Definition of Agape love
Agape is the Greek word for love "divine" and "unconditional". Agape, often compared to Christian charity, for Plato, the third form that love takes after the "Eros" physical love and the love of the spirit of the other "Philia". It is a selfless love, without seeking personal gain, so it is love for love is to say, the act of charity mainly.
For Martin Luther King, the concept of agape stood at the center of both his spiritual belief in a knowable God and his assertion that love and nonviolence were essential to remedying America’s race problems. He defined agape as ‘‘purely spontaneous, unmotivated, groundless, and creative. It is the love of God operating in the human heart’’.
In his December 1957 sermon ‘‘The Christian Way of life in Human Relations’’ delivered before the General Assembly of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in America (NCC), King referred to three different types of love: eros, romantic love; philia, the reciprocal affection between friends; and agape, the highest form of love. King explored agape in many of his sermons in order to help illuminate the concept of Christian love.
In papers written during his graduate studies at Crozer Theological Seminary and Boston University, King credited theologians Anders Nygren and Paul Tillich with helping to inform his definition of agape. In his paper ‘‘Contemporary Continental Theology,’’ King quoted Nygren’s 1932 book Agape and Eros in characterizing agape as a ‘‘spontaneous and uncaused’’ kind of love that is ‘‘indifferent to human merit’’. He drew on Tillich in his dissertation, claiming, ‘‘The only basic and adequate symbol for God’s love is agape’’. In his dissertation, King argued that only a person can express love and used this rationale as justification for personalism, the belief in a personal God, one to whom people could relate. Harry Emerson Fosdick also influenced King’s thinking on agape. In his discussion on love, King used language very similar to Fosdick’s 1946
For Martin Luther King, the concept of agape stood at the center of both his spiritual belief in a knowable God and his assertion that love and nonviolence were essential to remedying America’s race problems. He defined agape as ‘‘purely spontaneous, unmotivated, groundless, and creative. It is the love of God operating in the human heart’’.
In his December 1957 sermon ‘‘The Christian Way of life in Human Relations’’ delivered before the General Assembly of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in America (NCC), King referred to three different types of love: eros, romantic love; philia, the reciprocal affection between friends; and agape, the highest form of love. King explored agape in many of his sermons in order to help illuminate the concept of Christian love.
In papers written during his graduate studies at Crozer Theological Seminary and Boston University, King credited theologians Anders Nygren and Paul Tillich with helping to inform his definition of agape. In his paper ‘‘Contemporary Continental Theology,’’ King quoted Nygren’s 1932 book Agape and Eros in characterizing agape as a ‘‘spontaneous and uncaused’’ kind of love that is ‘‘indifferent to human merit’’. He drew on Tillich in his dissertation, claiming, ‘‘The only basic and adequate symbol for God’s love is agape’’. In his dissertation, King argued that only a person can express love and used this rationale as justification for personalism, the belief in a personal God, one to whom people could relate. Harry Emerson Fosdick also influenced King’s thinking on agape. In his discussion on love, King used language very similar to Fosdick’s 1946