Re-Imagining Eros: Dare to Fall in Love with God Christopher Peter Lindstrom George Fox University, [email protected]
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Digital Commons @ George Fox University Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations 3-1-2015 Re-Imagining Eros: Dare to Fall in Love with God Christopher Peter Lindstrom George Fox University, [email protected] This research is a product of the Doctor of Ministry (DMin) program at George Fox University. Find out more about the program. Recommended Citation Lindstrom, Christopher Peter, "Re-Imagining Eros: Dare to Fall in Love with God" (2015). Doctor of Ministry. Paper 100. http://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/dmin/100 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Digital Commons @ George Fox University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctor of Ministry by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ George Fox University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. GEORGE FOX UNIVERSITY RE-IMAGINING EROS: DARE TO FALL IN LOVE WITH GOD A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GEORGE FOX UNIVERSITY SEMINARY IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCOTR OF MINISTRY BY CHRISTOPHER PETER LINDSTROM PORTLAND, OREGON MARCH 2015 George Fox Evangelical Seminary George Fox University Portland, Oregon CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL ________________________________ DMin Dissertation ________________________________ This is to certify that the DMin Dissertation of Christopher Peter Lindstrom has been approved by the Dissertation Committee on February 16, 2015 for the degree of Doctor of Ministry in Semiotics and Future Studies. Dissertation Committee: Primary Advisor: Leah Payne, PhD Secondary Advisor: Bill Gibson, DMin Lead Mentor: Leonard I. Sweet, PhD Copyright © 2015 by Christopher Peter Lindstrom All rights reserved The Scripture quotations contained herein are taken from the NKJV Version of the bible, unless otherwise indicated. ii DEDICATION I dedicate this work to my loving wife Venice, who has taught me how to love and to accept people for all their faults. She has taught me how to be a better listener and gain understanding from the gestures and words that people present when communicating. She has been my best friend, my greatest supporter in all my endeavors, and has tirelessly listened to my struggles and made qualitative and astute suggestions that have enabled me to complete this process. I give thanks and praise to Carl and Joan Lindstrom, who were willing to adopt me into their family and reveal what it is to love and adore someone who is not of their flesh or bone of their bones. I celebrate the gift of Patricia and Peter Nitrini who showed me how to love the Lord Jesus with all my heart. They taught me the value of what it means to be dedicated and committed to following Jesus. I give thanks to Mrs. Jackie Radford for her dedicated service to teaching others about Christ and her support and love for my leadership and incessantly affirming my pursuit of this project. I am forever indebted to my wife’s family, the Myvett-Humes, who have embraced and welcomed me with open arms, these past 26 years when interracial marriages were still considered taboo. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................... VII ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................... VIII PREFACE ......................................................................................................................... IX GLOSSARY OF LOVE TERMS .................................................................................... XII RE-IMAGINING EROS: DARE TO FALL IN LOVE WITH GOD ..................................1 Introduction ..............................................................................................................1 “Those Eyes!” ..........................................................................................................1 Eros and Agape Gone Wild .....................................................................................4 CHAPTER 1: AGAPE: THE FACE OF GOD’S LOVE COIN ......................................8 Introduction ..............................................................................................................8 Love of God .............................................................................................................9 The Divine Agape in the Incarnation .....................................................................15 The Challenge to the Incarnation ...........................................................................16 Incarnation: Need or Desire ...................................................................................17 The Divine Economy .............................................................................................19 Divine Agape: The Root of the Divine Economy ..................................................20 Transformative Nature of the Incarnation Revealed in the Eucharist ....................21 Not One but Two Natures in Jesus of Nazareth .....................................................22 Merely Human vs. Fully Human ...........................................................................25 Incarnate Love .......................................................................................................27 Scandalous and Promiscuous .................................................................................28 Promiscuous Incarnation ........................................................................................29 God’s Ultimate Promiscuity ..................................................................................30 Full-Access God .....................................................................................................32 Doubting Thomas ...................................................................................................33 The Passion Defined ..............................................................................................34 God So Loved… ....................................................................................................36 Jesus’ Foreknowledge in the Predictions ...............................................................38 Divine Agape Behind the Silence ..........................................................................40 God Knows the Cost of Agape at Jesus’ Baptism ..................................................41 The Divine Agape in Water, Blood, Wine .............................................................42 Conclusion .............................................................................................................46 CHAPTER 2: EROS: THE OTHER SIDE OF THE LOVE COIN ..............................48 Introduction ............................................................................................................48 Broader Understanding of Eros .............................................................................51 The Realm of Desire for God .................................................................................53 Eros, That Four-Letter Word Not Spoken in the New Testament .........................55 The Semiotics of Eros ............................................................................................58 iv Plato and Love .......................................................................................................61 Plato’s Influence on Christianity ...........................................................................62 Object of Human Eros for Plato ............................................................................65 Anders Nygren’s Threefold Opposition to Eros ....................................................68 Rebuttal to Anders Nygren’s Eros as Egocentric ..................................................70 Anders Nygren’s Critique of St. Augustine of Hippo: Caritas and Cupiditas .......73 To Eros or Not To Eros, That is the Question: Affirming the Use of Eros in the 21st Century ...........................................................................................................82 Conclusion .............................................................................................................84 CHAPTER 3: GOD’S LOVE EXTENDED THROUGH DIVINE COVENANTS .....87 Purpose of Biblical Covenants ...............................................................................87 Looking at Covenants Through a Prism ................................................................89 Hebrew Covenants .................................................................................................92 The Ultimate Covenant ..........................................................................................99 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................102 CHAPTER 4: DARE TO ENTER INTO A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD .............104 Introduction: Do We Need to be in Relationships? ............................................104 Love and the Imago Dei .......................................................................................105 Initiating Relationships ........................................................................................107 Journey to a Blind Date with God ........................................................................109 Blind Date ............................................................................................................113 Blind Date with God ............................................................................................115