"The Message of Love" by Patrick Mitchel. A Review
The Message of Love: The Only Thing That Counts by Dr Patrick Mitchel My rating: 5 of 5 stars It’s a fuzzy subject that can evoke strong responses, and rarely gets defined because it’s assumed everyone simply “knows” what it is. I’m referring to that old four-letter word, “Love”. That’s what makes “The Message of Love: The Only Thing that Counts” by Patrick Mitchel, Senior Lecturer at the Irish Bible Institute in Dublin, and elder in Maynooth Community Church, Maynooth Ireland, such an important work. This 336-page softback is one of the newer installments in “The Bible Speaks Today” series edited by Derek Tidball. This volume is thorough, exegetical, thoughtful and engaging. In the introduction Mitchel defines love, and then sets about to show how that definition differs from the alternatives served up today: romantic idealized love; hyper-sexualized love; all-inclusive love; and universal love. The author then asserts that “Christian love is increasingly at odds with contempora...