Anders Nygren - Agape and Eros-Transfer Ro-12mar-783538

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AGAPE AND EROS I

PART

A Study of the Christian Idea of Love PART

II

The History of the Christian Idea of Love _

By

ANDERS NYGREN ", ...

Bishop oj Lund

Translated by

PHILIP S. WATSON

Philadelphia

THE WESTMINSTER PRESS

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AUTHOR'S PREFACE ~~

IN the introductory chapter of this work, it is stated that the question there raised for discussion is one of the most'central h and yet most neglected in the theological field. When this fl) statement was originally made, that was in fact the position. ri But during the last twenty years the situation has entirely '~T; changed. The problem of" Agape and Eros" has become a J matter of major theological interest, and there has been quite a spathe of literature ddealing with it. thlt woluld tabke fkar todO long ere to name an comment on e re evant 00 s an articles. Part One of the present work appeared in an English translation-somewhat abridged-by A; G. Hebert in 1932. Part Two was translated by Philip S. Watson and published in two volumes in 1938-39. It has now been thought desirable ~ to make a ful~ version of Part One available to English 'G

First published in Great Britain by the S.P.C.K. House: Part I, 1932; Part n,Vol. I, 1938; Part II, Vol. II, 1939; revised, in part retranslated, and published in one volume; 1953.

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PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES

'oF AMERICA

~ ~:~:::~~~: ~ea:s::{~e~::~~t.to I;~~~e;o;at~l:~:ef~~ 1 me that ~ work, ~hieh has lo~g been out of print, is now

..... agam available, and 10 an unabndged form . .:. It is tempting to join issue in this Preface with a number of \J English authors who have paid more particular attention to .., my work. I think especially of J. Burnaby's Amor Dei (1938) ~ and M. C. D'Arcy's The Mind and Heart 0/ Love: A Study ~ in Eros and Agape (1945). But as the reason why these Un"' , portant and interesting works come to different conclusions " from my own, is essentially that they start from different q premisses, any profitable discussion of them would have to be .; conducted at considerable length, and for that there is no room in a Preface. I have therefore had to resist the tempta''\ \-

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AUTHOR'S PREFACE

tion of an otherwise very attractive undertaking. In the discussion of the subject that has so far taken place, I have found no reason to abandon my original position at any point, and my work is therefore being republished without alteration. ANDERS NYGREN.

TRANSLATOR'S -PREFACE

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PART I ofthi~ work consists of a study of the Christian idea of love as it appears in the New Testament and in contrast to_ the Hellenistic ide3?Wi~ starting-pomt for the history of the Christian idea of love is given and also the essential distinction between the two " fundamental motifs" (Eros and Agape) which have left their impress upon it. That history is described in Part II up to the point where the problem of " Agape and Eros" finds its natural solution in / .the Reformation. It is substantially the story of how a syn. thesis of these two " motifs" was re ared com leted, and destroyed. In his origina reface to Part I the -author explained why he had chosen the Reformation as his terminus ad quem. 1 It was not that the Christian idea of love had had no history since the Reformation, nor that the problem of " Agape and Eros" had ceased to eX1:.'1: as a result of the solution then found for it. It was rather because the develop- '------- ment of Christian thought ahout Jove had proceeded along somewhat ditkKnt lines, and could not very ~uitably be discu~~s_~tMd~.L!!te h~ading of '~ Agape and Eros". Since this work first appeared in English, there have been a number of recurrent misunderstandings of its theme, which may perhaps be obviated if something is said here about the meaning of the major techniCal terms employed in it. 2 We may begin with the two that are in the tide: Agape and Eros.

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1 Den kristna karlekstanken genom tiderna. - Eros odz Agape 1. (Svenska Kyrkans Diakonistyrelses Bokforlag. Stockholm, 1930 ), pp. 3f. (part II was issued by the same publishers in 1936.) 2 See also myartic1e on "Some Theological Implications of Agape and Eros" in The Expository Times, September 1938. vii

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TABLE OF CONTENTS AUTHOR's PllEFACE •

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flllANSLAToR;S PREFACE

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INTRODUCTION·

THE .PROBLEM OF AGAPE AND EROS I.

THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM

The Twofold Purpose of the Inquiry. Two opposed Fundamental Motifs. 3. Fundamental Motifs and Motif-research. 4. Motif-research and Historical-genetic Research. 5. Motif-research ;lnd Value-judgments. I.

2.

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II.

THE PLACE OF THE IDEA OF AGAPE IN CHIllsTIANlTY

More Precise Definition of the Term If Fundanien~tMotif ". The transformation of the Basic Ethical and Religious Questions by Christianity. 3. Agape as the Fundamental Motif of Christianity. I.

2.

III. IV.

"THE HEAVENLY EROS" •

"I.

CONFLICTING FUNDAMENTAL MOTIFS

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Eros and Agape..../' 2. Eros and caritas. 3. An OOtline of the F~er Course of the Inquiry.

PART ONE THE TWO FUNDAMENTAL MOTIFS

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CHAPTER ONE

THE AGAPE MOTIF

I.

AGAPE AND FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD

The Starting-po~t for the Interpretation of the Id~ of Agape. The Distinctive Charaeterof Christian Fellowshipwith ,God• 3· The Content of the Idea of ~gape. I.

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xxi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

xx

TABLE OF CONTENTS

.,AGJ:

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(I) Agape is Spontaneous and" Unmotivated ".

scheme".

(2~ Agape is " Indifferent to Value".

THE AGAPE OF THE CROSS

3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Christian Agape, . , - (4) God is Eros.

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CHAPTER THREE

X. J'

to.l _THE FUNDAMENTAL CONTRAST BETWEEN

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AGAPE AND EROS

THE TRANSVALUATION OF ALL ANCIENT VALUES I. 2.

GOD IS AGAPE

e~I. The Final Formulation of the Agape Motif.

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The Duality of the Johannine Idea of Agape.. (I) The" Metaphysic of Agape" and Unmotivated Love. (2) Brotherly Love and Particularism. . (J) Love for God and Love for.theWorld...

2.

II.

III.

TABULATION OF THE ESSENTIAL POINTS OF CONTRAST

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II.

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(I) God's Love. (2) Love towards God. (J) Neighbourly Love. (4) Self-love. /'._.~

IV.

THE DOCTRINE OF EROS AS A DOCTRINE OF SALVATION

V.

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THE AGAPE-SYSTEM AND THE EROS-SYSTEM

THE PLATONIC IDEA OF EROS

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(I) The Hellenisation of Judaism. (2) Allegorical Exegesis. 8) The" Alexandrian World-scheme ".

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Eros and Dialectic. The Myth of Eros. 3. The Content of the Idea of Eros. (I) Eros as Acquisitive Love. , (2) Eros as Man's Way to the Divine. ( 8) Eros as Egocentric Love.

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POSSIBILITIES OF CONFUSION BETWEEN THE TWO MOTIFS

Eros-piety, Christianity's Forerunner or Rival? Mystery-religion as the Source of the Eros-motif.

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THE CONTRAST AS IT ApPEARS IN THE DIFFERE~ DIMEN-

CHAPTER TWO

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The General Signjficance of the Transvaluatio~. The Religious-historical Background of the Transvaluation.

SIONS OF LOVE

THE EROS MOTIF I.

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8) Eros in Platinus compared with Plato's Eros and

Jesus and Paul. The Idea of Agape in Paul's Religious Development. Agape as a Technical Tenii for the Christian Love-motif. Agape and theTheology of the Cross. Love towards God. Neighbourly love and Love for God. Gnosis and Agape.

2.

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(2) The Descent and the Ascent.

(J Agape is Creative. (4 Agape is the Initiator of Fellowship with God. 4. e Evidence of the Pm"ables. 5· The Commandment of Love in its Christian Meaning. 6. Love and Judgment.

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III.

. . (I) Plato and Plotinus. The " Alexandrian World-

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III.

THE

ARISTOTELIAN

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NEOPLATONIC

PART 'TWO '\ DEVELOPMENTS

OF EROS 1.

2. ~.

The Importance of the Later Developments. The Eros Motif in Aristotle. The Eros Motif in Neoplatonism.

FUNDAMENT AL INTRODUCTION

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MOTIFS

IN

CONFLICT -

The Confusion of Motifs in the Christian Idea of Love._ The Hellenisation of the Christian Idea: of Love. 3' Synthesis and Reformation;

I. 2.

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TABLE OP CONTENTS.

TABLEOP CONTENTS

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I. THE PREPARATION OF THE SYNTHESIS

CHAPTER ONE

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3. Gnosis and Agape in Clement of Alexandria. 4. Origen's Religious Synthesis. . 5. Origen's Defence of C~istianity. 6. Origen's System. . 7. God is Eros--God is Agape.

NOMOS; EROS ,AND· AGAPE

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THE THREE MAIN TypllS: A SuTCH OF THE CHllImAN . IDEA OP Low IN POST-APoSTOLIC TIMllS _

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VII. THE AGAPE TYPE IN IREN...£Us I.

(I~ The Inftuence of Judaism. (2 'The Inftuence of Hellenism.

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