Eros Unveiled Plato and the God of Love [Paperback]

This unique book challenges the traditional distinction betweeneros, the love found in Greek thought, andagape, the love characteristic of Christianity. Focusing on a number of classic texts, including Plato'sSymposiumandLysis, Aristotle'sEthicsandMetaphysics,, and famous passages in Gregory of Nyssa, Origen, Dionysius the Areopagite, Plotinus, Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas, the author shows that Plato's account oferosis not founded on self-interest. In this way, she restores the place of erotic love as a Christian motif, and unravels some longstanding confusions in philosophical discussions of love.