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The Four Loves and the Latter-day Saints: The Nature of Love in All Facets of Our Lives
"I love you."
No phrase is filled with more anxiety, vulnerability, or longing as those three words. Yet, we are so in love with the idea of love that we don't often think carefully about what it really means. In some languages, there are different words to denote familial, friendly, charitable, and romantic forms of love. But in English there is only one phrase, "I love you." It is used with our relatives, friends, lovers, and sometimes even strangers. Love is complicated; but understanding it, or at least attempting to, is vital to our joy in this life.
Joseph Smith taught, "If men do not comprehend the character of God they do not comprehend themselves." One of the simplest expressions of God's character is Jesus's declaration that "He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love" (1 John 4:8).
Building on the book by C.S. Lewis, award-winning author Casey Paul Griffiths joins the principles of love with the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to help illuminate the minds of Latter-day Saints so that they may better understand themselves, God, and their relationships with God and others.
No phrase is filled with more anxiety, vulnerability, or longing as those three words. Yet, we are so in love with the idea of love that we don't often think carefully about what it really means. In some languages, there are different words to denote familial, friendly, charitable, and romantic forms of love. But in English there is only one phrase, "I love you." It is used with our relatives, friends, lovers, and sometimes even strangers. Love is complicated; but understanding it, or at least attempting to, is vital to our joy in this life.
Joseph Smith taught, "If men do not comprehend the character of God they do not comprehend themselves." One of the simplest expressions of God's character is Jesus's declaration that "He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love" (1 John 4:8).
Building on the book by C.S. Lewis, award-winning author Casey Paul Griffiths joins the principles of love with the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to help illuminate the minds of Latter-day Saints so that they may better understand themselves, God, and their relationships with God and others.
144 pages, Paperback
Published July 9, 2023
2 people are currently reading
1117 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 8, 2023
I don't often give books five stars. You wouldn't think I'd give them to a book like this one with so many glaring typos and some grammatical errors. It also has a few formatting issues. However, so many of its ideas are excellent. Despite the visual and literary hurdles, I would highly recommend this book.
I finished reading C.S. Lewis's The Four Loves this morning, so the concepts and philosophical approach discussing the types of love were fresh in my mind. I like Lewis's book; it is thought-provoking, but I didn't get a lot out of it. Griffiths' main ideas, as is reflected in the title, are based around Lewis's book. Lewis's book comes across as a mostly philosophical exploration. Griffiths' book is mostly pure religion.
Griffiths discusses the same "four loves" which are philia (friendship), storge (familial love), eros (romantic love), and agape (charity or Christlike love), but he incorporates modern revelation, Bible stories, and restoration scriptures into the explanation of each type of love. He makes it easy to understand the concepts and how they can apply in real life. He gives personal examples. He comes across as open, vulnerable, and honest.
A few quotes will follow. (I'm leaving the author's capitalization in the way it is in the book. Also, I have inserted a couple of words in brackets. Errors like these are throughout the book. It's not really reflected in these quotes, but sometimes it takes a bit of effort to overlook the errors and figure out his meaning.):
"While it is useful to separate out the four loves in order to better understand them, we often witness a fusion of them in one person. My wife grew from being my friend, to the object of my Eros, to the center of my Storge. All along the way the Agape I feel for her, and certainly the Christlike love she shows and bestows upon me, has kept every aspect of our love from destruction. The Savior's grace, manifested through the love of a righteous spouse, invigorates and strengthens all of loves in our lives. The four loves cannot just overlap, but rather they [are] encompassed within one person."
I like his suggestions for developing some of the types of love.
To develop eros for couples he says (Page 22):
"1. Schedule time to talk every day. Set aside your concerns, your responsibilities, and most importantly, your devices, and listen to one another.
2. Find a time to be alone together. This can be difficult with younger children, but it is worth the effort to find a babysitter and have a night out.
3. Schedule an overnight date or trip every two to three months. Go somewhere that allows you to escape from you regular responsibilities and settings."
To develop philia in your life (Page 44):
"1. Seek out organizations that will provide you with opportunities to serve.
2. Emphasize in-person relationships over online socializing.
3. Become genuinely curious about the people and with world around you."
In his discussion of storge, he mentions challenges he had with his wife in determining their family Sabbath Day behaviors. I like their family questions (Page 78):
"1. Is it spiritual in nature?
2. Is [it} absolutely necessary?
3. Is it providing love and/or service to someone?
4. Can we do this activity together as a family?"
There are many other quotable words and stories he shares. I especially like the stories he shares which illustrate agape about what happened with President Hinckley on the Larry King Show after September 11, 2001 and about Frank Day who was a Marine in WWII and later visited Japan as a church leader. These stories truly show how we need Jesus Christ to rise to charity.
This is such a good book that I wish they could do an updated edition with better formatting and proofreading.
I finished reading C.S. Lewis's The Four Loves this morning, so the concepts and philosophical approach discussing the types of love were fresh in my mind. I like Lewis's book; it is thought-provoking, but I didn't get a lot out of it. Griffiths' main ideas, as is reflected in the title, are based around Lewis's book. Lewis's book comes across as a mostly philosophical exploration. Griffiths' book is mostly pure religion.
Griffiths discusses the same "four loves" which are philia (friendship), storge (familial love), eros (romantic love), and agape (charity or Christlike love), but he incorporates modern revelation, Bible stories, and restoration scriptures into the explanation of each type of love. He makes it easy to understand the concepts and how they can apply in real life. He gives personal examples. He comes across as open, vulnerable, and honest.
A few quotes will follow. (I'm leaving the author's capitalization in the way it is in the book. Also, I have inserted a couple of words in brackets. Errors like these are throughout the book. It's not really reflected in these quotes, but sometimes it takes a bit of effort to overlook the errors and figure out his meaning.):
"While it is useful to separate out the four loves in order to better understand them, we often witness a fusion of them in one person. My wife grew from being my friend, to the object of my Eros, to the center of my Storge. All along the way the Agape I feel for her, and certainly the Christlike love she shows and bestows upon me, has kept every aspect of our love from destruction. The Savior's grace, manifested through the love of a righteous spouse, invigorates and strengthens all of loves in our lives. The four loves cannot just overlap, but rather they [are] encompassed within one person."
I like his suggestions for developing some of the types of love.
To develop eros for couples he says (Page 22):
"1. Schedule time to talk every day. Set aside your concerns, your responsibilities, and most importantly, your devices, and listen to one another.
2. Find a time to be alone together. This can be difficult with younger children, but it is worth the effort to find a babysitter and have a night out.
3. Schedule an overnight date or trip every two to three months. Go somewhere that allows you to escape from you regular responsibilities and settings."
To develop philia in your life (Page 44):
"1. Seek out organizations that will provide you with opportunities to serve.
2. Emphasize in-person relationships over online socializing.
3. Become genuinely curious about the people and with world around you."
In his discussion of storge, he mentions challenges he had with his wife in determining their family Sabbath Day behaviors. I like their family questions (Page 78):
"1. Is it spiritual in nature?
2. Is [it} absolutely necessary?
3. Is it providing love and/or service to someone?
4. Can we do this activity together as a family?"
There are many other quotable words and stories he shares. I especially like the stories he shares which illustrate agape about what happened with President Hinckley on the Larry King Show after September 11, 2001 and about Frank Day who was a Marine in WWII and later visited Japan as a church leader. These stories truly show how we need Jesus Christ to rise to charity.
This is such a good book that I wish they could do an updated edition with better formatting and proofreading.
June 15, 2023
Such a beautiful look at love! Each story told is a wonderful look at different ways to love. The stories are pulled from the scriptures and life! The line drawings are beautiful and the explanation by Casey Paul Griffiths is insightful and entertaining!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews