Relational Theology

The essence of relational theology is that God and man are intrinsically involved. Human beings were created with an essential connection to God which is severed by self-serving actions, namely sin.

Based on this, our objective is to more or less examine everything about God, people and the Bible in terms of relationship rather than in the light of theological schemes or interpretive structures.

What it boils down to is that severed and/or dysfunctional relationships are the disruptive forces in everything. It is an exploration, hopefully with some community involvement, to rediscover the nature of God’s relationship to man and reconnect.

My defining theme in relational theology is that God exists in relationship, and all that God does is for the purpose of relationship. By saying that God exists in relationship, I am affirming a triune God who is not merely theoretically proposed, but to say that when Jesus speaks, He reveals this Other, this intimate Other, His Father. And He reveals the Spirit and gifts us with the Spirit as One who is irreducibly connected to who He is. And so when we look at Jesus, we necessarily see Jesus as a Being in relation. Who He is is One who exists by virtue of this intimate, loving dance that is not merely the coming together of three separate Ones, but is the One who expresses the very relating life of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

When I say that all that God does is for the purpose of relationship, I am not talking about something separate from that kind of life that God has, of love and freedom for one another, but that all humanity is addressed by God, in the person of Jesus Christ, to respond to the invitation, the initiation of the God who reconciles, creates community, speaks to us, and calls us His own, His family, His body — those who live out of that life and share with this three-personed God in the world in a way that fulfills a vision of what love looks like, not as a feeling within one’s self, but as a creative, diverse community of persons who are enriched by their being together and sharing their life together.

Relationships are at the core of who we are as humans. From Shakespearian dramas to the current top ten music charts, nearly every artistic expression is about relationship: songs of love lost and found, tales of our deepest longings and greatest tragedies. Whether it is an individual broken heart, or whole families and society’s devastated by relationships gone bad, relationships reflect our deepest human struggles. They are the source of our most profound joy and pain. Relationships are what we are willing to kill and die for. What we long for most. What keep us up at night. It is in relationship that we find out who we are as humans, and what matters most in life.

Relationship is at the heart of the Christian faith, reflecting the fact that we as humans have been made for relationship.

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