Avant-propos - Studia Moralia

istence. Even though Christ’s redemptive suffering has made it
possible for human beings to enter once again into fellowship
with God, the effects of original sin still influence the human
heart and can easily get in the way. Concerned more with experience
than with abstract doctrines, Aelred provides his readers
with concrete suggestions about the precautions they should
take when entering into spiritual friendships. It is for this reason
that Aelred goes to great lengths to describe the various steps involved
in the fourfold process of selection, probation, admission,
and union. This practical advice helps to insure that genuine
spiritual friendships can actually be established and bear
fruit. Without it, the reader would be at a loss concerning the
concrete ways of developing these important bonds.
Conclusion
THE HEALING ROLE OF FRIENDSHIP 83
Spiritual friendship, for Aelred, has an important role to
play in a person’s journey to God. The various literary and theological
contexts of his treatise highlight this firm conviction.
One might go so far as to say that Aelred’s use of the dialogue
form and of the Christian doctrines of creation, fall, and redemption
give shape to his teaching and cannot be separated
from it without drastically changing it. To do so would be to
overlook some of his most basic presuppositions about the present
state of human nature and the remedies given by God for
facilitating a person’s growth in holiness.
In describing spiritual friendship as the “medicine of life,”
Aelred highlights humanity’s present need for healing and
strengthening. The literary form in which he casts his teachings
reminds the reader of the various types of spiritual friendships
possible and that dialogue itself is an essential element for the
establishment and ongoing development of such relationships.
The theological background of his teaching offers some helpful
insights into his qualified understanding of participated goodness,
his presentation of spiritual friendship as a process of
growth reaching its perfection in intimate union with Christ,
and his penchant for giving very concrete, practical advice about
their care and maintenance.
Aelred’s primary interest in his De spiritali amicitia is to help