The Altruism Reader: Selections from Writings on Love, Religion, and Science Book

Preface     vii
Defining Love
The Core Meaning of "Love"   Stephen G. Post     3
The Love Racket: Defining Love and Agape for the Love-and-Science Research Program   Thomas Jay Oord     10
Ancient Religious Writings on Love
The Hebrew Scriptures: Psalms 100, 107     31
The Dhammapada: Joy     34
The Bhagavadgita: The Religion of Faith     36
The New Testament: Luke 10:25-37, 1 Corinthians 13, 1 John 4:7-21     39
The Qur'an: The Cow     42
Teaching Christianity: On Christian Doctrine   Augustine of Hippo     44
Summa Theologica: The Treatise on Charity   Thomas Aquinas     55
Agape and Eros: Excerpts   Anders Nygren     60
Love in Any Language   Thomas Jay Oord     86
Contemporary Religious Writings on Love
Loyalty: The Calling of the People of God   Katharine Doob Sakenfeld     95
Understanding Our Fundamental Nature$dHis Holiness the Dalai Lama     117
Ahimsa: The Path of Harmlessness   Thich Nhat Hanh     129
The Incarnation   Daniel Day Williams     133
Agapeistic Ethics   Gene Outka     148
Philia   Edward Collins Vacek     156
Kenotic Creation and Divine Action   John Polkinghorne     177
Kenosis: Gender Connotations   Sarah Coakley     183
Love in Islam   Amira Shamma Abdin     188
The Physics of Altruism
Ethics, Cosmology, and Theories of God   Nancy Murphy   George Ellis     201
The Biology of Altruism
Evolutionary Ethics   Robert Wright     213
The Selfish Gene: Excerpts   Richard Dawkins     226
The Robustness of Reciprocity   Robert Axelrod     237
Getting Along   Frans de Waal     242
Bentham's Corpse   Elliott Sober   David Sloan Wilson     263
The Four Paths to Cooperation   Lee Alan Dugatkin     274
Altruism in the Social Sciences
Affect and Prosocial Responding   Nancy Eisenberg   Sandra Losoya   Tracy Spinrad     285
Aversive-Arousal Reduction   Daniel C. Batson     313
Triangulating Love   Robert J. Sternberg     331
Saving Others: Was It Opportunity or Character?   Samuel P. Oliner   Pearl M. Oliner     348
Progress through Love   Stephen G. Post     369