Divine Nature, Love, and Violence: Toward A Feminist Analytic Philosophy of Religion

In this paper, I critically examine the way in which divine love is commonly discussed in analytic philosophy of religion. I argue that we have good reason from feminist perspectives to focus more thoroughly on divine love in discussions of divine personality than has been done in the past. Furthermore, I entertain the possibility that, in the context of the divine-human relationship, love is an aspect of divine personality of a different order of influence, compared to other traits. Additionally, I show how greater attention to divine love can forge new pathways for discussion by considering this in relation to the topic of divine violence. I conclude by suggesting two ways to give greater priority to divine love, one that takes up my constructive proposal that love ought to be given a special status and another that takes a more conservative approach.