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What We’ve Been Reading (& Listening To)

From First Thoughts

St. Aelred of Rievaulx’s Spiritual Friendship has been getting a lot of attention recently, and justifiably so. Friendship—close, intimate friendship—always deserves our time and attention. A few things stood out to me as I read this short treatise.First, Aelred’s insistence that friendship is eternal: “Friendship is indeed everlasting. Hence a friend loves always.” Friendship’s aim extends beyond this world to heaven, for “the true and eternal friendship that begins here is perfected there.” Continue Reading »

What We’ve Been Reading—11.6.14

From First Thoughts

Reading Don Quixote sounds like a daunting proposition. The book is, after all, both very long and an undisputed “classic.” That it has gained such an intimidating reputation seems like yet another of the book’s inexhaustible jokes, for reading it is much less like sitting down to watch Andrei Rublev than finding oneself pulled into an Arrested Development Netflix binge. Both take time, but only one is a chore. Continue Reading »