Open and Relational Theologies Unit

Open Call

The Open and Relational Theologies Unit promotes academic research and discourse on open, relational, and process methods and perspectives (including those of open theism, process philosophy, and other relational and personalists traditions). These explorations tend to be constructive in nature, regularly involving theological and philosophical speculation about the nature of God, freedom, power, relationality, materiality, love, and more. Our Unit's inquiries also explore the implications of open-relational methods and perspectives on a wide range of social, scientific, and spiritual topics. We welcome contributions from across religious traditions.

For the 2026 Meeting, the Open & Relational Theologies Unit invites proposals on the following themes:

Co-sponsored session: Open and Relational Theologies Unit and Wesleyan and Methodist Studies Unit

Roundtable Session

Theme: Theologies of Love in Dialogue: Twenty-Five Years of Thy Nature and Thy Name is Love

2026 marks the 25th anniversary of Bryan P. Stone and Thomas Jay Oord’s Thy Nature and Thy Name is Love: Wesleyan and Process Theologies in Dialogue. Along with essays from over a dozen leading scholars in the traditions, Stone and Oord noted, “At the center of this dialogue is the passionate interest on the part of both traditions to communicate the message of God’s love.” This roundtable discussion of invited scholars will examine the contributions and challenges of Thy Nature and Thy Name is Love, as well as the changes in and emerging directions for theology in each of the traditions in the quarter century since its publication. William Hasker hailed the volume for “moving beyond the sterile opposition of ‘classical’ vs. ‘neoclassical’ theism,” and Marjorie Suchocki described her experience of Process and Methodist theologies uniting as “‘coming home,’ . . . a process of joining a band of pilgrim people who are continuing the journey.” This session seeks to participate in that movement and that pilgrimage afresh, for a theology of love on the horizon of possible futures.

What is the future of God? Faith in an age of ferment

According to many analysts of religion, ours is not a time for business as usual. Religious institutions are in decline, the academic study of religion is under threat, theology is a marginalized discipline, and religious expression itself is in ferment. In response, some religious traditions assert the absolute sovereignty of God and ascribe these trends to the divine will. Open and relational theology, on the other hand, believes that God has granted humankind freedom. Historical events, therefore, may or may not accord with the divine imagination. Given this fundamental belief, how should religious leaders interpret these recent trends? Are they a promising disturbance drawing us closer to a God that traditional religion has distorted? Or do they suggest a growing insensitivity to the sacred? The Open and Relational Theologies Unit welcomes all perspectives on these pressing questions, including the future of God as related to: capitalist economics, religious pluralism, rising nationalism, messianic technologism, etc.