Spiritual Friendship: Learning to Be Friends with God and One Another

Translation Notes

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ahead of many in his belief that men and women could be friends and that as friends they were also equals (1.57−60; 3.100). Given that our target audience are congregational leaders serving among the poor with varying levels of literacy, I have simplified and standardized the translation of several key words used by Williams. 1. “Base” has been adapted to “shameful.” 2. “Benevolence” has been adapted to “good will” as in one who is willing good for the other person. 3. “Charity” is the normal English translation of the Latin caritate ( caritate is, for example, the word used for “love” in the Latin translation of 1 Corinthians 13). 1 Given the nuances of this word, Williams translates it over ten different ways in his English translation of Spiritual Friendship . In order to make it easier to follow Aelred’s argument about love in relation to friendship, I have simplified the English words used to translate caritate and its variants to three: “affection,” “love,” and “Christian love.” 4. “Carnal” and “fleshly” are both used by Williams to translate carnalis and carnalibus . I have adapted the text so that “fleshly” is used consistently. Aelred quotes extensively from Scripture and other ancient sources. When Aelred quotes Scripture I have

1 Liz Carmichael, Friendship: Interpreting Christian Love, a History of the Interpretation of “Agape” as Friendship-Love in the Western Christian Tradition (London: T & T Clark, 2004).