While admitting that "Christianity of the past" has at times devalued the human body and erotic love, Benedict argues that the Christian tradition does have important resources to help persons integrate their sexual drive into a healthy, mature love life.  His argument is based on showing the essential connection between two types of love: the passionate drive for union traditionally knows as eros and the generous self-giving love called agape.  The Pope recognizes the power of erotic love where "body and soul are inseparably joined" and "human beings glimpse an apparently irresistible promise of happiness."  He also notes the tendency in contemporary culture to reduce eros to mere sex and to portray the human body not as "a vital expression of our whole being," but as a purely material substance "to be used and exploited at will."

Rejecting all dualistic philosophies that debase eros, Benedict insists that the human person is called to love others not as a disembodied spirit but as "a unified creature composed of body and soul."  Only when persons truly unite their spiritual and physical dimensions can they gain their "full stature," and enable eros "to mature and attain its authentic grandeur."  We need discipline and renunciation so that erotic love does not simply submit to the desire for "fleeting pleasure," but achieves its true nature as "a certain foretaste" of that "beatitude for which our whole being yearns."  Eros, which often seems like "a kind of intoxication" or "a divine madness," must be purified so that it can rise in "ecstasy towards the Divine."

This purification is the work of agape, a love that transforms selfishness into care for others and concern for "the good of the beloved."  Mature love purified by agape involves an "ongoing exodus out of the closed inward-looking self toward its liberation through self-giving, and thus towards authentic self-discovery and indeed the discovery of God."  Love which integrates erotic passion and self-giving care guides us on the journey toward our eternal fulfillment.

After establishing this unified synergistic relationship between eros and agape, Pope Benedict turns to scripture to complete his theological framework, convinced that both faith and reason contribute to our understanding of human love.  The Bible portrays God as a passionate lover who enters into a personal relationship with Israel for the purpose of healing the whole human family.  The prophets, especially Hosea and Ezekiel, employ "boldly erotic imagery" to describe God's faithful love for Israel.  Reflecting this prophetic imagery, Benedict does not hesitate to speak of God's eros for human beings, a passionate love that is totally agape, an unmerited love freely given.  The Song of Songs not only celebrates the erotic love between a man and woman, but invites us to enter into a personal intimate union with God.  In Genesis, God gives Adam a helpmate suggesting that individual human beings are "somehow incomplete," and can only become complete "in communion with the opposite sex."  In the divine plan, eros directs couples toward the exclusive bond of monogamous marriage that becomes "an icon of the relationship between God and his people."

These biblical insights take on flesh and blood in Jesus Christ, who not only told marvelous stories of divine love, like the parable of the Prodigal Son, but also embodied agape in "his very being and activity."  His death on the cross for the salvation of all is "love in its most radical form."  Contemplating the pierced side of Christ leads us to the essential truth that God is love and that our lives find their deepest meaning in following the path of love.  The Father of Jesus loves us passionately and "seeks to win our hearts" so that "love can also blossom as a response within us."

Benedict's theological analysis of agape completes the framework for understanding eros.  Erotic feelings can be "a marvelous first spark" but they are not "the fullness of love."  Mature love engages the whole person.  Saying "yes" to the will of God "unites our intellect, will and sentiments in the all-embracing act of love."  During our earthly journey, agape works to purify and transform eros in an open-ended, never-ending process.  Love is most faithful to itself when it continues to grow and mature by gradually attuning itself to the will of God, so that it more faithfully reflects the love of Christ.  "Seeing with the eyes of Christ," we can give to others "the look of love they crave."  Benedict concludes the first part of his encyclical by highlighting the power of love to transcend divisions and to make us a "we" so that God can be all in all.

Deus Caritas Est serves as a carefully reasoned response to the charge that Christianity has poisoned eros and repressed the joy of sexual love.  From a pastoral perspective, it is surely helpful to have a papal encyclical that makes love central to the Christian life rather than some peripheral concern and that puts more emphasis on the positive aspects of erotic love than on moral restrictions.  Also welcome is the Pope's affirmation that human beings are an integrated whole and not a temporary composite of a spiritual soul meant for God and a physical body that only impedes our journey to heaven.  Many people, including those struggling with sexual temptations, can find hope and encouragement from Benedict's recognition that achieving sexual maturity is a lifelong process that is never totally complete.  The long section on the biblical notion of agape contains inspiring material for those striving to transform selfishness into self-giving love.  It invites prayerful reflection on the triune Source of all love: the Father who passionately pursues all people; the Word made flesh who gave himself totally even to death on the cross for the sake of the whole human family; and the Spirit who gathers people into a communion that transcends all divisions and differences.  Some Catholics still encumbered by negative notions of sex and the body need to hear the Pope himself explicitly teach that erotic love is essentially good and that married love is a sacrament of divine love.  Even our young people immersed in a culture that extols the power and importance of sexual experience can benefit from the larger Christian perspective on the fundamental goodness of human sexuality proposed by the Pope.  Sex is good not just because it is desirable and pleasurable, but because it is an essential component of the divine plan to draw couples together in a loving partnership to propagate the human race.

Benedict's insistence that eros needs the purifying power of agape to find its true fulfillment is especially relevant today.  Our secular culture continues to present sex as an autonomous possession to be used as desire dictates, often with little regard for potential destructive consequences.  To counter this dangerous assumption, the Pope insists that sexuality is a gift from God and must be used responsibly.  His strategy for dealing with the ambivalent energy built into eros is to transform it through the power of self-giving love.  This requires a regimen of discipline and renunciation that does not poison eros, but liberates it to achieve its true goal of drawing people together and bringing them closer to God.

The pastoral perspective also reveals limitations in Pope Benedict's first encyclical.  Not many pastors and teachers are going to make explicit use of his carefully constructed theological framework in their discussions of human sexuality.  The argument relating eros and agape may be of interest to theologians, but seems too abstract and esoteric for practical purposes.  Some married couples find the notion of eros totally transformed by agape to be overly idealized and out of touch with their mundane, ordinary experience of erotic love.  Parents who want to give their children a positive understanding of sexuality will probably draw more on their own experience than on the encyclical.  It remains difficult to reach critics who instinctively tune out a celibate Pope speaking about sex.  Nevertheless, Deus Caritas Est does contain valuable insights for all seeking a positive Christian understanding of human sexuality and erotic love.