__Retrieving a Rich Understanding of Spiritual Friendship__   
"Courageous and thought provoking. This is a book that challenges all of us--whatever our sexual experience or longings may be--to think more truthfully about the meaning of love and the complex ways in which our communities either stifle or nurture it."  
--__Richard B. Hays__, Duke Divinity School  
  
"Remarkable. Here is a book everyone interested in Christianity, and everyone interested in friendship, can profit from reading."  
--__Alan Jacobs__, Honors College, Baylor University  
  
"An elegant, theologically rich plea on behalf of the love of friendship that uncovers fresh ways to improvise on a lost Christian tradition of committed spiritual friendship."  
--__Peter Leithart__, president, Theopolis Institute, Birmingham, Alabama  
  
"Honest and poignant, Spiritual Friendship is like a conversation with a good friend who has learned much from books but more from loving and being loved by others."  
--__Eve Tushnet__, author of Gay and Catholic: Accepting My Sexuality, Finding Community, Living My Faith  
  
"Love is the most complicated thing in the world--and even more so for gay and lesbian Christians who have experienced a vocation to celibacy. Hill's is a voice that needs to be heard."  
--__Benjamin Myers__, Charles Sturt University, Sydney, Australia  
  
"Hill not only wants to think about what friendship might mean for a celibate gay Christian but indeed wants to recover a richer, more substantive, and especially more promising understanding of friendship for everyone."  
--__Paul J. Wadell__, St. Norbert College; author of Becoming Friends: Worship, Justice, and the Practice of Christian Friendship  
  
"Hill gives us a glimpse of what we've forgotten--a rich Christian vision of friendship. Whether readers agree or disagree with his theological vision, there is no doubt that this book will be a conversation changer!"  
--__J. Todd Billings__, Western Theological Seminary, Holland, Michigan

__Wesley Hill__ (PhD, University of Durham) is associate professor of New Testament at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan, and author of the much-discussed Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality. He is a contributing editor for Comment magazine and writes regularly for Christianity Today, The Living Church, and other publications.

__Christianity Today Book Award Winner__   
Friendship is a relationship like no other. Unlike the relationships we are born into, we choose our friends. It is also tenuous--we can end a friendship at any time. But should friendship be so free and unconstrained? Although our culture tends to pay more attention to romantic love, marriage, family, and other forms of community, friendship is a genuine love in its own right. This eloquent book reminds us that Scripture and tradition have a high view of friendship. Single Christians, particularly those who are gay and celibate, may find it is a form of love to which they are especially called.  
  
Writing with deep empathy and with fidelity to historic Christian teaching, Wesley Hill retrieves a rich understanding of friendship as a spiritual vocation and explains how the church can foster friendship as a basic component of Christian discipleship. He helps us reimagine friendship as a robust form of love that is worthy of honor and attention in communities of faith. This book sets forth a positive calling for celibate gay Christians and suggests practical ways for all Christians to cultivate stronger friendships.

Reimagines friendship, particularly for single celibate Christians, as a robust form of love worthy of honor and attention in communities of faith.

__Contents__   
Author's Note  
Introduction  
__Part 1: Reading Friendship__ 1. An Eclipse of Friendship?  
2. "I Love You Because You're Mine"  
3. The Transformation of Friendship  
__Part 2: Living Friendship__ 4. "A Piece of Ice Held Fast in the Fist"  
5. Friendship Is a Call to Suffer  
6. Patterns of the Possible  
An Essay on Sources

Hill, Wesley

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Endorsements

Dedication

Epigraph

Author’s Note

Introduction

Part 1: Reading Friendship

1. An Eclipse of Friendship?

2. "I Love You Because You're Mine"

3. The Transformation of Friendship

Part 2: Living Friendship

4. "A Piece of Ice Held Fast in the Fist"

5. Friendship Is a Call to Suffer

6. Patterns of the Possible

An Essay on Sources

Acknowledgments

Back Cover

Friendship is a relationship like no other. Unlike the relationships we are born into, we choose our friends. It is also tenuous--we can end a friendship at any time. But should friendship be so free and unconstrained? Although our culture tends to pay more attention to romantic love, marriage, family, and other forms of community, friendship is a genuine love in its own right. This eloquent book reminds us that Scripture and tradition have a high view of friendship. Single Christians, particularly those who are gay and celibate, may find it is a form of love to which they are especially called.  
  
Writing with deep empathy and with fidelity to historic Christian teaching, Wesley Hill retrieves a rich understanding of friendship as a spiritual vocation and explains how the church can foster friendship as a basic component of Christian discipleship. He helps us reimagine friendship as a robust form of love that is worthy of honor and attention in communities of faith. This book sets forth a positive calling for celibate gay Christians and suggests practical ways for all Christians to cultivate stronger friendships.

Author's Note  
Introduction  
Part 1: Reading Friendship  
1. An Eclipse of Friendship?  
2. "I Love You Because You're Mine"  
3. The Transformation of Friendship  
Part 2: Living Friendship  
4. "A Piece of Ice Held Fast in the Fist"  
5. Friendship Is a Call to Suffer  
6. Patterns of the Possible  
An Essay on Sources

Spiritual Friendship [eBook]

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