'Kindred Spirits' takes us inside a network of Catholic historians, theologians, poets, and activists who pushed against both the far-right surge in interwar Europe and the secularizing tendencies of the leftist movements active in the early to mid-twentieth century. With meticulous attention to the complexity of real lives, Brenna Moore explores how this group sought a middle way anchored in 'spiritual friendship' - religiously meaningful friendship understood as uniquely capable of facing social and political challenges. For this group, spiritual friendship was inseparable from resistance to European xenophobia and nationalism, anti-racist activism in the United States, and solidarity with Muslims during the Algerian War. Friendship, they believed, was a key to both divine and human realms, a means of accessing the transcendent while also engaging with our social and political existence.

Also issued in print: 2021.

Introduction : spiritual friendship as an alternative Catholic modernity -- Between Latin America and Europe : Gabriela Mistral and the Maritains -- Luminous spiritual traces to Islam : the passionate friendships of Louis Massignon -- Marie-Magdeleine Davy and the hermeneutic of friendship in resistance to Nazism -- The intimacy and resilience of invisible friendship : Marie-Magdeleine Davy and Simone Weil -- Friendship and the Black Catholic internationalism of Claude McKay -- Epilogue : kindred spirits as fragments of modernity.