Annotated Bibliography

My annotated bibliography is as follows:

Aelred of Rievaulx, Spiritual Friendship, trans. Mary Eugenia Laker (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian, 1977).
Aelred offers a medieval take on spiritual friendship of closer proximity in time to Dante. It offers insight into the concept of friendship at that time.

Aristotle, The Nichomachean Ethics, trans. Martin Ostwald (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999).
This work offers the ever-invaluable take on friendship from Ancient Greece.

The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version (New York: Oxford, 2004).
Namely, the Gospel of John, chapter 15 has the most pertinent passage regarding Christ referring to his disciples as friends.

Pope John Paul II, Encyclical on the Relationship between Faith and Reason Fides et Ratio, (14 September 1998). Acta Apostolicae Sedis (1998): 31-33.
John Paul II recognizes the importance of human relationship in attaining true knowledge of the Faith.

Robert Hugh Benson, The Friendship of Christ: Exploring the Humanity of Jesus Christ, (New York, NY: Scepter, 2001).
Benson breaks down the actions of Christ in the Gospels and illustrates how each action was, indeed, an act of friendship.

Thomas Aquinas. Summa theologiae, II-II, q. 23 in Summa theologica: Complete English Edition in Five Volumes. Vol. 2. Trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province. Westminster, MD: Christian Classics, 1981.Thomas discusses the divisions of Charity especially in application to Friendship. Here is a purely philosophical background.

(The above sources offer the perspectives of a Pagan, Christ Himself, A medieval Christian, A Christian philosopher, A modern Christian author, and a Pope- I think these perspectives will add to an overall theme of the concept of Friendship that is immutable.)

Loneliness

This video has strange visuals, but the audio from Fulton Sheen is of great value. 

Purpose of this Blog

During my pilgrimage through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven, I plan to demonstrate how Dante expresses the need for friendship and community through his allegorical friendship with Virgil and the guidance of Beatrice. This also illustrates the need for Christian Friendship on the pilgrimage through Earth in order that we eventually reach Heaven. It will be pertinent to show the concepts of friendship of the virtuous pagans, the Gospel Writers (and Jesus Himself), early Christians and one particular modern author. These sources will be cited in my subsequent blog entries.