Love – such a deceptively simple and popular little word.
It is almost universally agreed that we need love in order to live and flourish as human beings; and yet within our contemporary culture there are numerous confusing, competing and evolving ideas about what ‘love’ is.
There are few greater subjects in Christian theology than love; yet it is a surprisingly complex and challenging concept to understand, let alone live by. Patrick Mitchel’s conviction is that Christians need to be thinking about, and practising, love in compelling and winsome ways. Our task is not only to articulate what love is, but also to show to the world what authentic Christian love looks like in practice. ‘The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love’ (Gal. 5:6 NIV).
Mitchel’s exposition explores love in the Old Testament; how the love of God is supremely revealed in the mission and death of Jesus Christ; love in the life and teaching of Jesus; and the church’s calling to be a community of love. He helps us to grasp afresh the breadth, depth, scope, and radically counter-cultural nature of the Bible’s teaching on love.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Senior Lecturer in Theology at the Irish Bible Institute, Dublin. Involved in theological education and church development in the Republic of Ireland for over 25 years. Author ofEvangelicalism and National Identity in Ulster 1922-1998(OUP) and numerous other book chapters and articles. Blogs at faithinireland.com
It is almost universally agreed that we need love in order to live and flourish as human beings; and yet within our contemporary culture there are numerous confusing, competing and evolving ideas about what ‘love’ is.
There are few greater subjects in Christian theology than love; yet it is a surprisingly complex and challenging concept to understand, let alone live by. Patrick Mitchel’s conviction is that Christians need to be thinking about, and practising, love in compelling and winsome ways. Our task is not only to articulate what love is, but also to show to the world what authentic Christian love looks like in practice. ‘The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love’ (Gal. 5:6 NIV).
Mitchel’s exposition explores love in the Old Testament; how the love of God is supremely revealed in the mission and death of Jesus Christ; love in the life and teaching of Jesus; and the church’s calling to be a community of love. He helps us to grasp afresh the breadth, depth, scope, and radically counter-cultural nature of the Bible’s teaching on love.