Bible, Improvisation, and New Community

I live in Albemarle, North Carolina, a small mill town that has lost most of its manufacturing base, has an aging population, with one of the largest opiod addiction problems in the state. It is probably one of the most racially divided places I have ever lived. Can Jesus' friendship notions address issues of racial division in the contemporary North American context? One of Jesus' most famous parables is that of the Good Samaritan, a story in which the Samaritan comes to the aid of a man who has been wounded and left for dead by robbers on a lonely wilderness road (Luke 10:25-37). The man was not aided by a Levite, or by a priest, who both pass him by. The text is typically interpreted to accentuate the virtue of the Samaritan who helped his neighbor, even though Samaritans were not generally friendly to the Jews. I have a different take about the meaning of the parable, but more about that on a later date... What would it take for us to befriend people who are different tha...

For this advent, I will be reflecting a little on Friendship. Typically the first week of advent focuses on the prophets. Since I didn't write about the prophets in my book, I figured I'd share a thought each day from one of the Greco-Roman thinkers I discuss in my book. I'll start with Plato. In his "Lysis" dialogue, Plato portrays Socrates musing with a group of young wrestlers after their practice about the nature of friendship. He runs through numerous definitions. One of the first he considers is that friends are "like to the like." What do you think about that? Do you seek out friends who are like you in your tastes, character, political ideas, ethnicity, gender, etc? What do we gain from solidarity with those who are like us? Our social media algorithms often show us posts from friends with whom we agree. So there must be some value in seeking out people who are similar to us. But do we miss anything, if our friends are only always like us? As...