Jason Lepojärvi, the Love Doctor, is in the house…
Show Notes
Introduction
Quote-of-the-week
“In order to become a good lover, you need to become a good person, and in order to become a good person you need to practice the virtues. Now, that is very unsexy advice, but I think it’s realistic, and in the long run, everything which realistic is sexier than the unrealistic”
Dr. Jason Lepojärvi, Pints With Jack (S3E30)
Biographical Information
Dr. Jason Lepojärvi is half Canadian and half Finnish.
He studied theology and philosophy at the University of Helsinki. His master’s thesis focused on the Theology of the Body and sexuality by Pope St. John Paul II, and was published as the first introduction to the subject in Finnish. His doctoral dissertation was entitled “God Is Love but Love Is Not God: C. S. Lewis’s Theology of Love”.
He served as the President of the Oxford University C. S. Lewis Society. He has worked at St Benet’s Hall, Regent College and Thorneloe University, and he’s got a couple of books in the works which I hope we’ll talk about towards the end of the episode.
Biographical details of Jason Lepojärvi
Chit-Chat
- We happened to record this interview on Saint Urho’s Day
- David mentioned a series of lectures on love on Dr. Lepojärvi’s YouTube channel.
Beverage and Toast
So lets give a cheer in our best way
Ode to St. Urho
On the sixteenth of March, St. Urho’s Day.
Discussion
Please Note: Dr. Lepojärvi sent a message afterwards saying that in this episode he misnamed Lewis’ editor – it was actually Jocelyn Gibb, not Mr. Collins.
1. “Guest Background”
Q. Can you talk a little bit about your study of love, both from an academic and practical standpoint?
Dr. Lepojärvi’s proposal to his wife was mentioned. You can watch that proposal here.
2. “The Four Loves Goal”
Q. What do you think Lewis is trying to do in The Four Loves? Is it meant to be systematic? Are the loves he describes exhaustive or just representative?
3. “Love Defined”
Q. Why do you think Lewis doesn’t define love in The Four Loves? Are the different loves really the same love, just in different contexts?
Lewis seems to approach something of a definition in the radio talks which preceded the book. In the section describing Storge, he says it’s…
“…the oldest, most spontaneous form in which we go out of ourself towards others”
C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves radio talks (Storge)
Q. So a basic definition of love would be “to go out of myself towards another”. What do you make of this and what alterations might you change?
Dr. Lepojärvi mentioned the book, The Taste for the Other: The Social and Ethical Thought of C.S. Lewis
4. “The Personal Heresy?”
As we’ve read The Four Loves, we’ve suggested at various points that Lewis’ perspective is very much influenced by his gender, his occupation (teacher at Oxford and Cambridge), his era (it was published in 1960), his state in life (he spent most of his life single but had recently been married), as well as recent life events (his wife was dying).
Q. How much of what he says do you think is universal and how much do you think is specific to the author?
Q. In particular, his description of Friendship, while it rings true for many, seems to ring most true for men. Some people even go further and charge Lewis with sexism. You recorded a video on the subject – what are some of your thoughts on this?
5. “What is charity?”
Q. What actually is charity?
6. “Enemy Love”
Q. In Chapter 2 of The Four Loves, Lewis talks about Patriotism. Obviously, that raises the question of whether or not, and if so how, we can love our enemies. I know this is something which has preoccupied your thought for a while. What’s your current thinking on this subject?
7. “Love Blind Spot”
We didn’t have time to talk about this, but Dr. Love has spoken about what he regards as Lewis’ “Love blind spot”:
7. “Reading Dr. Love”
Could you please tell us a little bit about the books you’re currently writing?
Tentative titles:
- Love Is Not God: Interrogating C.S. Lewis on Love
- Erotic Disagreements: C.S. Lewis and Anders Nygren on Love, Lust, and Longing
Wrap-Up
- Dr. Lepojärvi will soon be teaching a course on Tolkien which is open to the public! You can find out more about his teaching on his website.
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On the chapter on charity, could Lewis be saying that love is not enough because we need the whole of the fruits of the spirit?
Hmmm….depends upon what you mean 🙂
When he speaks about “love” not being enough, it’s after he’s been speaking about the natural loves, so I take it to mean that the natural loves aren’t enough.
Regarding the fruits of the spirit, one of them is “love”, but what kind of love are we talking about? I would assume that this is a supernatural agape. Another fruit is “self-control” which seems rather like the moderating virtues he’s mentioned in the earlier chapters to keep the loves in their place.