31 pages 1 hour read

C. S. Lewis

The Four Loves

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1960

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Themes

“Love ceases to be a demon only when he ceases to be a god”

This is a quote from M. Denis de Rougemont, and Lewis returns to it many times over the course of The Four Loves. “Demon” (6) can be defined in the book as a love—other than Charity—that has taken supreme importance in the life of the person experiencing it. Eros can be healthy, but not if it has inordinate influence—when it is a “god”(6), as de Rougemont suggests—over someone. The same can be said of Affection and Friendship. This is one of Lewis’s primary aims in The Four Loves: to help Christians see that their loves can in fact be detrimental to their spiritual development unless they are balanced and below Charity. As long as a love is a distraction, it is a demon.

Giving and Sacrifice

Lewis presents the forms of love between people as a series of give and take relationships. It seems indisputable to him that people frequently give gifts—or time, or work—to those they love. But this is challenging when applying that a relationship with God can have a give and take aspect: how can a mortal give anything to an omnipotent being? The answer is nearly a “paradox” (128): the greatest gift—or the closest thing to a gift—that a person can give to God is to practice Charity towards other creatures and to sacrifice one’s life to God’s glory.

Related Titles

By C. S. Lewis

Study Guide

logo

A Grief Observed

C. S. Lewis

A Grief Observed

C. S. Lewis

Study Guide

logo

Mere Christianity

C. S. Lewis

Mere Christianity

C. S. Lewis

Study Guide

logo

Out of the Silent Planet

C. S. Lewis

Out of the Silent Planet

C. S. Lewis

Study Guide

logo

Surprised by Joy

C. S. Lewis

Surprised by Joy

C. S. Lewis

Study Guide

logo

That Hideous Strength

C. S. Lewis

That Hideous Strength

C. S. Lewis

Study Guide

logo

The Abolition of Man

C. S. Lewis

The Abolition of Man

C. S. Lewis

Study Guide

logo

The Discarded Image

C. S. Lewis

The Discarded Image

C. S. Lewis

Study Guide

logo

The Horse And His Boy

C. S. Lewis

The Horse And His Boy

C. S. Lewis

Study Guide

logo

The Last Battle

C. S. Lewis

The Last Battle

C. S. Lewis

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE

logo

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

C. S. Lewis

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

C. S. Lewis

Study Guide

logo

The Magician's Nephew

C. S. Lewis

The Magician's Nephew

C. S. Lewis

Study Guide

logo

The Pilgrim's Regress

C. S. Lewis

The Pilgrim's Regress

C. S. Lewis

Study Guide

logo

The Problem of Pain

C. S. Lewis

The Problem of Pain

C. S. Lewis

Study Guide

logo

The Screwtape Letters

C. S. Lewis

The Screwtape Letters

C. S. Lewis

Study Guide

logo

The Silver Chair

C. S. Lewis

The Silver Chair

C. S. Lewis

Study Guide

logo

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

C. S. Lewis

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

C. S. Lewis

Study Guide

logo

Till We Have Faces

C. S. Lewis

Till We Have Faces

C. S. Lewis