It defines romance

My friend Michelle Angela Lovette wrote this. She'll be in Albuquerque SOON! back from the land of California.

Chesterton wrote: "Thus comes the thing called Romance, a purely Christian product. A man cannot deserve adventures; he cannot earn dragons and hippogriffs. The mediaeval Europe which asserted humility gained Romance; the civilization which gained Romance has gained the habitable globe"

A guy from my Classics group commented:However, to take something as large as Romance and say that it is a purely Christian product seemed a bit much (p22). Does he mean Christ's pursual of us in it's patience and perseverance is romantic to the point that it defines Romance?

So these are my forming thoughts...Romance-what is it? I consider it safe to presume that the initial inclination is to pin it to purely the lovey-dovey feeling that seems to shroud and envelope two individuals into...well...a subreality of themselves. To confine it to wooing and flirting and excitement...But is that all it is? What is it? A quality or feeling...sure....Is it possible that it is an awakening of a profound desire for an everlasting(...love). In joking, I boasted, "that guy lost his chance with me!" A friend responded, "Well, Michelle, if there were that reality of love between you two, there never was a chance to be had, it just happens." I was silenced. Romance isn't a chance here today, gone tomorrow. It is a gradual unfolding of splendor into your very being--in direct relation to another being. It is the splendor all persons long for...I believe it is beyond the butterfly love, but it is a security, an adoration, a submission, a peace, it is the something that a soul longs for. It is a mystical occurrence between two, because it is birthed from the response of one to their one and only caller. I am a bit stuck here, because I believe it resides in a dormant state, but, somehow, our carnal nature attempts to define it only through the means it can...through the senses. (But if romance is in a quiescent state within us, how do we know it is there?)The unabated satisfaction is very rarely reached because it can only be awakened by a specific entity and I believe that people seek it out in unfulfillable ways. The impulsiveness of our corporeal selves will find satisfaction , but the pleasure is fleeting. I am probably somewhat cloudy in thought here, because I am still forming my understanding. Please feel free to comment.So, how then is Romance a Christian product? Yep, that's right! It was packaged with bright red paper and labeled in pink letters by official church clergy of Jesus Christ-----------------------> No, that is wrong; romance is not a formula to follow.It wasn't 'invented' at the 'establishment of Christianity'. The fact of the matter, is that Christianity did not begin with the resurrection of Jesus. Christianity did not "begin" with the gathering of a few people to talk about the teachings of a man named Yeshua. Christianity isn't an institution that was established to dish out recipes on how to live. Christianity...well, is God. It "began" with God, everything is made through him and not without him anything is made... romance precedes even the beginning of time...if that can be conceived with your mind. I attempt to grasp it, but it is like a slick little toad between my feeble fingers. Christianity is the term we use, but it's essence is outside of time. Romance is a movement between two entities, two very specific entities at that. What is so unique about Romance, as Chesterton emphasizes, is that it cannot be earned. Give a girl a bouquet after she has won the title of 'Miss Universe'. "Well, gee, thanks (teary eyed) Gosh! I'm wonderful! Thanks!" Now give a girl a bouquet-be it purchased from a florist or hand-picked from a field, or heck, drawn on a sheet of paper. Why? Well, just because...just because you adore her. Oh wow, oh my!Do you remember Popeye the Sailor Man? Brutus had his schemes at wooing Olive Oyl and sometimes she entertained his pursuits , but, ultimately, Popeye was the only one. Now, romance experienced at the sensual level is surely wonderful, but what is even greater is the pursual of an undeserving soul. To be rescued from the dungeons of doom, the dragons that breathe deceit, the weeping and gnashing of teeth. To be sought out, when you never ever deserved it. It isn't a handsome knight rescuing a princess because her beauty is unprecedented, but because his love for her is completed once he has her. She hasn't done anything to deserve being rescued. Christ was whipped, ridiculed, stabbed, and pierced for me. He just wanted to. And in the end, something grand happens...it isn't the showering with gifts galore, but an indwelling of the very self of the pursuer; to have the dull slate within you painted with the most vibrant of colors. That is what romance is.