Towards Friendship-Shaped Communities: A Practical Theology of Friendship. Anne-Marie Ellithorpe

Elisabeth Moltmann-Wendel, Rediscovering Friendship: Awakening to the Power and Promise of Women’s Friendships, trans. John Bowden (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001); Elisabeth Moltmann-Wendel, “Friendship—The Forgotten Category for Faith and Christian Community: A Perspective for the Twenty-First Century,” in Passion for God: Theology in Two Voices (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2003); Steve Summers, Friendship: Exploring its Implications for the Church in Postmodernity (London: T&T Clark International, 2009); John of Taizé, Friends in Christ: Paths to a New Understanding of Church (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2012); Wesley Hill, Spiritual Friendship: Finding Love in the Church as a Celibate Gay Christian (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2015).

      86 86 Chloe Lynch, Ecclesial Leadership as Friendship (London: Routledge, 2019).

      87 87 Victor Lee Austin, Friendship: The Heart of Being Human (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic).

      88 88 Guido de Graaff, Politics in Friendship: A Theological Account (London: T&T Clark, 2014).

      89 89 Susan S. Phillips, The Cultivated Life: From Ceaseless Striving to Receiving Joy (Downers Grove: IVP, 2015), 180–182.

      90 90 Phillips, The Cultivated Life, 168.

      91 91 Phillips, The Cultivated Life, 167.

      92 92 Charles Ringma, Hear the Heartbeat with Henri Nouwen: Reflections on the Way of the Seeking Heart (Vancouver: Regent College Publishing, 2014), 62–65.

      93 93 Ringma, Hear the Heartbeat, 64.

      94 94 Ringma, Hear the Heartbeat, 68.

      95 95 Carmichael, Friendship, 201.

      96 96 While friendship continues to be celebrated in a variety of popular works, friendship is sometime portrayed as taking precedence over civic responsibilities. This is evident in the Captain America movies and the ongoing Star Wars saga. For the latter, see Greg Littmann, “The Friends of a Jedi: Friendship, Family, and Civic Duty in a Galaxy at War,” in The Ultimate Star Wars and Philosophy: You Must Unlearn What You Have Learned, ed. Jason T. Eberl and Kevin S. Decker (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2015), 128.

      97 97 Moltmann, Church in the Power of the Spirit, 316.

      98 98 Moltmann, Church in the Power of the Spirit, 316. Cited, with modified translation, in John of Taizé, Friends in Christ, 86.

      99 99 Mark Peel, “The Importance of Friends: The Most Recent Past,” in Friendship: A History, ed. Barbara Caine (London: Equinox, 2009), 329.

      100 100 Martin Luther King Jr., “Loving Your Enemies,” in Strength to Love (New York: Harper & Row, 1963). See also Martin Luther King Jr., “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” The Christian Century, June 12, 1963.

      101 101 Glen H. Stassen, “Peacemaking,” in Bonhoeffer and King: Their Legacies and Import for Christian Social Thought, ed. Willis Jenkins and Jennifer M. McBride (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2010), 197.

      102 102 Stassen, “Bonhoeffer and King,” 197–198.

      103 103 As summarized by L.D. Ivory, “Towards a Theology of Radical Involvement: The Continuing Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” (PhD diss., Emory University, 1994), 111.

      104 104 See, for example, Glynis Carr, “The Female World of Love and Racism: Interracial Friendship in US Women’s Literature, 1840-1940” (PhD diss., The Ohio State University, 1989).

      105 105 Jean Bethke Elshtain, “Political Order, Political Violence, and Ethical Limits,” in Bonhoeffer and King: Their Legacies and Import for Christian Social Thought, ed. Willis Jenkins and Jennifer M. McBride (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2010), 47.

      106 106 Friendship is also reflected in the name of a New York-based organization formed to direct economic aid to the civil rights struggle in the South: In Friendship. See “In Friendship,” The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/friendship.

      107 107 Susannah Heschel, “A Friendship in the Prophetic Tradition: Abraham Joshua Heschel and Martin Luther King, Jr,” Telos, no. 182 (2018): 67.

      108 108 Lewis V. Baldwin, Toward the Beloved Community: Martin Luther King Jr. and South Africa (Cleveland: Pilgrim, 1995), 12.

      109 109 Gustavo Gutiérrez, We Drink From Our Own Wells: The Spiritual Journey of a People, 20th anniversary ed. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2003), 104.

      110 110 Gutiérrez, We Drink From Our Own Wells, 101.

      111 111 Gutiérrez, We Drink From Our Own Wells, 104.

      112 112 Chanequa Walker-Barnes, I Bring the Voices of My People: A Womanist Vision for Racial Reconciliation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2019), 215.

      113 113 Walker-Barnes, Voices of My People, 216.

      114 114 Walker-Barnes, Voices of My People, 190.

      115 115 Pat O’Connor, Friendships between Women: A Critical Review (New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1992), 26.

      116 116 Jennifer Coates, Women Talk: Conversation between Women Friends (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996), 1.

      117 117 Jacques Derrida, Politics of Friendship, trans. George Collins (London: Verso, 1997), 306. See also Jacques Derrida, Politiques de l’amitié (Paris: Galilée, 1994).

      118 118 Heather Devere, “Amity Update: The Academic Debate on Friendship and Politics,” AMITY 1, no. 1 (2013): 5.

      119 119 Allen, Talking to Strangers, 140.

      120 120 Allen, Talking to Strangers, xxi.

      121