We’re happy to announce the publication of a new book, Partnering with God: Collaboration in Open and Relational Theology!
The title itself will strike some readers as audacious. After all, who can really claim to “partner with God”?!
Partnering with God answers that question by claiming collaboration with the divine is a real possibility!
Seventy-seven essayists explore from practical, philosophical, biblical, poetic, personal perspectives what it means to partner with God. The book includes questions and is suitable for sparking group discussions. The essays vary and proposals provoke new insights.
This book breaks new ground!
What “Partnering with God” DOES NOT Mean
As editors of this book, we wanted to be clear about what we don’t mean by “partnering with God.”
We don’t mean that creatures are equal to their Creator. We differ from God in many ways, so equality with deity is not something we think possible.
We also don’t mean partnership implies that we can function without God’s creative influence, empowerment, or love. We’re not entirely independent beings who exist without help from God and others. In fact, it’s in God that we live and move and have our being. Without God, we can do nothing.
By “partnering,” we mean that our choices, actions, and agency play a role alongside God’s activity in the world. We can cooperate (or not) with our Creator. We’re potential collaborators, conspirators, and co-creators. To join with God means we contribute to the unfolding of existence.
Partnering with God is our calling and part of what it means to be made in God’s image.
Diversity
The essays in Partnering with God explore diverse ways of understanding collaboration.
Some essays are theoretical, exploring theological, philosophical, biblical, or scientific dimensions of partnership. Others are personal, practical, even poetic. Some essayists explore partnership applied to daily life.
We think this diversity is a strength. The essays cover more topics than a book of uniform essays could. What unites their diversity is the common cause of pondering partnership with the divine.
