Rembrandt, 'The Jewish Bride'. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
‘Love does not question; it gives an answer. Love does not think; it knows. Love does not hesitate; it acts. Love does not fall into raptures; it is ready to undertake responsibilities. Love puts behind it all the Ifs and Buts, all the conditions, reservations, obscurities and uncertainties that may arise between a man and a woman. Love is not only affinity and attraction; it is union. Love makes these two persons indispensable to each other. Love compels them to be with each other’. – Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics III.4 (trans. A.T. Mackay, et al.; Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1961), 221.
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Hey Jason. Have you read Sorley MacLean’s Dàin do Eimhir/Poems to Eimhir?
No. Do you know if the 2008 edition is any different to that of the 2002? (They were both edited by Christopher Whyte and the 2008 ed seems to just be a new cover).
Love isn’t about tally’s. Love insists that there are no paybacks. Love never asks, “What are you gonna do for me now that I…?” Love never utters the words “You owe me”. Love never shouts out “Remember the time when you…!”
Love is always denying ones own fleeting happiness in the hope of helping another find joy. Love never uses money, power, sex, religion, status, or weakness as a weapon.
Love takes a bullet and smiles back.
Your post by the wonderful Barth reminded me of something I wrote a couple years ago.
Thanks for the reminder Jason.
Hey Jason. I’m not sure. I haven’t seen the new edition. The Univ. of Otago library has the 2002 edition, which has excellent notes.
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