Friendship and Ways to Truth

by Burrell, David, CSC

• ISBN13: 9780268028602
• ISBN10: 0268028605
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-09-01
• Publisher: Univ of Notre Dame Pr

Summary

The death of a friend is a source of pain and grief for anyone. For David B. Burrell, it is also a source of reflection on the role of friendship in our ongoing pursuit of truth. In this small but penetrating book, Burrell offers five essays that explore friendship as the bond that links us to the religious traditions we embrace in our search for truth. Known for his many and lasting contributions to philosophical theology, Burrell here makes a definitive statement for that field while also continuing the cross-cultural discussion among Christians, Muslims, and Jews.

Burrell considers how friendship can be constitutive of the spiritual exercises one employs to seek truth, and he examines the influences on his thinking of Bernard Lonergan, Stanley Hauerwas, and Augustine to show how friends can open our minds and hearts to interfaith dialogue and the mutual illumination it offers. He also explores cross-cultural understanding through a comparison of the teaching of Aquinas with that of Islam's al-Ghazali, suggesting that their complementary perspectives can fr

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction: Friendship, Community, Tradition	1	(8)
Grieving the Death of a Friend	9	(10)
Friends in Conversation: The Language and Practice of Faith	19	(18)
The Role of Dialogue and Friendship in Cross-Cultural Understanding	37	(30)
Friendship with God in al-Ghazali and Aquinas	67	(20)
Friendship and Discourse about Divinity: Lest God be god	87	(26)
Index	113