LOVE AS SACRIFICE, LOVE AS MUTUALITY: RESPONSE TO JEFFREY TILLMAN

Author: Browning, Don1

Source: Zygon, Volume 43, Number 3, September 2008 , pp. 557-562(6)

Publisher: Blackwell Publishing

Abstract:

.

Jeffrey Tillman is perceptive in noticing that certain Protestant theologians have used evolutionary theory to become more sympathetic to Roman Catholic views of Christian love. But he is incorrect in saying that these formulations deemphasize a place for self-sacrifice in Christian love. Christian love defined as a strenuous equal-regard for both other and self also requires sacrificial efforts to restore love as equal-regard when finitude and sin undermine genuine mutuality and community.

Keywords: Christian love; equal-regard; group selection; kin altruism; neo-Thomism; psychotherapy; sacrificial love; self-regard survival

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2008.00938.x

Affiliations: 1: Alexander Campbell Professor of Religious Ethics and the Social Sciences Emeritus, Divinity School, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637;, Email: dsbrowni@midway.uchicago.edu.

Links for this article