Abstract
The fourth set of ambiguities associated with friendship to consider next stem not only from factors inherent in the concept itself but also as a result of the fallout from a particular, historical tragedy.
Because they love no one, they imagine that they love God.
Thomas Keneally
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Further Reading and References
Maria Boulding’s translation of Augustine’s Confessions (Hodder and Stoughton, 1997) captures the remarkably modern feel of the autobiography.
Peter Brown’s classic biography of the saint is called Augustine of Hippo: a Biography (Faber and Faber, 1967).
As indeed are the key paragraphs from Thomas’s Summa Theologiae. For an examination of his philosophy and theology, Brian Davies’s The Thought of Thomas Aquinas (Clarendon, 1993) is hard to beat.
Alasdair MacIntyre’s reflections come from After Virtue (University of Notre Dame Press, 1984).
Few contemporary Christian writers have sought to reconcile friendship and theology at book length which is itself notable given the ink spilt on divine love. P. Waddell’s Friendship and the Moral Life (University of Notre Dame Press, 1989) and
G. Meilaender’s Friendship: a Study in Theological Ethics (University of Notre Dame Press, 1981) are two that are often cited. For a latter-day Kierkegaard, see
Anders Nygren’s Agape and Eros. Friendship and the Ways to Truth, by David Burrell (University of Notre Dame Press, 2000), weaves philosophy and faith together.
Elizabeth Stuart’s fust Good Friends (Mowbray, 1995) approaches the issue from a lesbian and gay perspective.
Stanley Hauerwas has an article ‘Companions on the Way: the Necessity of Friendship’, in The Ashbury Theological Journal Vol. 45 (1990): 1. My Postscript to
Jeremy Carrette’s book Religion and Culture by Michel Foucault (Routledge, 1999), ‘I Am Not What Am’, offers a view of friendship through theological eyes.
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© 2005 Mark Vernon
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Vernon, M. (2005). Unconditional Love. In: The Philosophy of Friendship. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230204119_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230204119_5
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