The Empire of Love

In an age when religion often emphasized doctrine and duty, W.J. Dawson made a radical assertion: that love, not belief or behavior, lies at the very heart of Christianity. The Empire of Love presents a passionate argument that Jesus Christ was loved not for his miracles or his teachings, but for the sheer magnetism of his compassion, a love so total it redescribed what it meant to be divine. Dawson opens with a tender memorial to someone who embodied this love in London, then builds toward a sweeping vision of love as the answer to human longing. He challenges readers to move beyond intellectual agreement with Christ toward a participation in the divine warmth that animated his life. For readers who have ever felt that religion had become hollow or performative, this book offers a different path: a faith rooted in feeling, in presence, in the radical claim that God is, finally, love.