Discusses the complexities and paradoxes of love as represented in the history of Western philosophy and Christianity.In The Asymptote of Love James Kellenberger develops a theory of religious love that resists essentialist definitions of the term and brings into conversation historical debates on love in Western philosophy and Christian theology. He argues that if love can be likened to a mathematical asymptote which is a straight line that infinitely approaches a curve but never quite reaches it then the asymptote of love reaches toward the infinite endpoint of love at its uttermost namely Gods love. Drawing upon a broad range of thinkers who have put forth classic debates on lovesuch as St. Augustine of Hippo Anders Nygren and St. Thomas Aquinas as well as some lesser known figures in the debate such as Leo Tolstoy and Albert SchweitzerKellenberger explains the profound connection between human agape and Gods infinite love in its capacity to offer both directive guidance and to exist beyond human conception.