One of the benefits of the postmodern era is that spirituality is being re-evaluated. We are recognizing that material alone, the skin, the bones, the cells, the synapses, the atoms, all of matter, fails to give an adequate explanation for relationships that add value to life, one’s marked by love and sacrifice. For too long we have been encouraged to view spirituality as a private choice, an optional component to one’s life. And yet when it is removed, we discover that we have no basis for a morality or ethic that results in a true love for my neighbor. Self-interest and preservation, pragmatism, ultimately fail to explain how it is one man might die for another.
Bell Hooks’ book, All About Love, addresses many of these questions. And yet, her book largely left me dissatisfied. I fail to see how Bell Hook’s view can explain the current state of reality. Bell Hooks’ conceptualization of love is of an eternal essence, the very foundation of reality, “we are all one, that love is all.” (79) If we are all love, and love is all there is, then how did we come to be in the current state? How is it that we we don’t love each other? Hooks view is that we learn hatred from others, from parents and spouses.(131) Hook’s view seems to be in the tradition of radical Romanticism, which saw people as perfect in the state of nature, but become corrupt in authoritarian social entities, like family and church. (Pearcy, 129) It is right to condemn abuse and neglect, but this view fails to do justice to our neighbors. While many examples of the abuse of power in family and church (and market and state) can be produced, an equal number of counterexamples can also be produced. In fact all of history contains examples of people who largely benefited from diverse social structures, who developed an identity within their family, who because authentic in the church, who extended resources to satisfy the basic material needs of many through the marketplace and who sought justice through the state. When we discriminate against social institutions we despise those who took part in them, who were often trying their best to love us. We cannot completely isolate a person from his or her relationships. Sadly, Bell Hooks, in her attempt to do spirituality justice, seems to fail to do justice to humans, and the diverse array of societal entities in which they manifest aspects of their humanity.
Bell Hooks demonstrates a reductionism by attributing a comprehensive power to human love. The more we love a person, the more that person will change for good. A lack of change in the person is evidence that an insufficient human love was exerted. When we love ourselves more we are empowered to love others more. What is implied is that eventually, humanity will exert enough love to overcome all hatred. However, this is not the reality I and others experience. Hatred is often a direct response to love and hatred often escalates as attempts to extend love increase. What explains this reality we experience? Dr. Dan Allendar, author of Bold Love, attributes this fact that we fail to understand how much we hate God. Allendar writes, “it is the daily horrors of living in an uncertain and unjust world that fuel our hatred toward God and deepen our passionate desire to take our lives into our own hands.”(65) We fail to understand that the brokenness of reality is a result of our broken relationship to God, which is characterized by our unwillingness to give God justice and accept our comprehensive dependence. When someone encounters love offered by another, spiritually that person recognizes that he or she is in need. Spiritually, the person if forced to respond to the reality that he or she is incapable of supplying all his or her wants and needs. Spiritually, the person recognizes that without God, he or she has nothing. Allendar reminds us that then we rightly love our neighbor, we will be “an aroma of life for some and an aroma of death for others.” (19) As a result, our neighbor will either respond in love to a God’s who first demonstrated his superior love, or our neighbor will respond in hatred to a God who has been deemed withholding. That response, love or hatred toward God, ultimately manifests itself in treatment of others. The person who truly loves his neighbor frequently is the recipient of his neighbor’s wrath.
While Bell Hooks encourages us to love each other, to recognize the real value unique in each person, she also believes we can supply that for ourselves. Indeed, for Bell Hooks, love for self must come prior to love for the other, “When we give this precious gift [of unconditional love ] to ourselves, we are able to reach out to others from a place of fulfillment and not from a place of lack” (67). I do not agree. Indeed, I believe humans incorrectly love themselves all too frequently. My natural tendency is to give myself far more grace than I give my neighbor which is a individualistic, self-centered standard of love. It is a back-handed way of despising my neighbor.
I think my life would be sad indeed if I were the standard of love in my life. My deepest tastes of love originated in others. My parents love me, even though as a young man I declared my hatred from them. My wife loves me, despite my often failing to live up to my marriage commitment to make her an equal partner in all things. And my children love me, regardless of the fact that I often do violence to their tender hearts. My love of myself should be on par with my understanding of God’s love of me. And in order for that to occur, I must understand my position before God. The story of Creation, Fall and Redemption tells me I was made to enjoy God, but I have rejected his relationship on his terms. But I am forgiven, as evidenced by the sacrifice of his Son. That is to say God thought I was so valuable that He paid the price to restore the relationship. As I better understand this reality, I am able to better response to those whom I find it difficult to love. I am empowered to “boldly love” my neighbor, because that is the reality I have experienced. (Allendar, 43)
Allendar, Dan B. & Longman, Tremper. Bold Love. NavPress. Colorado Springs. CO. 1992.
Pearcy, Nancy R. Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from its Cultural Captivity (Study Guide Edition). Crossway Books. Wheaton, IL. 2005.
Human Love is first a Response
Citizenship Education
One of the benefits of the postmodern era is that spirituality is being re-evaluated. We are recognizing that material alone, the skin, the bones, the cells, the synapses, the atoms, all of matter, fails to give an adequate explanation for relationships that add value to life, one’s marked by love and sacrifice. For too long we have been encouraged to view spirituality as a private choice, an optional component to one’s life. And yet when it is removed, we discover that we have no basis for a morality or ethic that results in a true love for my neighbor. Self-interest and preservation, pragmatism, ultimately fail to explain how it is one man might die for another.
Bell Hooks’ book, All About Love, addresses many of these questions. And yet, her book largely left me dissatisfied. I fail to see how Bell Hook’s view can explain the current state of reality. Bell Hooks’ conceptualization of love is of an eternal essence, the very foundation of reality, “we are all one, that love is all.” (79) If we are all love, and love is all there is, then how did we come to be in the current state? How is it that we we don’t love each other? Hooks view is that we learn hatred from others, from parents and spouses.(131) Hook’s view seems to be in the tradition of radical Romanticism, which saw people as perfect in the state of nature, but become corrupt in authoritarian social entities, like family and church. (Pearcy, 129) It is right to condemn abuse and neglect, but this view fails to do justice to our neighbors. While many examples of the abuse of power in family and church (and market and state) can be produced, an equal number of counterexamples can also be produced. In fact all of history contains examples of people who largely benefited from diverse social structures, who developed an identity within their family, who because authentic in the church, who extended resources to satisfy the basic material needs of many through the marketplace and who sought justice through the state. When we discriminate against social institutions we despise those who took part in them, who were often trying their best to love us. We cannot completely isolate a person from his or her relationships. Sadly, Bell Hooks, in her attempt to do spirituality justice, seems to fail to do justice to humans, and the diverse array of societal entities in which they manifest aspects of their humanity.
Bell Hooks demonstrates a reductionism by attributing a comprehensive power to human love. The more we love a person, the more that person will change for good. A lack of change in the person is evidence that an insufficient human love was exerted. When we love ourselves more we are empowered to love others more. What is implied is that eventually, humanity will exert enough love to overcome all hatred. However, this is not the reality I and others experience. Hatred is often a direct response to love and hatred often escalates as attempts to extend love increase. What explains this reality we experience? Dr. Dan Allendar, author of Bold Love, attributes this fact that we fail to understand how much we hate God. Allendar writes, “it is the daily horrors of living in an uncertain and unjust world that fuel our hatred toward God and deepen our passionate desire to take our lives into our own hands.”(65) We fail to understand that the brokenness of reality is a result of our broken relationship to God, which is characterized by our unwillingness to give God justice and accept our comprehensive dependence. When someone encounters love offered by another, spiritually that person recognizes that he or she is in need. Spiritually, the person if forced to respond to the reality that he or she is incapable of supplying all his or her wants and needs. Spiritually, the person recognizes that without God, he or she has nothing. Allendar reminds us that then we rightly love our neighbor, we will be “an aroma of life for some and an aroma of death for others.” (19) As a result, our neighbor will either respond in love to a God’s who first demonstrated his superior love, or our neighbor will respond in hatred to a God who has been deemed withholding. That response, love or hatred toward God, ultimately manifests itself in treatment of others. The person who truly loves his neighbor frequently is the recipient of his neighbor’s wrath.
While Bell Hooks encourages us to love each other, to recognize the real value unique in each person, she also believes we can supply that for ourselves. Indeed, for Bell Hooks, love for self must come prior to love for the other, “When we give this precious gift [of unconditional love ] to ourselves, we are able to reach out to others from a place of fulfillment and not from a place of lack” (67). I do not agree. Indeed, I believe humans incorrectly love themselves all too frequently. My natural tendency is to give myself far more grace than I give my neighbor which is a individualistic, self-centered standard of love. It is a back-handed way of despising my neighbor.
I think my life would be sad indeed if I were the standard of love in my life. My deepest tastes of love originated in others. My parents love me, even though as a young man I declared my hatred from them. My wife loves me, despite my often failing to live up to my marriage commitment to make her an equal partner in all things. And my children love me, regardless of the fact that I often do violence to their tender hearts. My love of myself should be on par with my understanding of God’s love of me. And in order for that to occur, I must understand my position before God. The story of Creation, Fall and Redemption tells me I was made to enjoy God, but I have rejected his relationship on his terms. But I am forgiven, as evidenced by the sacrifice of his Son. That is to say God thought I was so valuable that He paid the price to restore the relationship. As I better understand this reality, I am able to better response to those whom I find it difficult to love. I am empowered to “boldly love” my neighbor, because that is the reality I have experienced. (Allendar, 43)
Allendar, Dan B. & Longman, Tremper. Bold Love. NavPress. Colorado Springs. CO. 1992.
Pearcy, Nancy R. Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from its Cultural Captivity (Study Guide Edition). Crossway Books. Wheaton, IL. 2005.