Liebe als Agape

Oda Wischmeyer sets out the early Christian concept of agape love in this six chapter monograph. She begins by tracking down the history of the Old Testament's commandments of love and their reception and reformulation in the New Testament. The New Testament concept of agape love is established from the texts and then compared to early Jewish concepts and Plutarch. The outlining of destructive contrary propositions, parallel concepts of ethical and alternative ethical-religious life from the New Testament and its environs bring the profile of the agape love notion into sharper focus. In the final chapter, the author presents current thought on the subject of love from the fields of sociology, psychology and philosophy, as well as the encyclical letter »Deus caritas est«. In conclusion, the meaning that the New Testament concept is able to have in current theological discussions is scrutinized.