Godly Love Impediments and Possibilities

by Lee, Matthew T.; Yong, Amos; Alexander, Kimberly Ervin; Bowers, James P.; Boyd, Craig A.; Exline, Julie J.; Hood, Ralph W., Jr.; McClymond, Michael J.; Owaka, Michelle; Post, Stephen G.; Rice, Martin J.; Welsh, Robert K.; Wilkinson, Michael; Williamson, W

• ISBN13: 9780739167878
• ISBN10: 0739167871
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-03-01
• Publisher: Lexington Books

Summary

Godly Love: Impediments and Possibilities examines the theory of Godly Love, understood as including a vertical axis denoting the love of God and a horizontal axis involving the love of others, is at the core of a new field of research that studies how divine love influences the love of others and vice-versa. It is a multi-disciplinary research program into the benevolent expressions of the Great Commandment of the Christian tradition involving the theological and social sciences. Theological and social scientific essays that ask why there is not more Godly Love in this world and what might be done to change the situation. This book focuses on the problems confronting, challenging, prohibiting, and perhaps even resisting the concrete expression of Godly Love in the world, utilizing a range of theological and especially social scientific methodologies.

Author Biography

Matthew T. Lee is associate professor of sociology and conflict management fellow the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio. Amos Yong is J. Rodman Williams Professor of Theology and director of the doctoral program in renewal studies at Regent University School of Divinity in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Introduction Godly Love-What Is It and Why Is There Not More of It Around? An Interdisciplinary Exploration	p. 1
Ambiguity in the Signs as an Antidote to Impediments of Godly Love among Primitive and Progressive Pentecostals	p. 21
The Capital Vices as Obstacles to Godly Love	p. 41
The Flame of Love as a Refining Fire: Gifts of Spiritual Struggle	p. 57
Limited and Unlimited: Two Sources of Love in Tension and Synergy	p. 75
Restorative Justice, Godly Love, and Solutions to the Problem of Crime	p. 91
Deideologizing Dominance: Power and Privilege as Impediments to Godly Love	p. 111
Race and Gender Equality in a Classical Pentecostal Denomination: How Godly Love Flourished and Foundered	p. 131
The Institutionalization of Religion: Impediment or Impetus for Godly Love?	p. 153
Universal Processes as Natural Impediments to and Facilitators of Godly Love	p. 171
Christian Mysticism-Help or Hindrance to Godly Love? A Case Study of Madame Guyon (1648-1717)	p. 195
Index	p. 225
Contributors	p. 229
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