In my blog entry on the debate between Einstein and Bohr on the meaning of reality, I spoke of relationships being primary. It is relationships which bring substance into being, as Bohr was arguing in an obscure way. In a seemingly separate line of arguments in my book “To See a World in a Grain of Sand”, I also argued that we are not born persons; we are born human animals and become human persons, or not, as a result of our responses to those around us, to our physical environments, and — most of all — to God.
In other words, I was already anticipating my more explicit claim that it is relationships which are primary in the viewpoint of a true and rational Christian Creationism. There are other arguments against Intelligent Design, but this is one of the strongest: it places substances ahead of relationships, static structures ahead of narratives. Good narratives, of course, show a strong appreciation of the importance of relationships. Let us hear the Biblical version of this:
Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. (1 John, 4:7)
And again:
We love because He first love us. (1 John, 4:19)
We know God by way of His self-revelations and also through His effects in His Creation, through everything that exists. And both of those sets of revelation speak to us of love. If we accept that love and struggle to live up to the demands of that love, we become persons, human beings who are being born of the Spirit, that is, being reshaped to become morally well-structured human person. And we are changed deeply by the relationships we take on. We can accept God’s love and try to order our selves in response. We can order ourselves to the satisfaction of our creaturely desires for safety and comfort or perhaps for control of our world.
In responding to relationships, certainly in accepting certain relationships and refusing or slighting others, we are not autonomous, pre-formed persons who remain unaltered. We become different creatures than we would have been if we’d made other choices. And we change others by forming relationships with them, or even offering them relationships.
More on this later as my thoughts develop. Or decay. As the case may be.