Agape or Eros: A False Choice?
March 2, 2009 tachaney 7 other publications
Before we leave the subject of the love of God, one last question must be addressed, namely, are agape and eros mutually exclusive types of love? Or to put the question theologically, is God then not eros in any sense? The question requires some clarification. It is not just a matter of terminology, for as we have already seen, the fact that God is agape does not preclude the use of words in the philia family to describe God’s love. Even the absence of words in the eros family from the New Testament does not in itself rule out the presence of the concept, or at least certain aspects of the concept, as that is presently defined. Also, this is not a matter of whether eros in its sexual or romantic sense applies to God; that is totally out of the question. The issue is whether eros as philosophically defined (e.g., by Nygren) in no sense characterizes the nature of God’s love.
Before we leave the subject of the love of God, one last question must be addressed, namely, are agape and eros mutually exclusive types of love? Or to put the question theolo...
