Locating the Place of Interreligious Friendship in Comparative Theology

Each religion has at its core a commitment to the flourishing of life. Themes of relationality, hospitality, and friendship are pathways for promoting their mission to bring about the flourishing of all. James L. Fredericks, a Roman Catholic theologian with specialization in comparative theology, has spent his adult life working intentionally to enter into friendship with people of other faith traditions. In some of his works, he describes how such friendships have led to growth in his understanding of his own Catholic-Christian faith traditions. Interreligious friendship is not about proselytization, it is rather about exploring God's truth in the safe space of admiration, openness, trust, embrace of vulnerability, and discipleship in the presence of the other who bears the gift of divine grace by their presence.