Overview

In the twenty-first century, amid globalized violence, rising demagogues, and the climate emergency, contemporary philosophers and theologians have begun to debate a fundamental question: Is our reality the result of the overflowing, ever-present creativity of Love, or the symptom of a traumatic rupture at the heart of all things? Drawing on decades of research in postmodern philosophy and experience as a psychotherapist, James H. Olthuis wades into this discussion to propose a radical ontology of Love without metaphysics. In dialogue with philosophers like John D. Caputo, Slavoj Zizek, Luce Irigaray, and others, Olthuis explores issues from divine sovereignty and the problem of evil to trauma and social ethics. Experience in therapeutic work informs these investigations, rooting them in journeys with individuals on the path to healing. Olthuis makes the bold claim that while trauma, pain, and suffering are significant parts of our human lives, nevertheless Love is with us to the very end. Creation is a gift that comes with a call to make something of it ourselves, a risky task we must take on with the promise that Love will win. We are all dancing in the wild spaces of Love: ex amore, cum amore, ad amorem.

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9781666737929

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The sheer attractive force of this meditation on the love at the heart of everything draws biblical hermeneutics, Derrida and Irigaray, trauma theory, and social ethics into an irresistible theopoetics. In this wild dance of a text, Olthuis may be loving theology itself back to life. --Catherine Keller, author of Facing Apocalypse: Climate, Democracy and Other Last Chances Dancing in the Wild Spaces of Love is everything we have come to expect from Jim Olthuis--a beautifully written, carefully argued, wide-ranging analysis of the centrality of love in our lives, a veritable philosophical hymn to love. Olthuis is a bright light in these dark days, a balm for an age of anger, rage, and divisiveness in which love is an increasingly scarce commodity. We have never needed him more than now. --John D. Caputo, Villanova University, emeritus In every sense possible, Olthuis lives up to the subtitle of this remarkable book. This is indeed a theopoetics and must be engaged as such. . . . Having walked the path of trauma and profound brokenness, together with healing and hope, Olthuis embodies a wisdom born of tears. But tears can turn to dancing. So put on your dancing shoes when you read this book. --Brian J. Walsh, coauthor of Romans Disarmed: Resisting Empire, Demanding Justice

Author Information

James H. Olthuis is professor (emeritus) of philosophical theology at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto. He has worked as a psychotherapist since 1982 and is the author of The Beautiful Risk: A New Psychology of Loving and Being Loved (2006).

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