AGAPE

Anamchara seems the best place for these ruminations. Was surprised at the size of the book of MLK's writings but it also includes his books. Can't understand what the man was saying until you understand the words he used. English has one word for love. The Greeks had a least three. When King said love you neighbor Agape was the word he was using. Something tells me I'm going to be here a lot more often. Then it's the Liberation theologians and the pagans. Interesting how basic ideas cross "party" lines so to speak.

“Agape means nothing sentimental or basically affectionate; it means understanding, redeeming good will for all men, an overflowing love that seeks nothing in return. It is the love of God working in the lives of men. When we love at the agape level we love men not because we like them, not because their ideals and attitudes appeal to us, but because God loves them. Here we rise to the level of loving the person who does the evil deed while hating the deed he does.

…There is something at the very center of our faith that reminds us that Good Friday may reign for a day, but ultimately it will give way to the triumphant beat of Easter drums. Evil may so shape events so that Caesar occupies a palace and Christ a cross, but one day that same Christ will rise up and split BC from AD, so that even the life of Caesar must be dated by his name.  Martin Luther King Jr. from A Testament of Hope. Excerpt from Nonviolence and racial justice 1956.