Relational Holiness In Wynkoop

Relational Holiness in Wynkoop Almost immediately following John Wesley’s death his essential teaching, Christian perfection, was being redefined by his contemporaries in more strictly western theological conceptions than Wesley had ever intended. As has already been seen, Wesley was more profoundly impacted by the teaching of the Eastern Orthodox Fathers than those of the Western Church. Nearly 200 years after Wesley, Mildred Bangs Wynkoop sought to reclaim the core of his conception of Christian perfection as one of relational holiness. In her work, A Theology of Love, Wynkoop reclaims the relational and ongoing aspect of Wesley’s theology that had been lost over several generations that sought a “shorter way” to an instantaneous experience …show more content…
The orthodox understanding of humanity differs between Eastern and Western thought, but the division between the nature of humanity and that of God are clearly delineated. In Western thought, it is only by the action and grace of God by which humanity can enter into relationship with God. However, Eastern thought in theosis see the incarnation as the source for the participation or defecation of humanity to participate in the life of God. These lines are blurred in process theology, because as Tomas J. Oord writes, “As one who is essentially relational, God has always been interacting with some world or another (which entails an explicit denial of creation ex nihilo). This necessary relationship between God and the world entails that divine relatedness is an aspect of the divine essence.” Consequently, God’s nature is a relational one and therefore God has always been in some kind of relationship with his …show more content…
With this conception of God and his relationship with creation, process theology begins to move towards a universalism. Peterson writes, “For process theology, the present Kingdom of God includes all reality, all things, as they experience, develop, and pass into the divine life,” he goes on, “the future Kingdom of God is not the culmination of all things and the final division of the society of the redeemed from the rest of the world. This is because there is no end of the world at all; everything is in continual progress.” Since there is no end, the ongoing relationship is all that constitutes the Kingdom which is all inclusive. This does little to help with the reclaiming of a relational holiness, however focusing on the incarnation might help balance process theology on this