Agape and Personhood

with Kierkegaard, Mother, and Paul (A Logic of Reconciliation from the Shamans to Today)

Goicoechea

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2011
• eBook ISBN: 9781498274180
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Goicoechea shows how the three traits of personhood--that all persons are equal in dignity, that each is unique, and that all persons are interpersonal--is rooted in that love which is agape. This love between the three persons of the One God is examined existentially as mother lived it out in her love and personal growth. It is examined philosophically with Kierkegaard as he explains the logic of reconciling love, which can happen when I love the other, even my enemy, as more important than myself. The logic of reconciling love is then examined in Paul's seven authentic letters. The history of how humans became seen as persons and how this idea developed in the West is then examined through nine moments of history.

Part One

Joyful Beginnings

I. Mother

I.1 With Her Anglican mother

I.1.1 Identification in Mother-Daughter Bonding

Mother was born on September 6, 1917, at that time

of late summer when the sheep are brought down from

Rocky Mountain Highlands to greener lowland pastures

and when ewes are grouped with best bucks for breeding.

Mother was born into the passion of her mother,

Leona Hart-Abbott, and of her father, Levaur Paul Coates.

Gramma Coates had lost her mother when she was but eight

and Grandpa Coates lost his mother when he was only five.

They both grew up in the constant presence of their lost mothers.

When they met and told their stories to each other and ate

a meal together they knew that they were meant for each other.

And it was as if Levaur sensed his lost mother in Leona.

And in Levaur’s lost mother in him, Leona seemed to find her own.

With her many strong Anglican relatives Leona Mae went

through the mourning process in a very successful way.

The beloved presence of her absent mother, Martha Mae, opened her

in sympathy to the sorrows of others and she was robust

and happy and she wanted to bring others into her graced joy.

Already in the womb mother identified with the very feelings,

moods and attitude of her upbeat, strong, pioneering mother.

The very hormones and nervous system of Leona Mae

were identified with by Joneva Mae as the mother’s blood

and lymph system and mucosity became also the daughter’s.

Leona Mae’s preconscious feelings and passions and moods

and her unconscious attitude which evaluated and motivated

all of her conscious thoughts, words and deeds became also

the very fabric of little Joneva Mae and when she was born

and nursed through that first year at her mother’s breast

they bonded in a special dream and vision that would let

little Joneva Mae live out the life that Martha Mae lost.

Martha Mae, Leona Mae and Joneva Mae were one in Mae-love.

I.1.2 In the Attitude of Complacent Agape

Leona and Levaur came together in very positive times.

The First World War was ending and the Roaring Twenties

were already beginning their expansive and manic build up.

The Republican Party made life good for American farmers.

They had claimed their free land and the banking system

helped them get a herd of sheep and a pick-up truck and

all they needed to make the whole wonderful outfit work.

As a young girl between five and eight Gramma went through

very difficult times that would strengthen her throughout life.

In her memoirs Gramma Coates writes: “Father and mother

had misunderstandings so mother took me to Montana with her

where we lived for a year. Later father came out and got me

and I lived with his sister, Ida Blair, near Bellevue.

My mother passed away from a heart attack.” Gramma’s

mother was only seventeen when she married and all

of her trials must have been damaging to her immune system.

For her eight years of grade school Gramma grew up

in Bellevue, right there in the center of Blaine County, Idaho,

in a thrivi...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Detailed Line of Argument
• Introduction
• Part One: Joyful Beginnings
• Part Two: Sorrowful Proceedings
• Part Three: Glorious Finishings
• Bibliography