Education, Love, and the Fear of God
Unsurprisingly, the concept of fear is not used in passages proclaiming the fundamental values in
Norwegian educational law and curricula. Nevertheless, inspired by Elisa Uusimäki’s
characterization of the fear of God in the Hebrew Bible as a prosocial virtue (see ch.14 in this book), this chapter
investigates whether the fear of God and fear in general can be valuable conceptual tools when
discussing Scandinavian school education. For this purpose, the chapter uses Thomas Aquinas’s
connection between love and fear and his understanding of the fear of God as a gift. The focus of
the discussion is on the relation between universality and particularity of moral norms, values, and
virtues. The main contribution of the concept of the fear of God in the context of education is to
highlight the importance and strength of love, both as eros and as agape, in its relation to what has
objective value. This is not emphasized in the juridical language of human rights or ideas of cultural
heritage.
Norwegian educational law and curricula. Nevertheless, inspired by Elisa Uusimäki’s
characterization of the fear of God in the Hebrew Bible as a prosocial virtue (see ch.14 in this book), this chapter
investigates whether the fear of God and fear in general can be valuable conceptual tools when
discussing Scandinavian school education. For this purpose, the chapter uses Thomas Aquinas’s
connection between love and fear and his understanding of the fear of God as a gift. The focus of
the discussion is on the relation between universality and particularity of moral norms, values, and
virtues. The main contribution of the concept of the fear of God in the context of education is to
highlight the importance and strength of love, both as eros and as agape, in its relation to what has
objective value. This is not emphasized in the juridical language of human rights or ideas of cultural
heritage.
Publisert i 2026
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