THREE LOVES

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE

GREEK, JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN TRADITIONS

The Phoenix Institute

University of Notre Dame
Summer Seminar, 2020

Dr. Diego I. Rosales

Chair of Contemporary Philosophy & Thought
Technological Institute of Monterrey, México
Aliosventos Institute, México

Course description
Love is the most important question in human life. Even if it does not rise to everyone in a theoretical way —
asking themselves what is the essence of love or what is the best definition of it–, sooner or later we are
forced to answer the question in an existential way. We all have to face the questions “Who or what should I
love?” and “How should I love it?”
Many philosophers in history have dedicated their main thoughts to answer the question of what is
love and to the importance it has for the disclosure and the growth of the human person. Philosophy begun in
Ancient Greece, and there we can find many philosophers that have asked this question as the most important
of their thought: Heraclitus, Socrates, Plato, Plotinus. But we have also very deep and important insights
about love that come from other traditions, not only philosophical but also theological and literary. For the
Jewish tradition we can mention The Song of Songs, one of the most beautiful books ever written about love
in its different facets, love as an erotic relation between two human beings but also as a quest for the
searching of God; and there are also contemporary jewish philosophers that have treated this question deeply,
such as Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber or Emmanuel Lévinas. For Christianism, the Gospel itself is one of
the most beautiful love stories ever conceived, but there is also a great literary and philosophical tradition that
takes love as the core of its reflections: Saint Augustin, Saint John of the Cross, or Søren Kierkegaard, just to
mention three great classics.
This course will begin with a literary exploration of the different manifestations of love in human life
and then will continue examining the three traditions: Greek, Jewish and Christian, by reading and discussing
some of their most important works. Reading materials will include some poets such as Shakespeare, St. John
of the Cross, Péguy or Eliot, Plato’s Symposium, some fragments of The Song of Songs and of the works of
Emmanuel Lévinas, and a selection of texts of Saint Augustine of Hippo.

Subjects:
1. A literary introduction to the question of love
a. Love as a human passion: Shakespeare, Lope de Vega, Paz
b. Love as a quest for God: St. John of the Cross, Dostoievsky
c. Love as a relation with the world: Péguy, Eliot, Milosz
2. The ways to Love in the Platonic Symposium
3. Loving the flesh and the Infinity: The Song of Songs and Emmanuel Lévinas
4. The Augustinian crossroads of love: Appetitus, Libido and Caritas
Calendar

Week Date Subject Reading

June 29 Introduction
June 30 1. A literary introduction to the question of Shakespeare, Sonets
love Lope de Vega, Sonets
a. Love as a human passion: Octavio Paz, Poems
Shakespeare, Lope de Vega, Paz
1 July 1 St. John of the Cross, Poems
b. Love as a quest for God: St. John of
Charles Péguy, Poems
the Cross, Péguy, Dostoievsky
July 2 c. Love as a relation with the world: Dostoievsky,
Eliot, Milosz
July 3 T.S. Eliot, Poems
Cezslaw Milosz, Poems

July 6 Plato, Symposium

July 7 Plato, Symposium

2. The ways to Love in the Platonic
2 July 8 Plato, Symposium
Symposium
July 9 Plato, Symposium

July 10 1st exam

July 13 The Song of Songs

July 14 The Song of Songs

July 15 3. Loving the flesh and the Infinity: The The Song of Songs
3 Song of Songs and Emmanuel
July 16 Lévinas Emmanuel Lévinas, Totality and
Infinity
July 17 Emmanuel Lévinas, Totality and
Infinity

July 20 Augustine: Treatises on the Letter

of St. John
July 21 Augustine: Treatises on the Letter
of St. John
4. The Augustinian crossroads of love:
4
July 22 Appetitus, Libido and Caritas Augustine: Treatises on the Letter
of St. John
July 23 Final exam

July 24 Conclusions

References

The Song of Songs.

Augustine of Hippo, St. Treatises on the Letter of St. John.
Dostoievsky, F.
Eliot, T.S. Choruses from the Rock
John of the Cross, St. Spiritual Canticle
Lévinas, E. Totality and Infinity
Lope de Vega, F. Sonets
Paz, O. White.
Péguy, Ch. The Mystery of the Charity of Joan of Arc
Plato. Symposium. Harvard Classics.
Shakespeare, W. Sonets