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Intersubjectivity and Love

28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” – Mark 12:28-31

Recently I’ve been thinking about these verses in Mark 12 more and more for a number of reasons. In a few different articles and books that I’ve been reading, the idea that has been offered is that education that seeks to bring about the humanity and uniqueness (image-bearing) of individuals must be intersubjective in nature. What this means is that we become responsible to each other for each other’s uniqueness. Take this against the traditional view of teaching which is best illustrated with a metaphor of teacher as banker depositing knowledge into a passive individual and you begin to see the difference.

Why do I bring this up? It arose out of a quote in a book I was reading called “Does Ethics have a Chance in a World of Consumers?” the author made this assertion while contemplating the meaning of Jesus’ command:

“In short: in order to have self-love, we need to be loved or to have hope of being loved. Refusal to love – a snub, a rejection, denial of the status of a love-worthy object – breeds self-hatred. Self-love is built of the love offered to us by others. Others must love us first, so that we can begin to love ourselves.” (p.34)

The important step that the author takes is to explain the reciprocal nature of love; to know and show love, we need to be shown love; for others to know and show love, we need to show them love. Read the rest in our March/April School News