God With, Above and In Us Previous post: The Relational Heart of Christianity We all agree that relationships matter, and among Christians there is a consensus that our relationship with God matters most of all. But the way we talk about God, and relate to Him, quite naturally reflects our deeper theological commitments. What follows, […]
I have been reading with great interest recent obituaries of Alasdair MacIntyre (12 January 1929 – 21 May 2025). MacIntyre, a Scottish-American philosopher, was famously critical of the Enlightenment project which, he argued, had divorced modern Westerners from both tradition and the good life. As I understand it, MacIntyre effectively argued that whilst we still […]
The Relational Heart of Christianity “Relational theology” – or as we sometimes call it “relationary theology” – broadly refers to Christian approaches to Bible-based living that share a central focus on the primacy of love and relationships. Love is the lifeblood of relationships. Love gives relationships depth, meaning, and the capacity to flourish through mutual […]
The Etymology of “Relationary” I have geeked out. Please forgive me. Unqualified, I recklessly thought I would have a go and do some online research into the origins of “relationary”. Here is what I discovered: The Short Explanation Latin referre “to bring back” gives us relatus—“brought back”—the root of “relate”, “relation” and ultimately “relationary”. Latin […]
The Four-Sides Model Let me share a simple but powerful tool I’ve found incredibly helpful in navigating everyday conversations. It is called the “Four-sides Model” and it was developed by German psychologist Friedemann Schulz von Thun.(1) The core idea is this: every message we send carries four layers of meaning. Misunderstandings often happen when the […]