Divine Love and Eros

A paper for this semester's medieval theology class:

It could easily be argued that modern society, both its secular and religious aspects, is uncomfortable associating eros, a longing and perhaps romantic desire, with humanity’s relationship to God. Far more common is it to relegate the love of God to a more abstract and impersonal or “appropriate” human model. However, two great Christian philosophers, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite and Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, embrace the notion of divine love as eros. Both men, in The Divine Names and On Loving God, respectively, describe God’s love as a desirous, self- perpetuating goodness that comes to humanity of its own generosity, and wills for its return by creation. This return is a key aspect of God’s yearning, for is not erotic love only fulfilled in reciprocity? This is not to suggest any weakness or dependence in God’s nature; rather, it highlights both Pseudo-Dionysius and Bernard’s belief in the necessity of humanity’s devoted response to it. Each author’s adherence to this thesis and their slight deviations from it are here discussed.

Perhaps sensing the apprehension many would have in regards to labeling God’s love as a desire, Pseudo-Dionysius spends much time referencing Scripture and Church Fathers in defense of his naming of divine “yearning.” “So let us not fear this title of ‘yearning’ nor be upset by what anyone has to say about these two names for, in my opinion, the scared writers regard ‘yearning’ and ‘love’ as having one and the same meaning,” (Ps. D., 709B). Bernard, in turn, looks to the overtly romantic Song of Songs for implicit approval of naming the divine love eros, and furthermore licensing explorations of that theme.

The passage in The Divine Names which most nearly approaches the thesis, namely, that God’s love is a desirous, self- perpetuating goodness that comes to humanity of its own generosity, and wills for its return by creation, reads as such: “the divine longing is Good seeking good for the sake of the Good,” (Ps. D., 708B). The proper “Good” here refers to God, while the common “good” is his creation. Therefore, this desire, while seeking out creation by its nature, is itself separate from and independent from creation. God himself, the perfect Trinity, does not actually need humanity to exist. The fact, then, that Almighty God deigns to not only give Himself for but in fact desires the love of humanity is a cause for both gratitude and worship. When one considers that all creation, mankind included, is itself the product of God’s love, devotion is the only appropriate response. Says Pseudo-Dionysius: “And, in truth, it must be said too that the very cause of the universe in the beautiful, good superabundance of his benign yearning for all is also carried outside of himself in the loving care he has for everything,” (Ps. D., 712B).

For Pseudo-Dionysius, the reasons to love God in return are self-evident. “’For from Him and through Him and in Him and to Him are all things,’ says holy scripture. And so it is that all things must desire, must yearn for, must love, the Beautiful and the Good,” (Ps. D., 708A-B). In much the same vein, Bernard states: “Surely he deserves to be loved in return when we think of he who loves, whom he loves, how much he loves. Is it not he to whom every spirit confesses, saying, ‘You are my God, for you do not need the goods I have’?” (Bernard, p. 50). The vast majority of The Divine Names is, save for several passages such as the former referenced, a metaphysical examination of the nature of God’s love. Bernard, however, spends more time examining the appropriate and practical human response to this love, which he outlines in a four-step process.

Bernard believes that this response begins with man’s love for himself for his own sake. Besides fulfilling the desires of ones own body and mind, including emotional needs, Bernard includes the love of other human beings in this same category. “It is wholly right that he who is your fellow in nature should not be cut off from you in grace, especially in the grace innate in nature,” (Bernard, p. 74). Divine yearning, having come from God to the human soul, then begins its process of returning itself to itself. The soul begins to love God for it’s own sake. So far, this process was left relatively untouched by Dionysius, and as far as the two authors are concerned, is uniquely expressed by Bernard. It is in the third stage, when the soul loves God for God’s own sake, that the reader begins to again sense Dionysian themes. This develops from man’s love of God for his own sake, for as he prays for his own good he discovers greatness of God, or, as Bernard says, “to discover by tasting how sweet the Lord is,” (Bernard, p. 76). This stage is proper reciprocation for the desiring of God, “he who loves in this way loves as he is loved,” (Bernard, p.77), but it is not the completion of the cycle for all humankind. Indeed, Bernard once again goes beyond Dionysius by describing a fourth stage, when man loves himself for the sake of God. “To love in this way is to become like God,” (Bernard, p. 79). This stage is vastly different from the other stages, as it is suggested that it can only occur after the death of the mortal body. “So it is in a spiritual and immortal body, a perfect body, beautiful and at peace and subject to the spirit in all things, that the soul hopes to attain the fourth degree of love,” (Bernard, p. 80). The completion of this yearning-cycle is the returning of God’s love by the soul in its own ascent to the realm of its Maker and Lover.

Pseudo-Dionysius’ idea of Divine Eros’ proodos and epistrophe is reflected in both his Divine Names and Bernard’s On Loving God. While Pseudo-Dionysius deigns to explore the nature of this yearning, Bernard extends this exploration into the human response. While they diverge perhaps in the detailed understanding of human response (nowhere, for instance, does Pseudo-Dionysius suggest that the soul loving itself is ever beyond its loving God), both thinkers present the reader with a living, vibrant God, whose love is ever given in a flow to mankind, from Itself, and returning thence by our own love.