Kyle Hubbard: 'God is Love': Augustine of Hippo's Reading of the First Epistle of John

In the first epistle of John, the author identifies God with love (agape). Many early Christian commentators wrestled with how to understand this claim. Is the author making a statement about God's very nature, or a claim about how we experience God? In both his Homilies on 1 John and The Trinity, Augustine of Hippo seems to interpret the Johannine claim in the former way, arguing that human love (agape) reveals the very nature of the Trinitarian God.But such an interpretation of 'God is love' seems deeply problematic on Augustine's own terms because of his consistent belief in divine transcendence: "The divine substance is altogether transcendent and far above our own nature" (Teaching Christianity I, 72). So is there a way to reconcile Augustine's interpretation of the Johannine claim along with his beliefs in divine transcendence? While some commentators have argued that these can be reconciled, they do so by claiming that Augustine interprets "God is love" to mean that God is so far above human love that the only way we understand God is through God's very difference from human love. While such interpretations ensure divine transcendence, they do so by misreading the Homilies and The Trinity. I will offer a more nuanced account of Augustine's interpretation of the Johannine claim, arguing that such an interpretation can still be reconciled with Augustine's stated beliefs on divine transcendence.