Spiritual Friendship in Christian Monk Aelred of Rievaulx and the Pali Canon of Buddhism

IF 0.1 0 RELIGION

Buddhist-Christian Studies Pub Date : 2021-11-18 DOI:10.1353/bcs.2021.0023

Justin Bronson Barringer

{"title":"Spiritual Friendship in Christian Monk Aelred of Rievaulx and the Pali Canon of Buddhism","authors":"Justin Bronson Barringer","doi":"10.1353/bcs.2021.0023","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"abstract:This essay is a work of comparative theology regarding the sociopolitical and moral dimensions of the idea of spiritual friendship. It specifically analyzes the points of connection between the spiritali amicitia of twelfth Cistercian monk Aelred of Rievaulx with the Kalyāṇa-mittatā of select Suttas from the Buddhist Pali canon. Both texts argue for the importance of friendship, particularly what they each call spiritual friendship, the highest form of friendship, for the holy and moral life. Such friendship subverts oppressive power structures, particularly legalistic static hierarchies, by catalyzing a new and just \"relational hierarchy\" in which spiritual friends serve one another as moral exemplars. The essay especially focuses on the way in which those with a higher station in life—socially, economically, politically, spiritually—invite into friendship those who are marginalized, which disrupts social orders intended to protect the wealthy and powerful that benefit by maintaining class distinctions. When these distinctions are undermined through spiritual friendship, the friends can find freedom, salvation, and enlightenment.","PeriodicalId":41170,"journal":{"name":"Buddhist-Christian Studies","volume":"29 1","pages":"233 - 244"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1000,"publicationDate":"2021-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Buddhist-Christian Studies","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1353/bcs.2021.0023","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"RELIGION","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

abstract:This essay is a work of comparative theology regarding the sociopolitical and moral dimensions of the idea of spiritual friendship. It specifically analyzes the points of connection between the spiritali amicitia of twelfth Cistercian monk Aelred of Rievaulx with the Kalyāṇa-mittatā of select Suttas from the Buddhist Pali canon. Both texts argue for the importance of friendship, particularly what they each call spiritual friendship, the highest form of friendship, for the holy and moral life. Such friendship subverts oppressive power structures, particularly legalistic static hierarchies, by catalyzing a new and just "relational hierarchy" in which spiritual friends serve one another as moral exemplars. The essay especially focuses on the way in which those with a higher station in life—socially, economically, politically, spiritually—invite into friendship those who are marginalized, which disrupts social orders intended to protect the wealthy and powerful that benefit by maintaining class distinctions. When these distinctions are undermined through spiritual friendship, the friends can find freedom, salvation, and enlightenment.

查看原文本刊更多论文

里瓦尔克斯的埃尔雷德和尚与巴利佛经的精神友谊

本文是一部比较神学著作，探讨了精神友谊观念的社会政治和道德维度。它具体分析了第十二西多会僧侣里沃克斯的埃尔雷德的精神生活与巴利佛经中精选的Kalyāṇa-mittatā之间的连接点。这两篇文章都强调了友谊的重要性，特别是他们所说的精神友谊，友谊的最高形式，对于神圣和道德的生活。这种友谊通过催化一种新的、公正的“关系等级”，颠覆了压迫性的权力结构，尤其是法律上的静态等级，在这种“关系等级”中，精神上的朋友彼此作为道德榜样服务。这篇文章特别关注那些在社会、经济、政治和精神上有较高地位的人邀请那些被边缘化的人加入友谊的方式，这破坏了旨在保护富人和有权者的社会秩序，这些人通过维持阶级差异而受益。当这些区别被精神友谊所破坏时，朋友们可以找到自由，救赎和启蒙。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Buddhist-Christian Studies RELIGION-

CiteScore

0.10

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Buddhist-Christian Studies is a scholarly journal devoted to Buddhism and Christianity and their historical and contemporary interrelationships. The journal presents thoughtful articles, conference reports, and book reviews and includes sections on comparative methodology and historical comparisons, as well as ongoing discussions from two dialogue conferences: the Theological Encounter with Buddhism, and the Japan Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies. Subscription is also available through membership in the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies .