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humanism that spread simultaneously
into Judaism, Christianity, and Islam can
be found when the lost texts of Aristotle
were discovered, translated, and
appropriated by scholars from these
three religions who worked at the same
tables in Islamic libraries in Spain and
Sicily during the ninth and tenth
centuries. Richard Rubinstein in his
timely book titled Aristotle’s Children
(2003) tells the story well. 7 This gave
rise to forms of Aristotelian religious
humanism in the works of Thomas
Aquinas in Christianity, Maimonides in
Judaism, and Averroës in Islam. On the
American scene, one sees another form
of Christian humanism in the synthesis
of philosophical pragmatism, with all its
influence from Darwin, and expressions
of liberal Christianity and the social
gospel movement. 8

Religious humanisms have not
always flourished and are subject to
attacks from both fundamentalists and
scientific secularists. They need
constant updating and vigorous
intellectual development. But at their
best, they make it possible for societies
to maintain strong religious communities
as well as integrating symbolic
umbrellas that protect the productive
interaction of the scientific disciplines
with the wider cultural and religious life.

An Example: The Agape, Caritas, and
Eros Debate

Few words in the English
language have such a range of everyday
meanings and of serious philosophical
and theological consideration as the
word love. For this reason, it is an
excellent candidate for scientific
investigation that has potential benefits
for religious practice and everyday life.
Although some theologians have sought
to create a sharp division between

"Christian love" and all other forms of
love, the tradition of religious humanism
proposes that science clarifies the
workings of love in human societies and
religion extends the scope of love
beyond its most immediate domain of
kinship.

There are three major tensions in
theological discussions of Christian love.
They center around the two Greek words
agape and eros and the Latin word
caritas. A famous book titled Agape
and Eros (1953) written by the Swedish
theologian Anders Nygren traced the
debate through Christian history. 9
Nygren believed that the truly normative
and authentic understanding of Christian
love is found in the word agape, the
Greek word used for Christian love in
the New Testament. It refers to a kind of
self-giving, even self-sacrificial, love
that is only possible by the grace of God.
10 Nygren was particularly interested in
arguing that Christian love did not build
on what the Greek philosophers called
eros. He claimed eros refers to the
natural desires of humans to have and
unite with the goods of life. This
includes the goods of health, wealth,
affiliation, and pleasure but it also
includes the higher goods of beauty and
truth. Nygren’s point, however, was
that Christian love does not build on or
incorporate eros – the natural
aspirational strivings of humans. He
believed he found this view of Christian
love in the New Testament (especially
the writing of the apostle Paul) and
Martin Luther, the giant of the Protestant
Reformation.

Nygren was particularly
interested in dismantling the classical
medieval Roman Catholic view of
Christian love that was often
summarized with the English word
charity or the Latin word caritas. Why

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