Man, Woman, and the Meaning of Love: Gods Plan for Love, Marriage, Intimacy, and the Family
| Authors | von Hildebrand, Dietrich, 1889-1977 |
| Tags | Love — Religious aspects — Christianity, Marriage, Man-woman relationships, Friendship |
| Publisher | Sophia Institute Press |
| Published | 15 dic 1965 |
| Date | 26 feb 2022 |
| Languages | eng |
| Identifiers | lcc: 92-19822, google: 31fgAAAACAAJ, Amazon.com, oclc: 26014656, isbn: 091847714X, lcn: HQ801.V66 1992 |
Description
The first § "The Nature of Love" is confusing.
§§ "Love [caritas?] is not an appetite" contradicts §§ "Love [amor?] is different from other affective responses". By "love" he sometimes seems to mean caritas and other-times amor (as when he speaks of there being more to "love" than can be restricted to the spiritual will, as amor depends on the sensitive faculties; cf. The Passions of Christ's Soul in the Theology of St. Thomas Aquinas or The Logic of Desire: Aquinas on Emotion).
§§ "Love does not begin with self-love": Love begins not with self-love, but love of another? But how do we love another without first loving ourselves? Jesus gives self-love as the condition of our love of outhers: Mt. 22:39: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."
This §§ mentions Bl. Jordan of Saxony's comiserating with Bl. Diana d'Andalò's pain as a sign of his love for her.
Nowhere does Hildebrand mention St. Thomas's classic definition of caritas , though he alludes to it: "to will the good [or happiness; cf. §§ 'Love desires happiness for the beloved'] of another".
Antonio Royo Marín, O.P.'s Teología de la caridad or St. Francis de Sales's Treatise on the Love of God are far superior treatments of caritas and amor.
The §§ on artificial contraception, while condemning it, also support Natural Family Planning to avoid conception. § "How contraception differs from natural family planning" speaks, in the context of a supposed overpopulation crisis, of the importance of discovering methods to avoid conception! §§ "Marriage & the problem of overpopulation" claims: "Pope Pius XII said that he prayed ardently that such a means ['that the use of natural family planning will become a reliable way of avoiding conception'] might be found."! Really‽
The last § "Friendship Between Man & Woman" is good. He says that in the Middle Ages, "whether the angels were also masculine and feminine" was a debated question; I didn't know that. St. Thomas (nor John of St. Thomas) don't discuss it, that I know of, but Súarez might.