2024 Study Project: A Theology of Friendship

I know, I know! I’ve picked as my main focus of study for next year a topic that wasn’t even on the previous list. It was an idea that came to me through conversations about a recent course I taught on a Theology of Human Contact. God created us to be in relationship and thinking deeply about His design and that reality can be so useful for us. I ended up deciding on this topic for several key reasons.

1. I had already started to dig into this subject as a result of the ten week course I taught on a Theology of Human Contact. In one sense I have a head start on my study, but expanding upon this will be both enjoyable and insightful. I will get to go deeper than I did in the course.
2. Loneliness has been identified as an epidemic in modern American culture. We as a people are the most lonely that we have ever been in American history and the need to think deeply and practically about the subject of friendship could not be more relevant.
3. The church isn’t doing much better with regard to meaningful relationships. Despite our best efforts to foster community through ministries, many Christians still confess to feeling alone and disconnected. People often leave churches because they feel lonely. We need to, as the people of God, evaluate what we are doing and what we are prioritizing in our corporate life together.
4. Finally, this is a rich topic and in the last few years there has been a wealth of literature written about community, friendship, connection, and relational spirituality. That means that there is a lot to read and research and pull together. I do love the work of synthesizing ideas and I can definitely do that with this topic.

So, I hope you will consider joining me next year for this engaging study on a theology of friendship. I will be working in the next few weeks to sharpen my research questions and prepare my reading list. Check back for more updates in 2024.