Synopses & Reviews
Review
A superb theological essay addressing the nature and goodness of the particular love of friends.” The Christian Century
Review
Provocative . . . Meilaender makes use of some of the best pagan and Christian reflection on friendship in order to illustrate the persistent tensions between philia and agape.” Journal of Religion
Review
A worthy juxtaposition of ancient and modern ideas about both friendship and Christian love.” Ethics
Synopsis
Certain relationships are of profound importance for human life and of great significance for the moral life. In
Friendship: A Study in Theological Ethics, Gilbert C. Meilaender explores some of the tension which Christian experience discovers in one such relationship, that of the bond of friendship. These tensions help to explain why friendship was a more important topic in the life and thought of the classical civilizations of Greece and Rome than it has usually been within Christendom.
The bond of friendshipphilia--involves special preference; Christian love--agape--is thought to be like the love of the heavenly Father who makes his sun rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust. Philia requires that love be returned; agape is to be shown even the enemy, who does not love in return. Friendships sometimes fade away; Christians are enjoined to be faithful in love. These tensions have permeated our lives and helped to shape our world, one in which politics is a more important sphere than the private friendship bond. We seek fulfillment in and identify ourselves with our vocations and not our friendships. And, in a world where politics and vocation are all-important, lasting friendships become more difficult to sustain. Friendship examines the tension between philia and agape and probes its significance for Christian thought and experience.
Synopsis
Certain relationships are of profound importance for the moral life. Gilbert C. Meilaender explores some of the tensions which Christian experience discovers in one such relationship, the bond of friendship. These tensions help to explain why friendship was a more important topic in the life and thought of the classical civilizations of Greece and Rome than it has unusually been within Christendom. /// The bond of friendship (philia) involves special preference; Christian love (agape) is thought to be like the love of the heavenly Father who makes his sun rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust. Philia requires that love be returned; agape is to be shown even the enemy, who does not love in return. Friendships sometimes fade away; Christians are enjoined to be faithful in love. /// These tensions have permeated our lives and helped to shape our world. We think politics a more important sphere than the private friendship bond. We seek fulfillment in and identify ourselves with our vacations -- by which we now mean, work for pay -- not our friendships. And in a world where politics and vocation are all-important, lasting friendships become more difficult to sustain. /// Friendship examines the tension between philia and agape and probes its significance for Christian thought and experience.
Synopsis
Gilbert C. Meilaender suggests that Christians should not try to develop an autonomous ethic; neither, however, need they deny the common ground that exists with those who stand in other traditions. He then discusses human nature as creaturely, sinful, and justified--using these categories to think about such topics as the relation of humans to their environment, the meaning of personhood, and the meaning of original sin.
About the Author
Gilbert C. Meilaender is Phyllis and Richard Duesenberg Professor of Christian Ethics at Valparaiso University. He is the author of numerous books, including
Faith and Faithfulness and
Working: Its Meaning and Its Limits, both published by the University of Notre Dame Press.