Lest We Lose Love

“Professor Gill addresses the global crisis of hope by combining the rich wellsprings of historic philosophy with today’s wavefront of systems and complexity science. She gives new life to the immortal concept of love, impoverished by excessive rationalism and enfeebled by romanticism. Her presentation of love as the doing of relationships, of caring and valuing people for themselves, is an inspiring foundation for living well and finding meaning today and tomorrow.” —John, Lord Alderdice FRCPsych, Senior Research Fellow, Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford.

“Lest We Lose Love is a passionately informed and deeply layered work, which succeeds in both excavating and rewilding the landscape of love. Illuminating in its content and meticulously researched, this book reaches the core of what it means to be human and is a profound act of service. Vital as well as vitalizing I’m reminded on every page of William Blake’s words: ‘We are put on earth that we may learn to bear the beam of love.’” —Marina Cantacuzino MBE, Journalist, author, broadcaster and founder of The Forgiveness Project.

“Drawing on the rich resources of the Western tradition, this important book gives us a powerful framework for thinking about the fundamental connection between love and human flourishing. In a world in which we are ever more powerful and ever less able to use that power for the common good, Scherto invites us to consider the possibility that love may be the only way forward.” — Robert Boisture, President, The Fetzer Institute.

“Drawing on the rich resources of the Western tradition, this important book gives us a powerful framework for thinking about the fundamental connection between love and human flourishing. In a world in which we are ever more powerful and ever less able to use that power for the common good, Scherto invites us to consider the possibility that love may be the only way forward.” — Robert Boisture, President, The Fetzer Institute.

“Fortunately for all of us, Scherto Gill’s careful investigation into love in Western culture brings to the fore a matter that has been hidden away – the matter of love. We must all read it.” —David Cadman, Harmony Professor of Practice, University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

The book focuses on Western culture, including Greek, Christian, modernist, and postmodernist perspectives. The author views love as an important part of what it means to live a good life, and she organizes the book around a triadic framework—love as valuing, love as “relationing,” and love as caring. She provides brief summary accounts of numerous thinkers on love, from Plato and Augustine to less-known figures such as Tullia d’Aragona and Dietrich von Hildebrand. The chapter on “love in practice” offers information on more recent developments, including Martin Luther King’s vision of Beloved Community, the UK-based organization Compassion in Politics, and the Catholic Church's Focolare movement. Because there is a lot of information here, the book is difficult to read straight through, but it could be useful as a compact reference work on the philosophy of love—CHOICE