Upstairs in the library at London School of Theology
The quote below is by my supervisor, Graham McFarlane, who had a tremendous impact on me.
“...when we refer to the kind of love displayed in the gospel, we are not talking about attraction love, attachment love, or advantage love. The kind of love we are talking about here is not some cuddly affection. Rather, it is to be identified within what Walter Brueggemann describes as ‘the narrative of emancipatory covenant-making’ and Wolterstorff as ‘covenant faithfulness.’ It is a menacing and demanding kind of love. It is divine love demonstrated in the face of a dysfunctional creation, where human beings created to experience love have an altogether different reality living on the edges of society, family, physical and mental health, themselves, God, and neighbor. It cannot be reduced merely to the ‘saving of souls’ in the sense of rescuing guilty sinners from the clutches of hell. Yes, this is a reality–any notion of a biblical understanding of human agency and responsibility takes this as a very real end point. However, the eternal life Jesus Christ offers us–the well-being, the flourishing, the exercising of dominion so that self and neighbor may live fruitfully–is a hope for the here and now.”