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 Gods 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 traditionreciprocity, respect, discernment, love, and moreto discuss how we might become our best selves in community.
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: ntideva 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 ChristFriendship 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
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.
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