Uncommon Friendships: An Amicable History of Modern Religious Thought

William Young

Jan 2010 · Wipf and Stock Publishers

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Uncommon Friendships explores the often-overlooked dynamic of interreligious friendships, considering their significance for how we think about contemporary religious thought. By exploring the dynamics of three relationships between important religious thinkers--Franz Rosenzweig and Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy, Emmanuel Levinas and Maurice Blanchot, and Julia Kristeva and Catherine Clement--this study demonstrates the ways such friendships enable innovation and transformation within religious traditions. For each pair of thinkers, the sustained engagement and disagreement between them becomes central to their religious and philosophical development, helping them to respond effectively and creatively to issues and problems facing their communities and societies. Through a rereading of their work, Young shows how such friendships can help us rethink religion, aesthetics, education, and politics--as well as friendship itself.

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William W. Young is Associate Professor of Humanities at Endicott College. He is the author of The Politics of Praise: Naming God and Friendship in Aquinas and Derrida (2007), and has published numerous articles on Derrida, Levinas, and postmodern religious thought.