Why there is no obligation to love God

Bibliographic Data

ID20313463
AuthorsWilliam Bell (0000-0003-1965-9713, Washington University in St. Louis, corresponding author), Graham Renz (0000-0002-2185-5708, Washington University in St. Louis)
Year2024
Volume60
Issue1
Pages77-88
Publication date2024-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligious Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0034-4125 • E-ISSN: 1469-901X
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0034412523000021
OpenAlexW4321103311
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited11

The first and greatest commandment according to Jesus, and so the one most central to Christian practice, is the command to love God. We argue that this commandment is best interpreted in aretaic rather than deontic terms. In brief, we argue that there is no obligation to love God. While bad , failure to seek and enjoy a union of love with God is not in violation of any general moral requirement. The core argument is straightforward: relations of intimacy should not be morally imposed upon autonomous beings. We contend that such reasoning applies to human beings' relationship to God. So, even if our ultimate end is to enjoy communion with God, God has no right that human beings seek a relationship with him. If this is correct, then the command to ‘love God’ is not the sort of moral principle that can be supported by threats of hellfire or other forms of coercion

Agape · Argument (complex analysis) · Coercion (linguistics) · Deontic logic · Epistemology · Moral obligation · Obligation · Political science · Theism · Theology · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Law · Philosophy · Theology and Philosophy of Evil · War, Ethics, and Justification

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