Through Us, with Us, in Us: Relational Theologies in the Twenty-first Century

Controversies in Contextual Theology

by Lisa Isherwood (Editor/Contributor), Elaine Bellchambers (Editor), Jenny Daggers (Contributor)

Relational theologies turn our traditional starting point for theology on its head.

They ask what it is we experience and where it is we intuit God in and through our relation and lack of relation with ourselves, others and the cosmos. It is a form of theological thinking that gives divine agency to all living things. Already existing models of theology and the divine itself may be the starting point for this form of theological reflection, but they are not assumed to be the end point.It is the relationship and the relationality enables knowledge of the divine to emerge. The contributors to this book explore the concept of the emerging divine within human and non-human relationality. They asks questions about the divine dance within, between and around us, and offer space for reflection on the ethical and theological implications of this dance. The book aims to push the boundaries of theology and at the same time to challenge many of its foundations.

Contributors: Carter Heyward, Susannah Cornwall, Ursula King, Beverley Clack, Mary Grey, Catherine Keller, Lisa Isherwood, Diarmuid O'Murchu, June Boyce-Tillman, Maaike de Haardt, Jenny Daggers, Natalie K. Watson and Mary Condren.

Lisa Isherwood is Director of the Institute for Theological Partnerships at the University of Winchester.

Elaine Bellchambers is Senior Lecturer in Religious Education andProfessional Studies at the University of Winchester.

Genres: Theology, Religion, Nonfiction

263 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009