Love of God - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Love of God are central notions in monotheistic

Monotheism

Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one and only one god. Monotheism is characteristic of the Baha'i Faith, Christianity, Druzism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Samaritanism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.While they profess the existence of only one deity, monotheistic religions may still...

and polytheistic

Polytheism

Polytheism is the belief of multiple deities also usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own mythologies and rituals....

religions, and are important in one's personal relationship with God (or the gods)

Personal God

A personal god is a deity who can be related to as a person instead of as an "impersonal force", such as the Absolute, "the All", or the "Ground of Being"....

and one's conception of God (or the gods)

Conceptions of God

The God of monotheism, pantheism or panentheism, or the supreme deity of henotheistic religions, may be conceived of in various degrees of abstraction:...

.

Love of God can mean, in the philotheia sense, the love that someone has for God, or the gods, and is associated with concepts of piety

Piety

In spiritual terminology, piety is a virtue that can mean religious devotion, spirituality, or a combination of both. A common element in most conceptions of piety is humility.- Etymology :...

, worship

Worship

Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. The word is derived from the Old English worthscipe, meaning worthiness or worth-ship — to give, at its simplest, worth to something, for example, Christian worship.Evelyn Underhill defines worship thus: "The absolute...

, and devotions towards God.

Love of God, in the sense of philanthropia, means the love God has for us, as in : "The steadfast love of God endures all the day"; : "I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever"; : "Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God"; : "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all"; : "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him"; etc.

Theophilia means the love or favour of God, and theophilos means friend of God, originally in the sense of being loved by God or loved by the gods; but is today sometimes understood in the sense of showing love for God.

Bahá'í Faith

The teachings of the Bahá'í Faith

Bahá'í Faith

The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....

hold that the love of God is the primary reason for human creation, and one of the primary purposes of life. The love of God purifies human hearts and through it humans become transformed and self-sacrificing, as they reflect more the attributes and qualities of God. `Abdu'l-Bahá

`Abdu'l-Bahá

‘Abdu’l-Bahá , born ‘Abbás Effendí, was the eldest son of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. In 1892, `Abdu'l-Bahá was appointed in his father's will to be his successor and head of the Bahá'í Faith. `Abdu'l-Bahá was born in Tehran to an aristocratic family of the realm...

, the son of the founder of the religion wrote:
"There is nothing greater or more blessed than the Love of God! It gives healing to the sick, balm to the wounded, joy and consolation to the whole world, and through it alone can man attain Life Everlasting. The essence of all religions is the Love of God, and it is the foundation of all the sacred teachings."

Bhakti movements

Devotees of Krishna

Krishna

Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...

worship him in different emotional, transcendental raptures, known as rasas

Rasa (theology)

Rasa is a Sanskrit theological concept specific to Krishna-centered bhakti traditions, such as Gaudiya Vaishnavism. The theological use of the word can be found early, about two thousand years before the Nimbarka or Caitanya schools of bhakti, in a phrase that Chaitanya traditions frequently...

. Two major systems of Krishna worship developed, each with its own philosophical system. These two systems are aishwaryamaya bhakti and madhuryamaya bhakti. Aishwaryamaya bhakti is revealed in the abode of queens and kingdom of Krishna in Dwaraka. Madhuryamaya Bhakti is revealed in the abode of Braja. Thus Krishna is variously worshipped according to the development of devotee's taste in worshipping the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna, as father, friend, master, beloved and many different varieties which are all extraordinary. Krishna is famous as Makhanchor, or butter thief. He loved to eat butter and is the beloved of his little village in Gokul

Gokul

-In Vedic Scripture:-Geography:Gokul is located at . It has an average elevation of 163 metres .-Demographics: India census, Gokul had a population of 4041. Males constitute 55% of the population and females 45%. Gokul has an average literacy rate of 60%, higher than the national average of...

. These are all transcendental descriptions. Thus they are revealed to the sincere devotees in proportion to the development in their love of Godhead. Vaishnavism

Vaishnavism

Vaishnavism is a tradition of Hinduism, distinguished from other schools by its worship of Vishnu, or his associated Avatars such as Rama and Krishna, as the original and supreme God....

is a form of monotheism

Monotheism

, sometimes described as 'polymorphic monotheism', with implication that there are many forms of one original deity, defined as belief in a single unitary deity who takes many forms. In Krishnaism this deity is Krishna, sometimes referred as intimate deity - as compared with the numerous four-armed forms of Narayana

Narayana

Narayana or Narayan or Naraina is an important Sanskrit name for Vishnu, and in many contemporary vernaculars a common Indian name. Narayana is also identified as the original man, Purusha. The Puranas present divergent views on Narayana...

or Vishnu

Vishnu

Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....

. It may refer to either of the interrelated concepts of the love of God towards creation, the love of creatures towards God or relationship between the two as in bhakti

Bhakti

In Hinduism Bhakti is religious devotion in the form of active involvement of a devotee in worship of the divine.Within monotheistic Hinduism, it is the love felt by the worshipper towards the personal God, a concept expressed in Hindu theology as Svayam Bhagavan.Bhakti can be used of either...

As an Attribute of God

In Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

, God's love for mankind or the world is expressed in Greek as agape

Agape

Agape is one of the Greek words translated into English as love, one which became particularly appropriated in Christian theology as the love of God or Christ for mankind. In the New Testament, it refers to the fatherly love of God for humans, as well as the human reciprocal love for God; the term...

, famously in : "God so loved the world" . The same Greek word agape is used also of the love of Christians for one another and for other human beings, as in : "May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else" . The corresponding verb agapō is used not only of God's love and of the mutual love of Christians, but also of Christians' love for God, as in : "And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother" .

To avoid the sexual connotations of the Latin word "amor", the word "caritas" was preferred as the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

equivalent of this New Testament

New Testament

The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

word. Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas, O.P. , also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, was an Italian Dominican priest of the Catholic Church, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Communis, or Doctor Universalis...

taught that the essence of sanctity lies in love of God, and Thérèse of Lisieux made love of God the centre of her spirituality.

Christian Mysticism

The experience of God's love is a central part in most traditions of Christian mysticism

Christian mysticism

Christian mysticism refers to the development of mystical practices and theory within Christianity. It has often been connected to mystical theology, especially in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions...

. In Ignatian spirituality

Ignatian spirituality

Ignatian spirituality sometimes called Jesuit spirituality, is a Catholic spirituality which both lay and religious people have traditionally found helpful. Founded on the experiences of a 16th century saint, struggling to live a good life, it is sometimes referred to as the spirituality for...

, coming to know God's passionate love, individually, is a formative experience that allows you to make decisions that are more in line with God's will for you, who is the source of one's existence. This formation for discernment

Discernment

Discernment is a term used to describe the activity of determining the value and quality of a certain subject or event. Typically, it is used to describe the activity of going past the mere perception of something, to making detailed judgments about that thing...

, can help with big decisions (such as vocation) and seemingly small, such as helping your neighbour in a particular way. This experience of God's love plays a central role in the Spiritual Exercises

Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, are a set of Christian meditations, prayers and mental exercises, divided into four thematic 'weeks' of variable length, designed to be carried out over a period of 28 to 30 days...

, which are the foundation of Ignatian spirituality. As St. Ignatius

Ignatius of Loyola

Ignatius of Loyola was a Spanish knight from a Basque noble family, hermit, priest since 1537, and theologian, who founded the Society of Jesus and was its first Superior General. Ignatius emerged as a religious leader during the Counter-Reformation...

wrote to St. Francis Xavier

Francis Xavier

Francis Xavier, born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta was a pioneering Roman Catholic missionary born in the Kingdom of Navarre and co-founder of the Society of Jesus. He was a student of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and one of the first seven Jesuits, dedicated at Montmartre in 1534...

, a long-time friend and companion, 'Go set the world on fire [i.e. with God's love]!' God's love also plays an important part in the writings of Medieval German mystics

German mysticism

German mysticism, sometimes called Dominican mysticism or Rhineland mysticism, was a late medieval Christian mystical movement, that was especially prominent within the Dominican order and in Germany. Although its origins can be traced back to Hildegard of Bingen, it is mostly represented by...

, such as Mechthild of Magdeburg

Mechthild of Magdeburg

Mechthild of Magdeburg , a Beguine, was a medieval mystic, whose book Das fließende Licht der Gottheit described her visions of God....

and Hildegard von Bingen, who describe divine love as a burning passion. Julian of Norwich

Julian of Norwich

Julian of Norwich is regarded as one of the most important English mystics. She is venerated in the Anglican and Lutheran churches, but has never been canonized, or officially beatified, by the Catholic Church, probably because so little is known of her life aside from her writings, including the...

expresses the same sentiment in her Sixteen Revelations of Divine Love (ca. 1393).

Greek polytheism

In polytheism

Polytheism

Polytheism is the belief of multiple deities also usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own mythologies and rituals....

, that which is loved by the gods (τὸ θεοφιλές) was identified as the virtuous

Virtue

Virtue is moral excellence. A virtue is a positive trait or quality subjectively deemed to be morally excellent and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being....

or pious

Pietas

Pietas was one of the Roman virtues, along with gravitas and dignitas. It is usually translated as "duty" or "devotion."-Definition:The word pietas is originally from Latin. The first printed record of the word’s use in English is from Anselm Bayly’s The Alliance of Music, Poetry, and Oratory,...

. Socrates

Socrates

Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary ...

famously asked whether this identification is a tautology

Tautology (logic)

In logic, a tautology is a formula which is true in every possible interpretation. Philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein first applied the term to redundancies of propositional logic in 1921; it had been used earlier to refer to rhetorical tautologies, and continues to be used in that alternate sense...

, see Euthyphro dilemma

Euthyphro dilemma

The Euthyphro dilemma is found in Plato's dialogue Euthyphro, in which Socrates asks Euthyphro: "Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?"...

The Greek "philotheos" and "theophilos"

In Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

philotheos means "loving God, pious", as philosophos means a lover of wisdom (sophia). The word Theophilos was and is used as a proper name, but does not appear as an adjective or common noun in Greek, which uses instead the form theophilês, which means "dear to God" but also "loving God".

Eric Voegelin

Eric Voegelin

Eric Voegelin, born Erich Hermann Wilhelm Vögelin, was a German-born American political philosopher. He was born in Cologne, then Imperial Germany, and educated in political science at the University of Vienna. He became a teacher and then an associate professor of political science at the...

has used "theophilos" as a common noun: "In the Phaedrus, Plato

Plato

Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...

has Socrates

Socrates

describe the characteristics of the True thinker. When Phaedrus asks what one should call such a man, Socrates, following Heraclitus

Heraclitus

Heraclitus of Ephesus was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, a native of the Greek city Ephesus, Ionia, on the coast of Asia Minor. He was of distinguished parentage. Little is known about his early life and education, but he regarded himself as self-taught and a pioneer of wisdom...

, replies that the term sophos, one who knows, would be excessive: this attribute may be applied to God Alone : but one well call him philosophos. Thus "actual knowledge

Gnosiology

The term gnosiology is a term of 18th Century aesthetics, currently used mainly in regard to Eastern Christianity.-Etymology:...

" is reserved to God; finite man can only be the "lover of knowledge," not himself the one who knows. In the meaning of the passage, the lover of the knowledge that belongs only to the knowing God, the philosophos, becomes the theophilos, the lover of God."

Hinduism

In Hinduism

Hinduism

Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

, in contrast to kāma, which is selfish, or pleasurable love, prema – or prem – refers to elevated love. Karuna is compassion and mercy, which impels one to help reduce the suffering of others. Bhakti is a Sanskrit term, meaning "loving devotion to the supreme God." A person who practices bhakti is called a bhakta. Hindu writers, theologians, and philosophers have distinguished nine forms of bhakti, which can be found in the Bhagavata Purana and works by Tulsidas. The philosophical work Narada Bhakti Sutras, written by an unknown author (presumed to be Narada), distinguishes eleven forms of love.

On the mystic side of Hinduism, one of the forms of Yoga

Yoga

Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...

includes Ishvarapranidhana

Ishvarapranidhana

Ishvarapranidhana represents surrender to, and love for, the divinity within the individual in Hinduism and Yoga.-Etymology and meaning:In its simplest form, the word is a combination of the words , Ishvara, meaning Lord, God, Supreme Being or Life Force, and Pranidhana, meaning attention to, love...

, or self-surrender to God, and His worship.

Islam

The love of God, and the fear of God

Fear of God (religion)

The fear of God or fear of the is an attitude to religious practice advocated primarily in the Abrahamic religions. Since the term "of God" is singular, rather than plural "of the gods," the term implies monotheism.-Judaism:...

, are two of the foundations of Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

. The highest spiritual attainment in Islam is related to the love of God. “Yet there are men who take (for worship) others besides God, as equal (with God): They love them as they should love God. But those of Faith are overflowing in their love for God.” (Quran 2:165)

Islam, as Christianity, has numerous mystics

Mysticism

Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...

and traditions about the love of God, as in:

“O lovers! The religion of the love of God is not found in Islam alone.

In the realm of love, there is neither belief, nor unbelief.” (Rumi)

Judaism

The love of God has been called the "essence of Judaism

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

." “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (Deut. 6:5)

Meher Baba

The spiritual teacher Meher Baba

Meher Baba

Meher Baba , , born Merwan Sheriar Irani, was an Indian mystic and spiritual master who declared publicly in 1954 that he was the Avatar of the age....

described the transformative power of love for God: "When love for God reaches its zenith, it destroys the I-ness,' and all desires and longings. Nothing remains except God and his lover united as one!"

Other

Goethe expresses the sentiment of love of God alongside the opposite sentiment of hatred of God in his two poems Ganymed

Ganymed (Goethe)

Ganymed is a poem by Johann Wolfgang Goethe, in which the character of the mythic youth Ganymede is seduced by God through the beauty of Spring....

and Prometheus

Prometheus (Goethe)

Prometheus is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, in which the character of the mythic Prometheus addresses God in misotheist accusation and defiance. The poem was written between 1772 and 1774 and first published in 1789 after an anonymous and unauthorised publication in 1785 by Friedrich...

, respectively.

External links

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Bahá'í Faith

Bhakti movements

As an Attribute of God

Christian Mysticism

Greek polytheism

The Greek "philotheos" and "theophilos"

Hinduism

Islam

Judaism

Meher Baba

Other

See also

External links