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A couple of months ago, I posted my enthusiastic endorsement of Chris Heuertz & Christine Pohl’s new book “Friendship at the Margins: Discovering Mutuality in Service and Mission”. As promised here is my interview with Chris about the book. The interview, like the book, is very much worth you time to read and consider. Enjoy!
Jamie Arpin-Ricci: In a time when “friend” has become a casual verb in social media, what does friendship mean to you?
Chris Heuertz: Friendship is far from an externalized abstraction or a digitalized, virtual connection. For me, friendship is an honest, confessional, intimate place where people are free to be the best and worst of themselves. Friendship happens when we lower the walls that divide us from people, allowing ourselves and the other to live into a realized transparency and vulnerability. Not all friendships have to be deep, some can simply be playful. I think friendship is best expressed when incubated in the embrace of community, a collective of friends who are connected, committed and find common ground. Communities of friends are most authentic when they are open, hospitable, welcoming, accommodating and inclusive because at its core, true community is grounded and confident-not challenged by the so-called outsider. Communities that are accepting in their embrace allow friends to grieve and celebrate together by living in the liminal space of the ordinary.
JAR: Why was it important for you to co-write this book with Christine Pohl?
CH: More than important, it was necessary to write a book on friendship with Christine. For years I admired her work, but when we first made a personal connection her warmth closed the distance and created a safe space for us to learn together and from one another. I also think it would have been disingenuous to write a book on friendship with someone who I didn’t know. Finally, the book is part of Duke Divinity School’s Centre for Reconciliation’s small book series, Resources for Reconciliation. The first 3 titles in the series are amazing and the next couple look to be pretty fantastic too, but of those 5 books (all co-written by an activist/practitioner alongside a theological/academic) there are no women represented; for me, it was an issue of integrity that a series of books on reconciliation include, celebrate and promote the voices of women and men reflecting together.
JAR: With increased popularity in issues of justice, is there a risk of well-intentioned people mistreating those on the margins? What do you want people to understand in this respect?
CH: I think one of the greatest laments of mission is a theological reductionism that over-identifies people as potential converts rather than affirms the divine imprint of God in all humanity-a divine imprint that necessitates love. I think many evangelicals have perfected this form of theological reductionism, failing to love for the sake of love. We’ve turned people into a “target-audience,” mere consumers of our version of a Christian tradition. I think it’s an earnest and sincere mistake, but one that has contributed to the diminishment of all of us in community. Reflecting on the relationship between Jesus and Judas helps us unravel some of these tendencies, Jesus’ “success” with Judas wasn’t demonstrated in Judas’ response to Christ’s love, but was validated in the fidelity of love Christ had for Judas.
JAR: How would you respond those who might say, “All this is good for people like you, living in such unique circumstances. What does mean for the average joe Christian?”?
CH: I think we can all do a better job reflecting on how we love, who we love and what “strings” to that love need to be removed. Regardless of context we’re all expected to live authentic lives that bear witness to hope and are compelled by love.
JAR: Tell me about writers/books that have formative for you on this topic.
CH: I don’t know that there are authors or books who have been formative for me re: these things, I think it’s my actual friendships with people who are poor or Hindu or Muslim or gay or lesbian or whoever the so-called “other” used to be in my social imagination. Their love for me, welcome and embrace of me and their friendships have really dismantled the donor-receptor roles in how I was raised to believe I am and have to be the catalyst for their conversion. In these kinds of friendships I’ve found myself converted in more ways than one and ultimately I’m the one following them to God’s heart.
JAR: Are you working on any new books? Can you tell us about it?
CH: I am starting to carve out some time and space to begin working on a project, hopefully starting this fall, on “re-Membering Community.” A book that would name the members of community who have been excluded or left on the margins. It would redefine the margins not as a location, but an orientation and reflect on elements of community that grounds itself with theological commitments and values embodied and demonstrated in ecumenicism, gender equality, multiculturalism and solidarity with those who are poor.
JAR: Tell us something unusual/unique about yourself we might otherwise never know.
CH: Unusual? Hmmmmm… Well, actually most of my friends who are students of activism find one of my hobbies an anomaly. One of my life goals is to see ever every Division 1-A college football team play. I’ve seen 54 of the 120 at 28 different stadiums, that includes seeing every ACC team, and most of the PAC-10, SEC, Big East and Big XII. That’s all I got.
JAR: Thanks Chris.
