Desire: A Theological Reappraisal

Abstract Desire and its cognates—longing, yearning—do a lot of hard work in modern theology, the work grounded in philosophical precedents going back at least as far as the early German Romantics. These precedents helped to inaugurate the twentieth century explorations of psychoanalysis. And so, desire re‐entered theological conversation and some lessons were learnt; most evidently about bringing the body back to the soul and the spirit. Despite the impact of Nygren’s Agape and Eros thesis, the range ‘desire’ covers now in modern theology admits no dualism between caritas and eros, and has actively promoted discussions that move fluidly between philosophy and theology. But a question remains that this essay can only begin to explore: what is desire? The question arises because, as theologians concerned with concepts closely allied to desiring, yearning, and longing—concepts such as grace, participation, friendship, love, and formation, for example—we employ it as if we knew what it is, and the mechanics of its operations are self‐evident. But desire, this essay argues, is obscure and multiple, elusive, deceptive, and slippery. And that has theological implications.