Radical Believer asked in his comment about a theology of friendship. My own study and thought has tended to explore the wider range of human experiences gathered under the multi-referential term love. Friendship is one expression of human love, and the classic exposition of love, friendship, affection and eros is C S Lewis, The Four Loves. Lewis's book suffers from the qualities and limitations of all Lewis's work. It is sexist, partial and at times infuriatingly condescending, with the tone of the University Common room of the mid-20th Century. But it is also written by a man who had married late, out of compassion which had grown from intellectual companionship to a love the intensity of which makes A Grief Observed one of the most genuine documents ever written on human love and loss. As well as which, Lewis is a moral writer, not moralistic, but ethically alert to those inner mechanisms of motive, human relationships, intellectual and emotional intelligence. So his book is still my starting point – and I've just used it again as a way into a quite significant theological exploration of love as self-giving. The scanned picture is of my hardback First Edition :))
A theology of friendship has been explored recently in several interesting contexts. One in particular is of significant interest to me. Friendship has become a major theme in developing an adequate theology of disability. Receiving the Gift of Friendship: Profound Disability, Theological Anthropology and Ethics by Hans Reinders is a substantial exploration of what it means to be human. The relation between our humanity and our capacity for friendship is the context within which Reinders explores the theological significance, and ethical implications of what it means to be a friend. In the background are two of the most important figures in the past 60 years, so far as our understanding of humanity and friendship are concerned. Jean Vanier and Henri Nouwen live the theology of friendship, and friendship is defined in the actions and dispositions we inhabit as we love and accompany others in life together.
But radical believer is looking for starting points. Can readers of this blog suggest some of these in the comments? Who knows what to read, where to look for theological reflection on friendship? And you poets out there – poems on friendship?
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