This classic documents how the Agapē motif, the core of the Christian message, was obscured by Plato's Eros motif in the dark ages and how Agapē was recovered by the Lutheran Reformation.

The only real disappointments are (1) that its treatment of the Old Testament falls short of that of the New Testament and (2) that it fails to emphasize the intra-Trinitarian Agapē as the foundation of all Agapē, as Law and Gospel and the Means of Grace draws out of the Johannine literature.

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The basic theme is eros-piety (as exemplified by Plato), agape-piety (the early Church and Luther) and their synthesis (St. Agustine).
If it weren't for the length, I would have given it 5 stars. But 700+ pages was a bit too much.

This book is a classic and a foundational book for all serious Christian students. An excellent study of these two words that are so basic to Christianity.

J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'"