A short piece by Michael Austin, professor of philosophy at Eastern Kentucky University, explores the dangers of absolutizing romance's role in marriage in an article called "Authentic Love, Kierkegaard, and U2." Drawn from a longer academic paper from 2007, it looks at the thought of Danish philosopher/theologian Soren Kierkegaard in dialogue with the U2 song "A Man and a Woman."
Excerpt: "Those who have truly integrated erotic love and divine love understand that committed married love is valuable for human existence in ways that the person who merely seeks personal pleasure cannot experience or understand. But this kind of love is deeply satisfying and fulfilling, and offers pleasure as well. So we shouldn't trade authentic love for an inferior counterfeit; we shouldn't risk losing love to find romance."
Good article. I'm surprised he didn't mention the line "True love never can be rent; only true love can make beauty innocent." Those are loaded lines.
ReplyDeleteIt's always possible he said more about it in the full article, I suppose!
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