But even if you’re not especially religious, unpacking the different types of love in your life can still help you gain a deeper understanding of them. In these blinks, we’ll look at the distinct types of love that Lewis identified and how they can help us foster our relationship with God. Lewis set out to answer by sliding love under the microscope, teasing out its various forms, and then exploring them in the context of Divine Love. These are the questions author and theologian C. So what do we actually mean by love? And is the love we feel for others the same as the love God has for us? And in some languages, like French, the word for like and love is the same. We might say we love pizza or swimming when what we mean is that we really like them. Love – it’s a word we throw around a lot. Scholars of humanity who want to understand the nature of love.

Bighearted folk who want to improve their relationships.

Christians seeking to deepen their connection with God.

Religion, Spirituality, Christianity, Literature and the Arts, Christian Life, Spiritual Growth Who is it for? What’s in it for me? Understand the nature of love so you can grow closer to Godĭifferent types of love can be categorized into two distinct groups, according to what motivates themįamiliarity creates Affection – the first type of loveįriendship – the second love – unites us with kindred spiritsĮros – or romantic love – teaches us how to love GodĬharity – the fourth love – is Divine Love working inside us Lewis identifies love’s gifts and shortcomings, and reveals how God’s Divine Love can beautify all our relationships. By tracing how each form is motivated, author C. Boethius’s theory that an omnipotent God exists outside of time, and therefore sees humanity’s past, present, and future simultaneously, shows up in the fourth part of Mere Christianity, and appears in many of Lewis’s other books.The Four Loves (1960) is an exploration of love in its different forms.

While the book makes no specific references to Christ, Christian thinkers have celebrated Boethius for pioneering Christian theology. The late classical philosopher Boethius composed The Consolation of Philosophy in the weeks leading up to his execution for treason. Milton’s portrayal of Satan as a “fallen angel”-that is, a being who has corrupted good into evil-had a major influence on the composition of Lewis’s book, particularly the first part. Milton’s poem tells the story of the fall of man, partly from the perspective of Satan.

Two of the most notable are John Milton’s long poem Paradise Lost (1667), and Boethius’s The Consolation of Philosophy, which was written in the sixth century A.D. The book takes inspiration from many famous Christian works of literature and philosophy.

Mere christianity cliff notes