One of the major subjects of debate among theologians, ancient and modern, has been how to think about the nature of Christian love. In his famous Agape and Eros, Anders Nygren argued that the incorporation of a Classical and Hellenistic notion of eros into Christian theology marked a corruption of the Biblical concept of agape. The purpose of this class is not to rebut Nygren’s analysis “that has been done by other scholars” rather it is to examine how theologians appropriated the Classical eros tradition. The class will also pay close attention to the question of how the theological commitments of these Christian theologians caused them to change the Classical ideal of eros.
HISTTHEO 809: Eros and Epectasy: From Plato to Ps-Dionysius
