Partnering with God:
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The Podcast​


​Divine Partnerability


Imagine for a moment that God is not all-powerful in a traditional sense, but that God is instead all-partnerable. This is because the very essence of God is love - and love seeks, indeed needs, collaboration or partnership. Fortunately, there is now an anthology of essays which presents this idea in seventy-seven beautiful ways: Partnering with God: Exploring Collaboration in Open and Relational Theology, edited by Tim Reddish, Bonnie Rambob, Fran Stedman, and Thomas Oord. This page includes a podcast where they share what goes into the book, along with the book's table of contents, and a brief description of "open" and "relational" theology. The book too is partnerable.  It itself is an excellent resource for private and group study. I recommend it highly.
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​- Jay McDaniel, 9/23/2021

Podcast on the Book:
Interview with Editors
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Table of Contents
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Introduction
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Principles
  1. Beauty Desires You – Andre Rabe
  2. A Cosmic Love Story – Michael M. Rose
  3. How Scripture is a Partnership with God - William Yarchin
  4. Means and Ends When the Future is Open - Daniel J. Ott
  5. On Helping God by Becoming God - Andrew M. Davis
  6. Fighting the Climate Crisis Through Interfaith Relationships - Janel Apps Ramsey
  7. Fighting the Divine: Relational Theology as Confrontational - Matthew J. Korpman
  8. Crossing the Ocean of Suffering: A Medical Perspective on Divine Impassibility - Jonathan Kopel
  9. Partnering with God in Caring for the Creation is the Central Human Vocation - Carol Frances Johnston
  10. Man or Amanuensis? - Delvyn Case
  11. God’s Image, God’s Partner - Lemuel Sandoval
  12. Partnering with the Divine Energies – Robert D. Cornwall
  13. Cooperation with God in Other Religions - J. R. Hustwit
  14. How to Expand God’s Sight - Joshua Rasmussen
  15. God Doesn’t Care What You Think! - Kristian Bonde-Nielsen
  16. God Desires Partners for Change - Mike Edwards
  17. Salvation as Partnering with God – Joshua G. Patterson
  18. We are the Reason God Cannot be Free! - Ulrick Dam
 
Practical

  1. Friends With Benefits – Wm. Curtis Holtzen
  2. Improvising With God - Danny Prada
  3. A Practical Exploration of a Revolutionary Partnership – Tim Reddish
  4. Starships and the Calling of Humanity – Chris Baker
  5. Partnering with the Perfect Educator - Ian Todd
  6. Partnering with God in the Practice Christian Hospitality - Robert Hunter
  7. Participating Well Means Doing Less! - Ron Pate
  8. To Live for God is to Miss the Point - Roland Hearn
  9. How Can I Partner with My Grandmother who has Alzheimer’s? - Jay McDaniel
  10. God Has No Hands – John B. Cobb, Jr.
  11. Working Together for a Better Future - Lukas Targosz
  12. Parenting and Providence - Bonnie Rambob
  13. An Open and Relational God and Modern Medicine - John F. Pohl
  14. God in Partnership with Us (in our Sexual Partnerships) - Jonathan J. Foster
  15. Partnering Past a Pandemic – K. E. Carver
  16. Partnering with God to Break the Yoke of Christian Fundamentalism – Seth Wade
  17. God Is Not Your Buddy - Matthias Remenyi
  18. What About When God Doesn’t Partner with Me? - Michael Joseph Brennan
  19. Petitionary Prayer in Light of God’s Unconventional Love - Mark Gregory Karris
  20. Do The Numbers Matter? - Shalini Rajack-Sankarlal
  21. “Pay attention! That’s not what I said!”, says God - Rajeev Rambob
  22. Eating as Partnering with God’s Dream - Brian Claude Macallan
  23. Building Community for Rethinking Science and Challenging the Ivory Tower - Manuel Morales
  24. Partnering with a Hypothetical God - Brittney Hartley
  25. Church Happens - Thomas Hermans-Webster
  26. All Good Christians Go to Church; Or Do They? - Amanda M. Oster
  27. Jesus of No Fixed Address - Neil A. Ellis
  28. God is Obsessed with All of Me - Jerry Monroe Maynard
  29. My Friend God - Anne L. C. Runehov
  30. Greening Power - Shelly A. Skinner and Sharon L. Baker Putt
  31. God’s Partnership is Yeasty - Libby Tedder Hugus
  32. It Was Then That We Hopped - Emma Pavey
 
Personal

  1. A Long Obedience in the Wrong Direction - Nicholas Bundock
  2. Transformation in the Death of a Son - Fiona Spargo-Mabbs
  3. Writing With God - Bruce Epperly
  4. From Blind Obedience to Relational Choice - Janyne McConnaughey
  5. It Sucks to Grow Up – J. Aaron Simmons
  6. Earth Ministers Hidden in Plain Sight - Jessica Stonecypher
  7. Muhammad Iqbal and the Beauty of an Open Future - Farhan Shah
  8. Should We Partner with God? Yes, But Only if He Cares About Us – R. T. Mullins
  9. When Pathways Have Closed - Sheri D. Kling
  10. Partnering With God Through Death - Susanna R. Wagner
  11. Tattoos Can Be Life-Changing! – Deanna M. Young
  12. Relational Ethics - Clarence White
  13. What if God’s Salvation Involves not Christ’s Dying for Us but with Us in Cross-Bearing Partnership? – Daniel K. Held
  14. Shut up and LISTEN! - Cody Stauffer
  15. Does God Really Answer Prayer? - Tamara A Coleman
  16. Co-initiating Paradox - Sharon R. Harvey
  17. Truly Choosing - Tim Miller
  18. In the Minority - Brent E. Dirks
  19. Joining in God’s Work - Bob Luhn
  20. Everything is Meaningless – J. L. Dunsmore
  21. Learning to Save My Students Instead of Judging Them - Steve Watson
  22. Partnering with God as a 21st Century Psychologist - David Craigie
  23. God’s Fellow Workers - Greg Hoover
  24. God Can and Did - Donn Peters
  25. Responding to the Risky God - Michael Joseph Brennan
  26. God Needs You! - Michael Rans
  27. “WITH” - Catherine Lawton


What is Open and Relational Theology?

excerpt from the Introduction

These writings align with a particular theological perspective called “open and relational theology.” This broad umbrella includes many ideas, movements, and thinkers. There’s plenty of room for disagreement in what Alfred North Whitehead called “the adventure of ideas.” But open and relational thinkers share at least two commitments:

1. The “relational” in open and relational theology stands for the idea that God is affected or influenced by creatures and creation. We make a difference to the divine. This is reflected in how our prayers influence God, how we treat each other and creation itself affects God’s activities, our cooperation for salvation, and more. God receives what we do into the ongoing divine experience. This means, among other things, our actions ultimately matter. In short, God is relational.

2. The “open” in open and relational theology points to the ultimacy of time’s flow. God and creation face an open and yet to be determined future. In fact, there is no “future,” if by that word we mean a state of affairs already fully settled and knowable. Instead, we and God move forward in time and choose among possibilities, options, and opportunities. The future is open.
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Open and relational thinkers explore other ideas too, such as God’s love, creaturely agency and freedom, a relational world, personal and social action, God’s presence and power, and so on. While most—but not all—of these essays are written from a Judeo-Christian standpoint, their amazing variety demonstrates the wide appeal of this theological perspective. To dive deeper, check out the resources available on the website of the Center for Open and Relational Theology (c4ort dot com). You can also explore Tom’s new book, Open and Relational Theology: An Introduction to Life-Changing Ideas (SacraSage, 2021)!

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​Introduction to the Center for Open and Relational Theology

Open Horizons