Friendship Across Religions

Friendship is an outcome of, as well as a condition for, advancing interfaith relations. However, for friendship to advance, there must be legitimation from within and a theory of how interreligious relations can be justified from the resources of different faith traditions. Friendship Across Religions explores these very issues, seeking to develop a robust theory of interreligious friendship from the resources of each of the participating traditions. It also features individual cases as models and precedents for such relations--in particular, the friendship of Gandhi and Charlie Andrews, his closest personal friend.Contributors:Balwant Singh Dhillon, Timothy J. Gianotti, Alon Goshen-Gottstein, Maria Reis Habito, Ruben L. F. Habito, Ryan McAnnally-Linz, Stephen Butler Murray, Eleanor Nesbitt, Anantanand Rambachan, Meir Sendor, Johann M. Vento, and Miroslav VolfThe Elijah Institute has blessed us with an in-depth exploration of interreligious friendship from the perspective of several religious traditions. These essays are both erudite and edgy. They look deeply into religious traditions in the hope of laying down a foundation for the future of interreligious relations in a world that promises to become only more complicated. The authors search out the resources within the traditions that support interreligious friendships today and are fearless in pointing out the obstacles to such friendships also found in the traditions. This book is going to be a very valuable contribution to a global discussion.--James Fredericks, Loyola Marymount UniversityALON GOSHEN-GOTTSTEIN is founder and director of the Elijah Interfaith Institute. A noted scholar of Jewish studies, he has held academic posts at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University and has served as director of the Center for the Study of Rabbinic Thought, Beit Morasha College, Jerusalem.