 |
We use the word “love” often to express many different feelings, events, and situations, but as author Mosgrove elucidates, the Greek language has provided a basis for examining many separate aspects of love. Mosgrove explores these terms, viewing them as a progression: agapao, or friendship; eros, or romantic, intimate relations; storge, the love established between parents and children; philia, a love that arises among extended family; epithumia or compelling desire; and agape, the unconditional love of God.
Mosgrove offers an array of stories that demonstrate the definition of each of the Greek words. For agapao, he describes the friendship between two workmates, Amy and Carl. Both dedicated to their profession, they find a particular alliance when they work together. When Carl receives a job offer in another city, they continue their friendship at long distance. Then she accepts a job at his location, and things begin to change from agapao to eros. Carl and Amy’s tale illustrates other types of love: they marry and have a child, exemplifying storge; their two families unite in a large reunion punctuated with moving prayers from one of the family elders, providing examples of philia and the shared agape experience. Agape is also cited in the case of Ken, a young man with memories of a loveless childhood and a nightmarish stint of incarceration but who later finds friends and forgiveness in a small country church. Epithumia is shown in the attachment of Millie, a homeless lady, for her dog. So strong is the bond that she always brings her pet to church, where both find acceptance.
Mosgrove began writing on this and other related subject matter upon becoming a widower after sixty years of marriage. He is an active participant in church and community organizations, including nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and the Salvation Army. The reader will infer that many of Mosgrove’s vibrant characterizations stem from this charitable activism, in which he doubtless meets people across many social strata who have suffered a multitude of trials in life before seeking the help that people like the author can offer. He writes with an undeniable depth of conviction, plainly setting the parameters of his treatise as he declares his sincere belief in the Christian message. He is careful to express the dark side of some forms of love in contrast to their bright aspects, stating that eros and epithumia, in particular, are, at their worst, subject to permeation by egotism, obsession, perversion, and abuse.
The one enduring love, Mosgrove stresses, is agape, which is contrasted with all other forms because it stems from a pure, divine source. He has devised a clever fable within his narrative concerning the “pot of gold” at the end of the rainbow and a man who searches diligently to find it, discovering a far greater prize than mere gold. In creating this allegory, Mosgrove shows his creative gifts as a storyteller, woven within his rational treatise on love’s broader meaning. His book could be used as a study guide for open-minded and open-hearted Christians looking for new ways to reach out to the less fortunate but no less redeemable Kens and Millies among us.