I enjoyed an advanced copy of Thomas Jay Oord’s latest book, Pluriform Love—a more academic read than Oord’s recent works, but that shouldn’t scare you off. Oord writes in such a way as to be accessible to a wide swath of interested readers.
In Pluriform Love, Oord pushes back on some well-entrenched theological sacred cows. Most especially, the way we have come to think about the essence of God, what love looks like, how God loves, how we love, and the relational interplay between God and creation. This includes challenging some of the more sterile and anemic understandings of the idea of agape.
Oord presents a robust definition of love and takes us on a tour of the scriptures to illustrate the way this love lands, demystifying agape’, teasing
out ideas of hesed, eros, and philia for a convincing and empowering path towards a thoughtful, God-inspired love.
Oord certainly challenges some of the key players who have been influential within a Classical theological perspective, but not content to just throw stones, he presents a coherent, hopeful way forward. Oord presents an open and relational perspective that includes some of his best ideas, including Essential Kenosis, Amipotence, and a formidable approach to the problem of evil. These and other fascinating insights form the core of his Pluriform Love.
Thomas Jay Oord’s body of work has proven to be a refreshing glass of water for those pilgrims who are seeking better ideas, whole-making ideas that are more consistent with what we know to be true experientially and through good insights from the modern world. He is ruggedly faithful to the trajectory of constitutive Christianity in a way that renews hope, Christian identity, and relationships with God, our neighbours, the planet, and ourselves. Pluriform Love will invigorate followers of Jesus with a fresh sense of optimism and mission.
Pluriform Love is a thoughtful read that will help many untangle the mish-mash of religious ideas of love helping it land in deeper and more life-impacting ways.
Get your copy of Pluriform Love at Amazon and other book retailers.