What was the title of C.S. Lewis’s 1956 book about Christian marriage and love?

C.S. Lewis’s 1956 book about Christian marriage and love is The Four Loves. It developed from a 1958 BBC radio series, so the book’s publication date and the broadcasts are often confused.

Lewis examines four Greek terms commonly used to discuss love: affection, friendship, erotic love, and charity. In English editions these are usually represented by storge, philia, eros, and agape. He considers how each kind can be valuable and how each can also become distorted when treated as ultimate.

The book is not a practical marriage manual. It is a philosophical and theological exploration of human relationships, and its discussion moves among family bonds, friendship, romantic love, and divine love.

The title’s number refers to four categories, not four separate stories or four characters. The Four Loves is also distinct from Lewis’s earlier book The Allegory of Love, which is a scholarly study of medieval literature.