CO-SPONSORSHIP: Open and Relational Theologies Unit and Wesleyan and Methodist Studies Unit

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.