Hermetic Library fellow T Polyphilus reviews Spiritual Friendship by Aelred of Rievaulx:

This text embodies the high point of the valuation of friendship in Christian monastic discourse. “Particular friendship” had been considered dangerous to cenobitic communities because of the hazards of faction and favoritism.

Aelred wrote as a response to and revision of Cicero’s De amicitia, modifying the teachings in light of Christian doctrine and substituting Biblical stories for classical anecdotes. [via]

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