Divine love. No less than that: but also no more,” writes Lewis. In The Four Loves, one of his most famous works of nonfiction, readers explore the ups and downs of all four kinds of love.
He identifies these four types of love as; family affection, the most basic form; friendship, the rarest and perhaps most insightful; eros, passionate love; and charity, the love of God.
Reviews of the book are almost unanimously excellent, such as; “A masterful commentary on the ways in which man loves, and how each kind relates to our human and spiritual nature.”
I decided to first listen to the audio version because it is the only book which is available voiced by the author from his original BBC broadcasts in 1960.
Mr. Lewis has not only a very imaginative gift for fictional writing (such as The Chronicles of Narnia, The Screwtape Letters and The Great Divorce) but his unique style of nonfiction storytelling is both captivating and challenging. I enjoy trying to keep up with his brilliant mix of British humor, intellectual logic woven into his deeply held beliefs.
