The Art of Being a Good Friend

by Hugh Black

These pages show you how to transform your friendships into soul-nourishing relationships, bringing them from shallowness and frivolity to a deep communion of mind and heart - a communion that will become for you and your friends a means for emotional and spiritual growth.

If you're married, you'll find here new ways to appreciate the gift God has given to you in your spouse. If you already enjoy the blessings of other mature and spiritually oriented friendships, you'll discover innumerable ways to make them richer. Best of all, you'll learn how to seek friendship with God.

In The Art of Being a Good Friend you will also learn:

• How true friendship can give you a complete education in the art of living
• Whether you really have any true friends at all surprising ways to tell the difference between mere acquaintances and genuine friends
• Scripture's shrewd warnings about the pitfalls of socializing and its high view of friendship
• Why the wisest people through the ages have valued friendship so much
• Common ways you can unintentionally destroy friendships, and how to guard against those ways
• And much more, to bring your friendships rich blessings!

Genres: Relationships, Catholic, Christian

160 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1999

About the author

Hugh Black (1868- )

Reviews

[Mary Helen Sherman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite book on this topic, but I couldn’t pass it up. The author’s language is a little above me so I did have to read things a few times to understand them. However, he does have some things on friendship that I have never been able to put into words, specifically in regards to friendship in the midst of grief. Also, it actually prompts and says some hard things that other books like this don’t cover or quite go far enough into like growing out of friendships, fighting against selfishness in friendships, and the intimacy that real friendship actually carries in our pursuit for the Lord.

[Kevin W · Rating 4 out of 5]

"There are worse losses than the losses of death, and to bury a friendship is a keener grief than to bury a friend. The latter softens the heart and sweetens the life, while the former hardens and embitters."
A lot of wisdom packed into this short book.

[Jack Sullivan]

4 stars

[Lizard · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good!!!!! Have someone in mind to gift my copy to :)

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent.

A bit wordy, but wonderful nuggets of wisdom and advice. Definitely made me ponder. Also several points I didn’t necessarily agree with, thus providing fantastic discussion fodder.

[A Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

No man is an island yet each alone must live his life - we are connected yet separate. This book is replete with sage advice for understanding friendship at its core, identifying the traits of good friends and good friendships....and...for seeing the role of friendship in marriage and in relation to God. One of the more worthwhile and timeless treatise (originally published in 1898) on the subject of friendship complete with practical advice. Highly recommended as an adjunct to the breathless and shallow cheerleading available in mass production.

[Roxann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really good book that takes you through the purpose of friendships, how to be a good friend and how earthly relationships draw us closer to understanding our relationship with Jesus.

“There is possible such a blessed relationship, a state of love and trust and generous comradeship, where a person feels safe to be himself, because he knows that he will not easily be misunderstood.”