Friendship and real disagreement

In the March / April issue of Touchstone (go here for the magazine's "Mere Comments" blog), S.M. Hutchens writes:

Friendship overcomes one of the greatest obstacles to truth in ecumenical conversation:  unwillingness to understand the beliefs of others in meliorem partem, which should be taken to mean not just accurately, but empathetically, in the manner one would wish to be understood oneself, if one were that other.  This, of course, does not eliminate real and substantive disagreement, but will aid in assuring the disagreements are real and substantive.  It allows us to maintain the bond of truth loving men, which we know shall lead us all to the same end, making error detachable for the sake of love.  One is happy to see his friend in the right, even to his own disadvangatge, and abandonment of error is a small price to pay for the fellowship of those one loves.   . . .  [F]riendship kills the triumphalist impulse, awakening desire that the friend should, together with oneself, know and love the truth.

Nice.