This week, we conclude our discussion of C.S. Lewis’ superb book The Four Loves with a discussion of his chapter on the subject of Charity.
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When writing about caritas I don’t think that Lewis mentioned the love of Jesus Christ, and I wonder why he didn’t? (I have just re-read this chapter quickly, so I may have missed something!) Matthew A.’s comment that ‘God is not vulnerable to loss or degradation’ does not really seem to apply to Jesus, who came to us as a vulnerable and dependent baby, who said ‘I thirst’ as he hung on the cross dying, and who was wounded for our transgressions. I also have on my mind the words of Jesus ‘Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’ I tend to think that this can also mean laying down one’s life in a non-literal sense – for instance, putting aside one’s own interests (possessions, reputation, pet hobbies and so on) for the sake of a loved one. So maybe Lewis’s statement ‘To love at all is to be vulnerable’ is true up to a point but it may be truer to say that when we love we can choose to become vulnerable but that vulnerability does not necessarily flow from love?
Jesus was clearly vulnerable to loss and degradation, but this was in his human nature, not in his divine nature. There are clearly problems with drawing too direct a line between human love and divine love in such respects, which is part of what Matt was getting at. However, Lewis was principally speaking about human love.
Thank you for putting that so clearly Alastair. Thank you.
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