Friendship and the Moral Life
- ISBN-10
- 0268009732
- ISBN-13
- 9780268009731
- Category
- Religion / Christian Living / Inspirational
- Pages
- 189
- Language
- English
- Published
- 1989
- Publisher
- University of Notre Dame Press
- Author
- Paul J. Wadell
Description
Friendship and the Moral Life is not simply a theoretical argument about how moral theology might be done if it took friendship more seriously. Rather, the book exhibits how without friendship, our lives are morally not worth living. The book begins with a consideration of why a new model of the moral life is needed. Wadell then examines the ethics of Aristotle, who viewed the moral life as based on a specific understanding of the purpose of being human, with friendship being an important factor in enabling people to acquire virtues necessary for achieving this purpose. Through the thought of Augustine, Aelred of Reivaulx, and Karl Barth, the question is raised whether friendship is at odds with Christian love or whether their relation depends on one's narrative account of friendship. Thomas Aquinas' understanding of charity as friendship with God is examined to clarify this relationship. By locating friendship within the story of God's redemption through Christ, Wadell helps us see why friendship properly understood is integral to the Christian life and not at odds with it. Such a friendship draws us to love all others who seek God and teaches us not to restrict our concern to a special few in preferential love. The book closes by investigating how friendship as a model for the moral life might work in everyday life.
Get the book
Other editions
Similar books
-
$4.83: The cost to impact the life of a child for a year....maybe Forever
By Jenn Tarbell, Lance Wood, Celina KimGlenn Ellis and Viktoryia Kolchyna, “Attacked and abandoned: Ukraine's forgotten Roma,” Aljazeera, November 23, 2018, Aljazeera on the Web, accessed March 9, 2020. 10. Glenn Ellis and Viktoryia Kolchyna, “Attacked and abandoned: ...
-
3:16: The Numbers of Hope
By Max LucadoIn this book, Max will help you: Rest in the fact that there is nothing you can do to earn salvation. Understand more fully the living hope you have through Jesus’ resurrection.
-
Thomas Merton: Essential Writings
By Thomas MertonThomas Mertron (1951-1968), the Trappist monk and author, remains one of the most influential spiritual guides of the twentieth century. Beginning with his autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain, and scores...
-
86400: Manage Your Purpose to Make Every Second of Each Day Count
By Lavaille LavetteHave you ever gotten to the point in your life where one day is like all the rest? Where the individuality, excitement and purpose of every moment is drained of...
-
Becoming Fire: Through the Year with the Desert Fathers and Mothers
By Apostolos N. AthanassakisThe insights of the desert monks of the fifth and sixth centuries amaze, and startle, readers by their wisdom. Among other things, they teach that the first step in overcoming...
-
The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life
By Hannah Whitall Smith"Settle down on this one thing," wrote Hannah Whitall Smith, "that Jesus came to save you now, in this life, from the power and dominion of sin, and to make...
-
The Inward Journey
By Howard ThurmanMeditations that address the deepest needs and aspirations of the human spirit. Themes include: The Quest for Meaning, The Quest for Understanding, The Quest for Fulfillment, The Quest for Love,...
-
The Poetic Imagination: An Anglican Spiritual Tradition
By Louis William Countryman"For Anglicans, English lyric poetry occupies a significant place: they do not turn to it in order to learn a spirituality so much as to find "companionship in practising what...
-
God is Green: Ecology for Christians
By Ian BradleyIn God Is Green, Ian Bradley recovers the green heart of Christianity--a God who clothes wildflowers in splendor; reminds Job of his humble part in the cosmic drama; and sends...
-
Burn Brightly Without Burning Out: Balancing the Work You Need with the Life You Lead
By Richard K. BiggsAre you burning brightly-or burning out-in your spiritual, mental, physical, and emotional life? Do you find yourself being torn between work and family? Between what you have to do and...