Dr. Hugo Strandberg is Lecturer in the
Department of Philosophy at Åbo Akademi University, Finland.
His previous publications are Escaping My Responsibility: Investigations into the Nature of Morality
(Peter Lang, 2009) and The Possibility of Discussion: Relativism, Truth and
Criticism of Religious Beliefs (Ashgate, 2006).

Traditionally, religious belief has in the philosophy of religion been understood along more or
less epistemological lines. Love of a God of Love develops another understanding of belief, where the moral
concept of love is central. In this context, what is
distinctive about the concept of love is that it is both the "what" and the "how" of belief: for
the one who loves a God of love, the concept of love characterizes both the content side and
the act side of the belief. In that respect, this understanding of religious belief makes it
possible to avoid certain formalist difficulties, arising when the "what" and the "how" of
belief are sharply distinguished.

Introduction     
1. Formalism and negativism     
2. The sources of theology     
3. Phillips and the idea of a contemplative philosophy     
4. Love of a God of love     
5. Freedom and choice     
6. Togetherness and community     
7. The miraculous     
8. Nature         
9. The negative miracle     
10. Arguing, thinking     
Bibliography