Eros

Definition and Meaning

Eros is one of several Greek words for love. It denotes the desire to obtain something beautiful or valuable to which one is drawn, and it extends to romantic love between men and women and to sexual attraction. Ancient Greek philosophy, and Plato in particular, sometimes described eros as the soul's longing to ascend toward beauty and the good.

Biblical and Historical Background

The noun eros does not occur in the New Testament. When the New Testament speaks of love, it mainly uses words from the agape family (unconditional love) and the phileo family (affection between friends). Eros is generally said to have become a major theological topic after the Swedish Lutheran theologian Anders Nygren published Agape and Eros in the 1930s. Nygren set the two loves in opposition. He regarded eros as an ascending love that seeks to gain what it lacks, and agape as a love that descends from God irrespective of the worth of its object. He also characterized Augustine's concept of caritas (love) as a synthesis of the two.

Many critics have argued that this distinction separates the two loves too sharply. C. S. Lewis, in The Four Loves, treated eros as one of the natural loves given by God. In the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI stated in his 2005 encyclical Deus Caritas Est ("God Is Love") that eros and agape cannot be completely separated.

Usage in Korean Churches

In Korean churches, sermons and Bible studies that introduce the Greek words for love commonly include eros. In these settings eros is usually defined narrowly as "physical and romantic love between a man and a woman," while agape is contrasted with it as the higher love of God. This explanation is frequently used in premarital education and in teaching on sexuality and dating in young adult ministries. In the same contexts, an interpretation of the Song of Solomon as a book celebrating the beauty of marital love is sometimes presented as well.

No denomination is known to have adopted an official position on eros. Theological understandings do differ, however. One view, like Nygren's, sees eros as a human-centered love set against the love of God. Another regards eros as good within the order of creation and as a love that can be refined by agape. Both streams of thought coexist in seminaries and in the pulpit.