The Love That Satisfies: Reflections on Eros and Agape

The celebrated author of Theology of the Body Explained and Theology of the Body for Beginners offers compelling insights into Pope Benedict XVI’s profound teaching on human and divine love. The Love That Satisfies is for all—whether married, single, or religious—who are seeking the face of true love in a wounded world. Are we to agree with the Beatles that “All You Need is Love” or with the J. Geils Band that “Love Stinks”? That would depend, of course, on what we mean by that slippery four-letter word L-O-V-E. In The Love That Satisfies, Christopher West turns to the wisdom of both Popes Benedict XVI and John Paul II in order to shed some light on sexual love (eros) and its relationship with divine love (agape). Why is the love between man and woman so attractive and elusive, demanding and rewarding, restrictive and liberating, painful and ecstatic, messy and beautiful, maddening and fulfilling? Our world is saturated with sex but remains starved for love. Why? Perhaps as Waylon Jennings put it, we’re “Lookin’ for love in all the wrong places, lookin’ for love in too many faces.” Where, then, is the right place and whose, then, is the right face in which to look for love? By reflecting on key passages from Pope Benedict’s grand encyclical Deus Caritas Est, this book explores these and many other questions with the goal of pointing all who read it towards the love that satisfies. Those who give Pope Benedict’s teaching the attention it deserves will discover that the Catholic Church has a vision of sexual love far more glorious than anything Sigmund Freud, Hugh Hefner, Britney Spears, or Howard Stern could dream of or imagine. You doubt? This book will make you a believer.