« Back to Issue 36

Friendship & the Body of Christ

Reviewed by Wilma Roest.

Friendship and the Body of Christ

Peter Atkinson

Canon Atkinson’s book on friendship began as a series of lectures in Chichester Cathedral, which were followed by discussions. Friendship and the body of Christ suggests that friendship is a greatly neglected category of human relations, despite being key to St John’s description of the relationship between God and humankind.

It takes the reader on a brief journey through time, from Hebrew Bible to more recent history, in just five short chapters. A further two chapters discuss friendship between men and women, and friendship and homosexuality, before a final chapter reminds the reader of the gospel imperative to love God and love another.

Much is said these days on relationships, be they hetero or homosexual. However, I agree with Atkinson that not enough is said on the gift of true Christian friendship. Inevitably in a book of this length we are not offered a comprehensive study of friendship; however it does offer a useful starting point in discussions (e.g. Lent groups) on the celebration of spiritual friendship within the Christian community.

Atkinson’s main point is that friendship is a form of relationship that best expresses the new God-given freedom in Christ, free from distinctions of race and social structure and gender.

“God is friendship” wrote St Aelred of Rievaulx. In our friendships we catch a glimpse of what it means to be friends with God. In a world starved of friendships Christians are given a new opportunity for mission through the greatest gift of the Creator, namely that of relationships.