Deus Caritas Est

Pope Benedict XVI begins by discussing the current misuse and overgeneralization of the word ‘love’, which has many different forms and expressions. (As we fall into the first generation to adopt the slang of the internet—i.e., “i luv u 2!”—we ought to be acutely aware of this abuse of the word.) Benedict poses the question, “are all these forms of love basically one, so that love, in its many and varied manifestations, is ultimately a single reality, or are we merely using the same word to designate totally different realities?” (2). In the past, theologians have focused most of their attention in particular on the fundamentals of ‘eros’ and ‘agape’ love. Benedict explores Nietzsche’s criticism that “Christianity poisoned eros love,” and admits that in the past the Church has tended to associate eros love purely with sex and the body. This association proved damaging to our perception of eros, particularly in those periods of history in which the body was viewed in a very negative light.

In truth, the Church, “has always considered man a unity in duality, a reality in which spirit and matter compenetrate, and in which each is brought to a new nobility” (6). Eros love is not merely “sex” or some undisciplined and purely biological expression of love. Rather, Benedict writes, eros “calls for a path of ascent, renunciation, purification and healing” out beyond ourselves, ascending “in ecstasy” towards God (6). Even if eros initially stems from desire, it eventually grows more concerned with the other and moves out beyond the self into agape love. In a sense, agape love purifies eros love. Thus, agape love and eros love exist in a mutual and inseparable union, and humans cannot achieve the fullness of God’s true love without both. They are forms of love that represent different dimensions of the single reality of God’s love, and to cut off one from the other is to discount the fullness of love.

Benedict goes on to describe the ways in which God, who is love, expresses His love for creation, beginning with God’s relationship with Israel. The fidelity and forgiveness of the relationship exemplifies both God’s eros and agape love for His people. Benedict focuses on Song of Songs in particular as an expression of God’s unity with man, “a unity in which both God and man remain themselves and yet become fully one” (10). He then touches briefly on the connection between eros and marriage, saying that in terms of creation, eros fulfils its deepest purpose when it “directs man towards marriage” (10).

The last few paragraphs of Part I focus on Jesus, who displayed the most radical form of love that Christians can encounter, and His continuous expression of love through the Eucharist. Benedict explains (much more articulately than I!), “The imagery of marriage between God and Israel is now realized in a way previously inconceivable: it had meant standing in God's presence, but now it becomes union with God through sharing in Jesus' self-gift, sharing in his body and blood” (13). Through this sharing in Christ’s body and blood, which is the bodily extension of God’s agape love, we draw nearer not only to God in a mutual giving and receiving of love, but we also draw nearer to our neighbor. Benedict emphasizes the importance of the connection between our love of God and our love of our neighbor. As we mature in the fullness of love for God, we begin to look upon others through the eyes of Christ, and thus to serve and spread God’s love within our community. Indeed, “love grows through love,” and we are called to reunite all the earth with God’s love (18).



NOTE: This is purely a summary, and I didn't go into the many connections between Deus Caritas Est and Theology of the Body, because I trust that we'll do that in class. However, if you'd like to explore more, feel free to check out this link for a glimpse at Christopher West's analysis of the encyclical: http://www.theologyofthebody.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=81&Itemid=48
There are also links to all sorts of information on Theology of the Body.