The Path of Perfect Love

Allen, professor of philosophy at Princeton Seminary, wrote this book because he believed that academic theology was in a state of skepticism. He argues throughout that traditional doctrines of Christianity are best understood when grounded upon the doctrine of divine love. Humans perceive the presence of God in both the natural and human environment, which means that humans experience love in ordinary daily life. This also means that the entire universe is conceived in love, sustained by love, and directed towards its consummation. In this sense, love has cosmic proportions. In light of understanding Christianity as founded upon love, Allen argues that Christians must act differently. In particular, Christians must: be attentive to academic and scientific disciplines, learn to see ourselves as the objects of perfect love, aware of that which is beyond our present life, pay attention to Jesus and confess what we see in Him, and forsake the world. Death should be seen as the complete destruction of the self-centered life that we now have, and life after death as resurrection should be understood as possible because of divine love. The author sums up the book by saying that he has argued that the presence of God can be perceived indirectly by a person who is moving away from a self-centered stance and who has forsaken the world. "The more our life is disciplined by attentiveness to others, and the more we cultivate an awareness of the inability of the world to give us the fulfillment that we crave, the deeper and clearer is our awareness of God's presence" (103). I recommend this book. Thomas Jay Oord