I recently heard Dr. John Swinton, from the university of Aberdeen, give a lecture challenging the popular notion that people with Autism cannot love. Not only did he argue that those on the Autism spectrum do love but also that they teach us something about God’s love. He used an article written by Christine Guth in which she writes about her experiences of loving and being loved by her family. She is the only one in her immediate family who doesn’t have “Asperger Syndrome (a condition on the autism spectrum: a disorder affecting a person’s ability to socialize and communicate with others).”
In her short article entitled “Horses Love to Run, What about People?” she writes about how the love she receives from her husband may not match the images put forward by the media but that he does show her love in ways of “dogged commitment, persistence through agonizing struggles, willingness to give and take, enjoyment of companionship, and other treasured aspects of shared living.” Consistency and commitment are very important in her relationship with her husband.
Her whole article is available and I would recommend it to anyone who has, or works with a person who is on the Autism spectrum.
Swinton’s point goes beyond just redefining our view of love. He also wants to use these new insights, given by those with differences, to better understand how “God is Love”. The Hebrew word “Hesed” which we translate into English as loyalty, covenant love, and mercy relates to God’s “dogged commitment, persistence through agonizing struggles, willingness to give and take, enjoyment of companionship, and other treasured aspects of shared living.”
Swinton would argue that the problem may not be that those who are “autistic” do not love but that our definition of love is too narrow and that those on the Autism spectrum actually help us to broaden the definition of love. We use many touchy feely emotional descriptors to describe God’s love that may be unintelligible to some but perhaps they would describe aspects of God’s consistency and reliability that many in the other camp may overlook.
Wrapped up in this are also the questions of what is the image of God? Many would put forward our relationality and capacity to love. What does it mean when God tells us to love our neigbour? Is there a calling to consistency and commitment in our treatment of others? Is love an emotion or is it an action? Love as actions rather than emotions raises interesting questions as we contemplate what it means to be a human loved by God and called to love others.
Some possibly helpful links:
For more info on John Swinton go here:
For a blog we wrote on “Hesed” a while back go here:
Mark Wallace
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