Agape (love)

In the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, Paul makes the move that reordered the West's hierarchy of value. The Greek world crowned the human being with sophia – wisdom, knowledge, the sight of truth. Paul takes the knowledge of all mysteries and all learning and says: without love, I am nothing, nothing at all. Agape is neither feeling nor desire (Greek had other words for those, eros and philia); it is an active, self-giving commitment to another for the other's own sake. Augustine will make it the core of Christian ethics; Kierkegaard will write a whole book on it (Works of Love). A modern person who ranks a kind person above a brilliant one is quoting this chapter without knowing it.