Love: Various Perspectives

This book investigates more recent inquiries into the nature of love. It also presents a critical and realistic approach to love with the broader goal, through wider discussion, of promoting civility and charitable living. It will do this in large part by presenting a comprehensive overview of major thinkers on love. With the exception of one author, these thinkers appeared in the twentieth century. All were widely read and continue to be read and discussed today. The goal is to promote insight and discussion about the various types of love from the varying perspective of these influential authors. The book is divided into ten chapters with an introduction and concluding chapter. The authors were chosen based on their influence but also because they provide a variety of perspectives based on intellectual orientation (psychological, philosophical, theological), different contexts and religious backgrounds. More specifically, the book is divided into three Parts. Part one addresses in general the various types of love. I survey four classic texts that put forth different types of love while at the same time exploring the nature of love more deeply, its distortions, and raising questions accordingly. These are: Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving (Chapter 1), C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (Chapter 2), Rosemary Haughton, Love (Chapter 3), and Rollo May, Love and Will (Chapter 4).Part Two broadly addresses the origins of romantic love in Western thought, its distortions, and the proper recovery along these lines in light one's relations with God or transcendent value. Scott Peck's widely read The Road Less Traveled (Chapter 5) dispels the notion of romantic love and tries to recover what he thinks is a more genuine down-to-earth notion, while at the same time opening up a way to spiritual maturity. Robert Johnson further investigates Western distorted notions of romantic love in his book We by examining in depth the medieval myth of Tristan and Iseult (Chapter 6). Perhaps the least familiar, The Meaning of Love by Vladimir Soloviev, a Russian philosopher, theologian and mystic of the nineteenth century, argues that romantic love in its proper perspective offers a pathway to the sacred through the two lovers as portals to each other (Chapter 7).Part three addresses the broader notion of love of humanity, healing the obstacles to love, and the ultimate goal of love for the mystic. Chapter 8 addresses the work of two popular Buddhists authors, Thich Nhat Hanh and Pema Ch dr n on the centrality of love and compassion in Buddhist practice. They also offer techniques for expanding that love to all beings in order to increase compassion on the planet and heal divisions in our world. Chapter 9 addresses perhaps the biggest obstacle to love-the inability to forgive. In their Book of Forgiving, Desmond Tutu and his daughter Mpho outline four steps in the process of forgiving as the alternative to the revenge cycle. Finally, the renown Muslim scholar William Chittick summarizes the centrality of love in Islam and its ultimate aim-union with a loving and merciful God (Chapter 10). A concluding chapter will offer a summary of themes and tensions identified throughout the work and make some observations based on the Canadian philosopher and theologian, Bernard Lonergan, who argued that love of God and neighbor are the most important elements of human living.In addition, each chapter contains summative discussion questions ideal for the classroom, church group, or book clubs.The book is written to a generally educated audience and includes minimal footnotes throughout. Since each chapter essentially contains one work, references to each work after the first full citation are parenthetical.