Self-Love as the Development of Neighborly Love through the Prism of God’s Love: Augustinian Love through the Lens of Oliver O’Donovan

Abstract

This study examines Augustine’s perspective on love through four defining aspects: cosmic love, positive love, rational love and benevolent love. O’Donovan will demonstrate, in dealing with these four aspects of Augustine’s thought, how he manages to move from one to the other in the order necessary for the equitable fulfilment of the commandment of love given by Christ to his disciples. These sensible claims have been thoughtfully fulfilled by Oliver O’Donovan, in his eminent book The Problem of Self-Love in St. Augustine, where, in one section, he makes an essential systematization of love in Augustine, a systematization we shall present in this study.