Love and Christian Ethics

Simmons and Sorrells have given us a superb collection in Christian theology and ethics. Love and Christian Ethics includes contributions by many of today's leading thinkers, and the essays are intelligently organized from reflections on Biblical texts to contemporary interreligious dialogues. This is a landmark volume for students and scholars that will be a standard reference for years to come. -- Robin W. Lovin, Cary M. Maguire University Professor of Ethics Emeritus, Southern Methodist University, Center of Theological Inquiry Amidst the wealth of reflection on Christian love spawned by Anders Nygren's provocative Agape and Eros, Gene Outka's Agape still stands out for its conceptual rigor and insight. Love and Christian Ethics, in weaving together new studies on love by a highly distinguished set of authors, ably furthers, and thereby honors, Outka's legacy. -- Jennifer A. Herdt, Yale University Divinity School

Analyzes and assesses the meaning of love from a wide range of perspectives. This book is organized into three areas: influential sources and exponents of Western Christian thought about the ethical significance of love, theoretical questions attending that consideration, and the implications of Christian love for important social realities.At the heart of Christian ethics is the biblical commandment to love God and to love one's neighbor as oneself. But what is the meaning of love? Scholars have wrestled with this question since the recording of the Christian gospels, and in recent decades teachers and students of Christian ethics have engaged in vigorous debates about appropriate interpretations and implications of this critical norm. In Love and Christian Ethics, nearly two dozen leading experts analyze and assess the meaning of love from a wide range of perspectives. Chapters are organized into three areas: influential sources and exponents of Western Christian thought about the ethical significance of love, perennial theoretical questions attending that consideration, and the implications of Christian love for important social realities. Contributors bring a richness of thought and experience to deliver unprecedentedly broad and rigorous analysis of this central tenet of Christian ethics and faith. William Werpehowski provides an afterword on future trajectories for this research. Love and Christian Ethics is sure to become a benchmark resource in the field.