Issue: June 2016: Love One Another

Love is at the core of the Christian faith. In fact, love is even used as the closest analogy to speak of the being of God. As we read in 1 John 4: 7-8: “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”Therefore, given the importance of the concept of love in the Christian faith it is worth coming back again and again to examine its meaning and implications.

Love your neighbor in the Holiness Code Lev 19:18 [1] “Love your neighbor” is probably the most frequently quoted biblical directive. In part this is due to this command’s emphasis within the biblical canon in the first century AD, namely its echo in the New Testament as summary of the law in Luke 10:27 as […]

So many wedding ceremonies contain the familiar words, “Love is patient, love is kind,” that we may not hear them anymore. However, the effect of words absorbed into a culture can be more dangerous than words heard for the first time. Goitía ​Padilla ​explores 1 Corinthians 13 through a lens of law and gospel and gender analysis. How can we hear Christ in this text while avoiding reinscribing harmful gender roles in our communities?

[1] Christian Ethics at the Boundary is a splendid book! Karen V. Guth is rightly concerned that the divisions among those who identify with a particular approach to Christian ethics may create discord, which compromises our endeavors and forfeits our resources for addressing complex moral issues. Her focus in this book is the division between […]

[Originally published in JLE June 2016] [1] Adrian Thatcher is honorary professor in the department of theology and religion at the University of Exeter in the UK. He is highly regarded for his work in theology and human sexuality. He has edited the 2015 Oxford Handbook of Theology, Sexuality and Gender. His most recent book […]