On Loving God is one of the best-known and most influential works of Medieval Christian mysticism. Written at the request of one of the cardinals of Rome, it describes the four “levels” of love for God, and puts Christian devotion in the context of God’s love for mankind. Summary by Kirsten Ferreri.
Chapters
1 Why we should love God, and the measure of that love 5 min 2 On loving God. How much God deserves love from man in recognition of His gifts, both material and spiritual: and how these gifts should be cherished without neglect of the Giver 9 min 3 What greater incentives Christians have, more than the heathen, to love God 7 min 4 Of those who find comfort in there collection of God, or are fittest for His love 8 min 5 Of the Christian's debt of love, how great it is 5 min 6 A brief summary 2 min 7 Of love toward God not without reward: and how the hunger of man's heart cannot be satisfied with earthly things 12 min 8 Of the first degree of love: wherein man loves God for self's sake 5 min 9 Of the second and third degrees of love 3 min 10 Of the fourth degree of love: wherein man does not even love self save for God's sake 6 min 11 Of the attainment of this perfection of love only at the resurrection 9 min 12 Of love: out of a letter to the Carthusians 5 min 13 Of the law of self-will and desire, of slaves and hirelings 3 min 14 Of the law of the love of sons 4 min 15 Of the four degrees of love, and of the blessed state of the heavenly fatherland 5 min
