Eros Unveiled: Plato and the God of Love

This unique book challenges the traditional distinction between eros , the love found in Greek thought, and agape , the love characteristic of Christianity. Focusing on a number of classic texts, including Plato’s Symposium and Lysis , Aristotle’s Ethics and Metaphysics, , and famous passages in Gregory of Nyssa, Origen, Dionysius the Areopagite, Plotinus, Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas, the author shows that Plato’s account of eros is not founded on self-interest. In this way, she restores the place of erotic love as a Christian motif, and unravels some longstanding confusions in philosophical discussions of love.