Feb 18, 2007 1

The Greatest of These is

LoveSession 3

Eros: Romantic Love

Feb 18, 2007 2

The Greatest of These is Love

Eros

Wikipedia defines eros as “passionate love, with sensual desire and

longing”

The Modern Greek word “erotas” means “romantic love”

Feb 18, 2007 3

The Greatest of These is Love

Eros

What is romantic love in our culture?

Think about romance movies. What are they normally about? What is the basic plot?

Feb 18, 2007 4

The Greatest of These is Love

Romantic Love is…?• Feeling of “being in love”

• Primarily feelings of passion that lead to physical expression

• What brings us happiness

• The “greatest good”

• Arbitrary and fleeting

Feb 18, 2007 5

The Greatest of These is Love

Romantic Love is…?“If two people love each other, nothing else matters... Love prevents even adulterous sex from being really immoral… A man who loses everything for a love, even an illicit love, is to be both pitied and envied… For a woman…it

is immoral…not to do everything in her power to make men have erotic desires

whenever they look at her, and if she does not have at least one man at any given time who adores her, her life is pointless…” (from

Love, Allen, 63).

Feb 18, 2007 6

The Greatest of These is Love

Realistic View of Romantic Love• Eros it promotes appreciation of the beloved

regardless of any pleasure that can be obtained from them.

• “Without Eros sexual desire, like every other desire, is in fact about ourselves. Within Eros is about the Beloved” (Lewis, Four Loves, 95).

• It is the exclusive and intense attachment between a particular man and a particular woman (Allen, Love, 87).

Feb 18, 2007 7

The Greatest of These is Love

Realistic View of Romantic Love

• Being “in love” is the spark that moves us toward a deeper love, the love of commitment.

• “Being ‘in love’ first moved them to promise fidelity: this quieter love enables them to keep the promise. It is on this love that the engine of marriage is run: being in love was the explosion that started it.” (Lewis, Mere Christianity, 99).

• Do you agree?

Feb 18, 2007 8

The Greatest of These is Love

Realistic View of Romantic Love

• Eros in the context of marriage – love that achieves the end to love well, always and faithfully.

• “Marriage is the friend and developer of love” (Allen, Love, 76).

• How does marriage - the element of commitment - develop romantic love?

Feb 18, 2007 9

The Greatest of These is Love

Flame

Responses?

Feb 18, 2007 10

The Greatest of These is Love

Flame• Raya – friendship love, soul mate, companion.

• Song of Songs 4:7

• Ahava – deep affection, love of the will, more than temporary urges, emotion that leads to commitment.

• Song of Songs 8:7 (agape), Proverbs 7:18 (philia, eros), Proverbs 5:19 (philia), Hosea 8:9 (agape)

• Dode – sexual element, eros.

• Song of Songs 1:2

Feb 18, 2007 11

The Greatest of These is Love

Flame

“Maybe our culture has no clue what true sexuality looks like.”

Feb 18, 2007 12

The Greatest of These is Love

Next week:

Agape