Eros

The entire body of authoritative Catholic teaching on eros is in Pope Benedict XVI’s first encyclical Deus Caritas Est (God is love)!

The Septuagint contains the word eros only in the Book of Proverbs.

The first use is Prov 7:18: The RSV2CE translates it, “Come, let us take our fill of love [philia] till morning; let us delight ourselves with love [eros].” The Septuagint’s original Greek says, “… orthrou [dawn] deuro [coming of] kai [and] enkylisthomen [let us reel] eroti [in erotic love].” Benedict himself supplies the best explanation of the original Hebrew. § “First there is the word dodim, a plural form suggesting a love that is still insecure, indeterminate and searching. This comes to be replaced by the word ahabà, which the Greek version of the Old Testament translates with the similar-sounding agape, which, as we have seen, becomes the typical expression for the biblical notion of love.”

The second is Prov 30:16. The RSV2CE translates it, “Sheol, the barren womb [eros], the earth ever thirsty for water, and the fire which never says, ‘Enough.’” The Septuagint ’s original Greek says, “Hades [Sheol] kai [and] eros [erotic] gynaikos [woman or wife] …” The sense of it is, put delicately, a womb ever hungry for a man’s presence.

The original Greek New Testament manuscripts do not contain the word eros anywhere.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church does not anywhere contain the words eros or erotic.

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