Identify at least one aspect from each of the three major topics covered in Module 2 and explain how and why each aspect expanded your horizon. The three major topics were: LOVE, creation, death Whe

The essence of Christianity involves love of God, neighbor, and self. But, what exactly do we mean by love? Or, more specifically, what is the Christian vision for love? When Jesus affirmed that the path to eternal life is paved by love of God, neighbor, and self, what did he have in mind? Work your way through the videos and reading assignment below as we begin answering these questions.

• "Four Types of Love"Links to an external site.

Now that we have this basic "pre-Christian" understanding of love, let's move into what Christianity itself has to say. Please watch the following videos:

That idea we developed in Module 1, that Christianity can be summarized in three loves (of God, of neighbor, of self), now appears in all its simplicity as something incredibly demanding. Yes, whoever loves is a Christian. But, what does that mean? What does it demand? Joseph Ratzinger puts it this way:

For love, as it is here portrayed as the content of being a Christian, demands that we try to live as God lives. He loves us, not because we are especially good, particularly virtuous, or of any great merit, not because we are useful or even necessary to him; he loves us not, because we are good, but because he is good. He loves us, although we have nothing to offer him; he loves us, even in the ragged raiment of the prodigal son, who is no longer wearing anything lovable. To love in the Christian sense means trying to follow in this path: not just loving someone we like, who pleases us, who suits us, and certainly not just someone who has something to offer us or from whom we are hoping to gain some advantage. Practicing Christian love in the same way as Christ means that we are good to someone who needs our kindness, even if we do not like him. (Joseph Ratzinger, What It Means to Be a Christian, trans. Henry Taylor (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006), 69–70.)

This is a critical question. Does the Catholic Church, with its emphasis on agape love end up destroying eros. It’s what is behind a question that lingers in the minds of most people considering Christianity: If I follow Jesus, will my life be fun anymore?

Pope Benedict XVI explains the problem this way:

According to Friedrich Nietzsche, Christianity had poisoned eros, which for its part, while not completely succumbing, gradually degenerated into vice. Here the German philosopher was expressing a widely-held perception: doesn't the Church, with all her commandments and prohibitions, turn to bitterness the most precious thing in life? Doesn't she blow the whistle just when the joy which is the Creator's gift offers us a happiness which is itself a certain foretaste of the Divine? (Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est (Citta del Vaticano: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2005), §3.)

Nietzsche’s indictment of Christianity coming out of the Enlightenment is this: Christianity’s emphasis on agape destroys eros. With all of the rules and regulations, moral codes and commandments, doesn’t Christianity kill the sentiment of love and eradicate human (sexual) passion?

At the risk of being too simplistic, we can say this: Christianity has set itself up against the destructive, unchecked, immature form of eros wherein a person takes more and more from the other for solely to satisfy him or herself. Christianity calls for an agape love to purify and mature eros. This prevents the attraction of eros from becoming focused on just one value of the person, rather than the whole person. Prevents the desire found in erosfrom using the person to satisfy something lacking. Christianity claims you need both agape and eros in a romantic relationship – without agape, eros can become selfish; without eros, agape can become distant or moralistic. In other words, Nietzsche’s critique does not see the full picture, and, in his defense, the Christianity has not always conveyed the full picture with great clarity.

• Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas EstLinks to an external site., paragraphs 3–8

We have taken some steps to understand what love is and what love requires, but how can love be commanded in the first place?