Towards Friendship-Shaped Communities: A Practical Theology of Friendship

1 The Place of Friendship

What is friendship, and what place does it have in contemporary communities? This chapter considers ways in which friendship is currently defined, understood, and lived out. Key interrelated themes include the question of whether friendship is essential or peripheral to what it means to be human; friendship’s place in our social world; the impact of technology on contemporary relationships and communities; the possibility of theological, ethical, or spiritual dimensions to friendship; and whether friendship is a private, public, or political relationship. Writings that have influenced the theological and social imagination of pastors and lay people over recent decades are included alongside broader Euro-Western cultural trends, and insights from anthropologist and sociologists. Whether regarded as an endangered relationship or an important source of social glue, friendship emerges as playing an invaluable role within contemporary communities, including communities of faith.

What is friendship, and what place does it have in contemporary communities? Practical theologians begin by articulating the way things are, before reflecting critically on contemporary experience in the light of theological norms. Thus, it is appropriate to consider how friendship is currently defined, understood, and lived out, and the norms, metaphors, and visions that underlie actions and practices.

The meanings and practices associated with friendship vary. Friendship, it has ...