ABSTRACT
In recent years there has been a proliferation of writing concerning the notion of “the gift.” Milbank is writing in the context of Christian theology, and thus he takes up the question of giving in light of the Christian imperative towards agape. In a theological context, or, more specifically, in a Christian theological context, gift-giving is implicated in issues related to Trinitarian theology, Christology, eucharistic theology, liturgy, ethics, Mariology, and theologies of revelation. In Milbank's eyes, this amounts to saying that when God gives, what God gives is literally nothing. Determination to abide in this prescribed nowhere-nothing is arduously difficult to maintain, according to The Cloud. Prayer is a wholly gratuitous gift from God to us.
