So what is true love? We have been told about its effects such as the profound experience of community and intimacy with God as a parent. But nowhere did i find an actual definition of what love is.
St Paul offered this classic definition which is popular at weddings:
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Thank you for the answer Paul (both from you and the Apostle!), however he is still only telling us what love does and does not do “love is patient…love is not irritable…” engaging in a ‘negative theology’ defining that by which it is not will bring us closer to what it is.
St Thomas Aquinas described love as to will the good of another, therefore i think Jesus desribed this better by saying one should love their neighbours as themselves. Love then in this sense can be simply described as the will to want the best based upon a belief in the inherent dignity and value of life as the good creation of a good God.
Perhaps the experience of the Muslimah highlights this through her changing attitude towards the idea of love in general? I suppose she can only answer this for herself. What would the Islamic tradition have to say on this considering what the Qur’an says about mans purpose in worshipping the creator?
From what i’ve read about this concept of worship, the Qur’an is not simply referring to prayer or fasting but rather on submitting our entire selves to God and his Sharia therefore acting in every way to bring about the good. The Sharia shows us then to be fully immersed in the divine consciousness as in to share the same ideals and meta-narrative. Sharia demonstrates as to how love of God shapes our attitude towards each other.
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So what is true love? We have been told about its effects such as the profound experience of community and intimacy with God as a parent. But nowhere did i find an actual definition of what love is.
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St Paul offered this classic definition which is popular at weddings:
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
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Thank you for the answer Paul (both from you and the Apostle!), however he is still only telling us what love does and does not do “love is patient…love is not irritable…” engaging in a ‘negative theology’ defining that by which it is not will bring us closer to what it is.
St Thomas Aquinas described love as to will the good of another, therefore i think Jesus desribed this better by saying one should love their neighbours as themselves. Love then in this sense can be simply described as the will to want the best based upon a belief in the inherent dignity and value of life as the good creation of a good God.
Perhaps the experience of the Muslimah highlights this through her changing attitude towards the idea of love in general? I suppose she can only answer this for herself. What would the Islamic tradition have to say on this considering what the Qur’an says about mans purpose in worshipping the creator?
From what i’ve read about this concept of worship, the Qur’an is not simply referring to prayer or fasting but rather on submitting our entire selves to God and his Sharia therefore acting in every way to bring about the good. The Sharia shows us then to be fully immersed in the divine consciousness as in to share the same ideals and meta-narrative. Sharia demonstrates as to how love of God shapes our attitude towards each other.
Is this love?
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