The Juxtaposition of Divine and Physical Love

Presenter Information

Ruby Lynn Thompson

Document Type

Oral Presentation

Campus where you would like to present

SURC 202

Start Date

17-5-2012

End Date

17-5-2012

Abstract

In my research project, I argue that the nature of a monotheistic god in combination with the rejection of polytheistic beliefs creates an ironclad separation between physical/mortal and divine/immortal aspects of love. For my presentation I will be taking a small sample of this project and expanding on it. In particular, I will be examining the duality of Dianne Sylvan’s perspective as compared to Augustine’s perspective. Dianne Sylvan is the author of A Circle Within: Creating a Wiccan Spiritual Tradition and Augustine is a well-renowned early Christian philosopher. So both Dianne Sylvan and Augustine provide an interesting perspective as in both cases; they originally conformed to paganism and later converted to Christianity. This allows for a comparison of Christian and pagan ideals, in particular the perspectives they have on love. The Christian concept of love emphasizes love of god over love of family, neighbor, material objects, and so on, setting up a “ladder of love.” To contrast, the pagan perception states that divine love is by nature earthly, and therefore one type of love is not inherently better than the other. The two concepts could not be any more different, and while each party believes wholeheartedly in their concepts while they are in that sect, the two religions, having been historically linked for so long, swap adherents quite often, as is the case of both Augustine and Sylvan. Therefore comparing and contrasting their views provides an interesting perspective into why these two ideals have such strong opposing viewpoints.

Faculty Mentor(s)

Cynthia Coe

Additional Mentoring Department

Other

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May 17th, 8:50 AM May 17th, 9:10 AM

The Juxtaposition of Divine and Physical Love

SURC 202

In my research project, I argue that the nature of a monotheistic god in combination with the rejection of polytheistic beliefs creates an ironclad separation between physical/mortal and divine/immortal aspects of love. For my presentation I will be taking a small sample of this project and expanding on it. In particular, I will be examining the duality of Dianne Sylvan’s perspective as compared to Augustine’s perspective. Dianne Sylvan is the author of A Circle Within: Creating a Wiccan Spiritual Tradition and Augustine is a well-renowned early Christian philosopher. So both Dianne Sylvan and Augustine provide an interesting perspective as in both cases; they originally conformed to paganism and later converted to Christianity. This allows for a comparison of Christian and pagan ideals, in particular the perspectives they have on love. The Christian concept of love emphasizes love of god over love of family, neighbor, material objects, and so on, setting up a “ladder of love.” To contrast, the pagan perception states that divine love is by nature earthly, and therefore one type of love is not inherently better than the other. The two concepts could not be any more different, and while each party believes wholeheartedly in their concepts while they are in that sect, the two religions, having been historically linked for so long, swap adherents quite often, as is the case of both Augustine and Sylvan. Therefore comparing and contrasting their views provides an interesting perspective into why these two ideals have such strong opposing viewpoints.