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Friendship
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.
- GenresFriendship
248 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 1986
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 18, 2024
Is friendship becoming obsolete?
This is the question Hugh Black poses on his opening pages, in 1898. This question is perhaps more pertinent today that it has ever been with friendships becoming more and more terminally casual and an epidemic of loneliness rages. Black holds up a high view of friendship, and calls others to renew their view of friendship as a vital part of Christian life.
A few ideas that really stood out to me:
True friendship sees the beauty in a soul, and longs to see it everywhere. To look through the damage that sin has taken on us, and look for the beauty beneath - look for the divine in every eye, and call it forth and call it forth and call it forth.
Sympathy is needed in the sun as much as in the storm. We celebrate and step into one another’s joys as well as sorrows. It can be easy to make one another’s sorrows about yourself, but just as easy to make another’s joy about yourself.
Friendship is risky business. The nearer and less disguised a friendship is, the more influence we will have on one another. This can be for our good and for our peril. And it's fair to say - the greater the intimacy, the greater the risk of personal catastrophe if it were all to fall apart.
If your relationships are based on entertaining people, then don’t be surprised when they move on to the next shiny thing.
Our friends will always fail us - the joyful rest of the gospel is that God will never fail us. When our eyes are not fixed on the other for all our relational needs, but together gaze at the goodness of God, we are freed up to care for one another.
This is the question Hugh Black poses on his opening pages, in 1898. This question is perhaps more pertinent today that it has ever been with friendships becoming more and more terminally casual and an epidemic of loneliness rages. Black holds up a high view of friendship, and calls others to renew their view of friendship as a vital part of Christian life.
A few ideas that really stood out to me:
True friendship sees the beauty in a soul, and longs to see it everywhere. To look through the damage that sin has taken on us, and look for the beauty beneath - look for the divine in every eye, and call it forth and call it forth and call it forth.
Sympathy is needed in the sun as much as in the storm. We celebrate and step into one another’s joys as well as sorrows. It can be easy to make one another’s sorrows about yourself, but just as easy to make another’s joy about yourself.
Friendship is risky business. The nearer and less disguised a friendship is, the more influence we will have on one another. This can be for our good and for our peril. And it's fair to say - the greater the intimacy, the greater the risk of personal catastrophe if it were all to fall apart.
If your relationships are based on entertaining people, then don’t be surprised when they move on to the next shiny thing.
Our friends will always fail us - the joyful rest of the gospel is that God will never fail us. When our eyes are not fixed on the other for all our relational needs, but together gaze at the goodness of God, we are freed up to care for one another.
March 19, 2023
I enjoyed this book very much! Black does a great job articulating the different facets of friendship, the beautiful and the difficult. I love how he ends the books talking about the highest friendship we have with Jesus. It reminds us that all other friendships will fall short when compared to the ultimate & ideal relationship we have with God.
February 22, 2019
So many rich thoughts, beautifully expressed. Written in a high tone, notably free from humor. Loved how it ends with the friendship of God through Christ.
"Most of our friendships lack the distinction of greatness, because we are not ready for little acts of service."
"Most of our friendships lack the distinction of greatness, because we are not ready for little acts of service."
March 1, 2014
There is nothing better than to be able to sit and learn directly from an expert's experience, insight, and understanding. Black does an outstanding job with a topic that is so quickly passed through or is only ever addressed as if friendship is something you pick up like a cold, never knowing for sure how you caught it or where it went when it has run its course and without any more serious thought about it.
June 10, 2014
It's a sort of cultural/theological series of essays on friendship written in 1905. Pretty thorough.
February 18, 2020
This book was first published in 1898, so it is a bit dated. I found it quite hard to read, but there were some good points in it.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews