The Nature of Love: A Theology

There should be awards for packing ability. Like when a man can pack enough for a two week trip in half the space that a woman would use for the same trip. Or when close friends can exchange as much information in a knowing glance as teens can in a week of texting back and forth. Or when Thomas Jay Oord fills 157 pages with reams of insight in his book The Nature of Love: A Theology.

Thomas uses surgeon-like precision when he tells us exactly what he wants to do and then does so in this book. After an introduction of ideas and direction he provides us his definition of love.

To love is to act intentionally, in sympathetic/empathetic response to God
and others, to promote overall well-being.

His goal is to dissect and take the best parts of love theologians from the past, of whom he says there have not been nearly enough. He wants to see Love returned to its rightful place of honor as THE core attribute of God.

He begins by tackling love theologian Anders Nygren, (not literally...it's a book on love, after all). He esteems his place in theology and then proceeds to break down the myriad of reasons why Nygren is wrong. If there's anything to be learned here, it's that we should read the Bible first, then come up with our theories, not the other way around.

Next he discusses Augustine. You might assume that there's no criticizing this philosopher who loved love, but you'd be wrong. Again, Oord does a great job of talking about the issues at hand, not the man. This is something we could use more of in these days. But in this chapter we get to see some real-life application over some of the ideas we have on God's nature and love.

The next 30 pages deal with the pros and cons of Openness Theology on the concept of Love. Again, Oord does a fantastic job of defining terms, realizing that many will automatically accept or reject theories upon hearing the phrase Open Theology. If you've never heard of Open Theology, this may make another good reason to pick up this book. Thomas does a good job of taking the good while not accepting the whole of this belief system.

Just before Oord unveils his answer to love theology he quotes Anders Nygren in what may be the best repeated quote of the entire book, outside of his own defintion of love.

Rather than worry about our discomfort, perhaps we should be worried
about God's reputation.

Essential Kenosis is the proper term for Oord's theology. Kenosis is the Greek noun in Philippians 2:7 which is translated as 'emptied himself'. This is a key passage of scripture as it details how Jesus loves us and views Himself. It begins to open up the idea that God loves creation, something that He must do, not because someone greater than God told Him to, but because it is His nature.

This theology of love is complete and returns the focus to where it never should have left, Jesus. It is God's nature of love that defines everything else about God; His power, His freedom, His purpose. I guess you could say that, in the end, love wins.

All that being said, this book is not to be approached lightly. After all, it is a theology book. But I believe Oord does a great job of simplifying mountains of heady knowledge and then showing us practical application. This should not simply be read, but preached and shared, and then lived out.

You can check out more from Thomas Jay Oord at: http://thomasjayoord.com/

The good people at SpeakEasy supplied me with this free preview copy, but much like God's love does not coerce, they did not force me to say anything good.
#SpeakEasyLove