Multireligious Reflections on Friendship: Becoming Ourselves in Community presents a multi-religious discussion of spiritual and ethical formation through friendship. Contributors discuss the positive effects of friendship and some of the culturally diverse ways that friendships develop. Friends help us co-exist in diverse societies, live sustainably in our ecosystems, heal from trauma, develop inner virtues, engage wisely in social action, and connect with the divine. While friendship is a core human value, cultural traditions have used different tools to build friendships. For example, Indigenous communities emphasize reciprocity on the land; Jewish traditions encourage respect for study partners; Buddhist teachers suggest discernment in befriending; Christian texts speak of bringing God's love into community. The fifteen scholars contributing to this book draw on the teachings of six different global traditions: Indigenous, Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, Islamic, and Christian. Each scholar applies the tools of their tradition-reciprocity, respect, discernment, love, and more-to discuss how we might become our best selves in community.
Anne-Marie Ellithorpe is research associate at the Vancouver School of Theology. Laura Duhan-Kaplan is Director of inter-religious studies and professor of Jewish Studies at the Vancouver School of Theology, and Rabbi Emerita of Or Shalom Synagogue. Hussam S. Timani is professor of philosophy and religion and Co-Director of the Middle East and North Africa Studies Program at Christopher Newport University.
Acknowledgments Introduction Laura Duhan-Kaplan, Hussam S. Timani, and Anne-Marie Ellithorpe Chapter One: Friendship, Treaty, and Family: Indigenous Insights Raymond C. Aldred and Allen G. Jorgenson Chapter Two: Friendships of Equality: Mitratva, Hindu Traditions, and Interfaith Possibilities Jeffery D. Long Chapter Three: Civic Friendship and Reciprocity: Ancient Biblical Exhortations, Contemporary Opportunities Anne-Marie Ellithorpe Chapter Four: Becoming a Friend to the World: Santideva on "Bodhisattva Friendship" John M. Thompson Chapter Five: Sacred Fellowship Among Learners: A Kabbalistic Pedagogy for Our Times Laura Duhan-Kaplan Chapter Six: God, Prophecy, and Friendship in Islam: A Theological Perspective Hussam S. Timani Chapter Seven: Ineffable Accompaniment: Towards a Theology of Friendship and The Human Animal Dorothy Dean Chapter Eight: "I have called you friends": Friendship in the New Testament and Early Christianity Liz Carmichael Chapter Nine: Seeking God Together in Christ-Friendship in the Christian Life Paul J. Wadell Chapter Ten: Love, Friendship, and Solidarity: A Christian Theology of Friendship Marcus Mescher Chapter Eleven: A Path Through the Hell of War Trauma: Pavel Florensky's Theology of Friendship Adam Tietje Chapter Twelve: The Project of Friendship: Biblical, Butlerian, and Beer-Brewing Reflections Brandy Daniels and Shelly Penton Chapter Thirteen: Religion Has No Bo(u)nds?: Expanding the Dimensions of Religion to Account for the Attachment of Spiritual Friendship Sarah Ann Bixler About the Contributors
