Towards Friendship-Shaped Communities: A Practical Theology of Friendship offers readers an insightful and authoritative exploration of the nature of friendship. It acknowledges the formative and transformative potential of both personal and civic dimensions of friendship, and contains analysis relevant to diverse faith communities and groups open to imagining a future shaped by friendship.
The book discusses contemporary concerns regarding relationality and introduces a comprehensive theology of friendship, where classic texts and traditions are explored along with more recent treatments of the subject, bringing the old into conversation with the new. This interdisciplinary work presents an integration of philosophical, anthropological, and theological perspectives on the study of friendship. In its four parts-Descriptive, Normative, Systematic, and Strategic-it includes examples from Indigenous cultures alongside Western perspectives. Unique and incisive, this volume is an excellent tool for readers wishing to examine the interrelationship between friendship and community and to reflect critically on their own social and theological imagination.
A unique and incisive exploration of the place and nature of friendship in both its personal and civic dimensions
In Towards Friendship-Shaped Communities: A Practical Theology of Friendship, distinguished theological researcher Anne-Marie Ellithorpe delivers a constructive and insightful exploration of the place and nature of friendship as innate to being human, to the human vocation, and to life within the broader community. Of particular interest to members and leaders of faith communities, this book responds to contemporary concerns regarding relationality and offers a comprehensive theology of friendship.
The author provides an inclusive and interdisciplinary study that brings previous traditions and texts into dialogue with contemporary contexts and concerns, including examples from Indigenous and Euro-Western cultures. Readers will reflect on the theology of friendship and the interrelationship between friendship and community, think critically about their own social and theological imagination, and develop an integrative approach to theological reflection that draws on Don Browning’s Fundamental Practical Theology.
Integrating philosophical, anthropological, and theological perspectives on the study of friendship, this book presents:
- A thorough introduction to contemporary questions on friendship and discussions of co-existing friendship worlds
- Comprehensive explorations of friendship in first and second testament writings, as well as friendship within classical and Christian traditions
- Practical discussions of theology, friendship, and the social imagination, including explorations of mutuality and spirit-shaped friendships
- Considerations for outworking friendship ideals within communities of practice, from the perspective of strategic (or fully) practical theology
Perfect for graduate and advanced undergraduate students taking courses on friendship or practical theology, Towards Friendship-Shaped Communities: A Practical Theology of Friendship will also earn a place in the libraries of scholars of practical theology and community practitioners, including ministers, priests, pastors, spiritual advisors, and counselors.
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