Many Christians think God voluntarily chooses to love and relate with us, even though God could choose not to do so. I disagree. In this essay, I ask three diagnostic questions I think show that most Christians actually believe God must love and relate with us, even though they may say otherwise. In a series of previous […]

In my recent book, God Can’t: How to Believe in God and Love after Tragedy, Abuse, and Other Evils, I address the topic of healing.  I’m not only interested in explaining how healing works. I’m also interested in explaining why many are NOT healed. To conclude one chapter, I summarized my main points. I provide […]

It seems that most Christians believe God is relational. I agree. Theologians call this “divine passibility.” But some Christians think God chooses to be relational, while others think God is relational by nature. Does it matter whether we believe God is relational by choice or by nature? Five Reasons to Affirm God is Essentially Relational […]

An increasing number of Christians believe God is relational. To be “relational” is, in the classical language, to be “passible.” It means that God is affected by others. I’ve written an essay for a new book on im/passibility, and I defend what the editors call “strong passibility.” In my language, I call this God’s essential […]

Some Christians believe God has no emotions. They believe this, in part, because they think only embodied beings have the capacity to express emotions. I think God can experience and express emotion. In a series of previous blog essays, I’ve argued that God is relational. By that I mean God gives and receives from creatures. […]

“It doesn’t matter whether we think God is relational,” a friend recently quipped. “God is just God.” Well… I disagree! In recent blog essay’s I’ve explored what it means to say God is relational. In this post, I want to briefly note 3 reasons why it matters to believe God is relational. A Relational God […]

In contrast to Aquinas and Anselm, I think God’s love involves more than outgoing benevolence. God’s love also involves incoming empathy, receiving, and sometimes suffering.

Christians often say what they know best about God comes from the revelation of Jesus Christ. In Jesus, God is specially incarnated (Jn. 14:9). Those of us who think God is relational believe Jesus reveals a relational God. Jesus’ Compassion Scripture tells us that Jesus himself had compassion for those in need (Mt. 9:36, 14:4, […]

If you read many theology books, you’ve likely come across many theologians who say God is relational. But it’s not always clear what being “relational” means. I believe God is relational, and here’s what I mean… In the past, theologians used various words as or near synonyms with “relational.” The most common was “passible.” And […]

It’s obvious to me that God relates with creation. It will come as a surprise to some, however, to hear that many Christians in the past and present DON’T think God relates with creation! By “relate,” I mean God influences creatures and creatures influence God. God is passible, to use the ancient language; God is […]