Relational Holiness: Responding to the Call of Love [Paperback]

Michael Lodahl (Author), Thomas Jay Oord (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2005

Relational Holiness offers insight and evidence for understanding the theology of holiness by focusing on love - the core of God’s nature and character - and describes how God invites us to share in a life of divine love. Thomas Oord and Michael Lodahl present this new paradigm for sanctification in a relevant and understandable style that is engaging and insightful, especially for the post-modern generation.’...Communicating holiness in relational categories and making holiness understandable today are the two passions that inspire these imaginative theologians. With insightful originality they propose that love is the core notion of holiness. Every believer’s life can be enriched with this candid contemporary dialog about the holy life.’-Dr. Jerry PorterGeneral Superintendent for the Church of the Nazarene’This study calls us to center our understanding and practice of Christian holiness where [John] Wesley did - in the love of God and neighbor. It also highlights Wesley’s wisdom about the vital role of the spiritual practices in nurturing and shaping this love. It is a welcome contribution to recent efforts to appreciate and revitalize the tradition in which we stand.’-Randy L. Maddox Professor at Seattle Pacific University

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City (June 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0834121824
• ISBN-13: 978-0834121829
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #743,115 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Of Limited Appeal For A Limited Audience, March 17, 2007

By 

Patrick L. Mccartney (Oak Harbor, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Relational Holiness: Responding to the Call of Love (Paperback)

As the doctrine of Christian Holiness moves well into the background of popular western culture, a few die-hards still wonder what it all means (or meant). Oord and Lodahl take Mildred Wynkoop's view of holiness and develop it for the evangelical mind. They maintain that holiness is a God-centered relationship based on Divine Love. It is working for well-being in each and every one of life's situations. In advocating this approach, they avoid the extremes of Richard Taylor's insistence on holiness as a spiritual crisis that drives the believer into radical self-abandonment and total surrender to the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit. While Taylor may have been a bit of a radical, no one who ever knew him ever doubted his passion. For their part, Oord and Lodahl make holiness seem attainable and, one may say, even reasonable(?). A worthwhile read.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Start, September 17, 2008

By 

John M. Hanna (Springfield, OR) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Relational Holiness: Responding to the Call of Love (Paperback)

The authors embark on the bold assertion that love is "the core notion of holiness", the sum of all theological, philosophical, historical, practical, and ultimately Biblical expressions of holiness. In his book "The Theology of John Wesley," Kenneth Collins says that the deficiency of Oord and Lodahl's position is that holiness is not on equal par with love. I do believe however that Oord and Lodahl are on track with giving us a glimpse of what a postmodern holiness theology can look like, as well as grounding holiness in the concept of love, specifically, relational love. I did feel the book was far too simplistic for what they were trying to accomplish. Realizing that the book was not intended to be scholarly by any means, it still easily could have been three times longer so as to better assist the adventurer/traveler (their motif) where the authors wanted to take us. I look forward to more from this dynamic duo.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Lightweight contribution, June 22, 2009

By 

Glen O'Brien (Melbourne Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Relational Holiness: Responding to the Call of Love (Paperback)

This is a fairly lightweight book that is accurate in its central thesis that love is the organizing centre of the doctrine of holiness, but weak in that it does not provide a solid theological treatment of the topic. The stress on a Trinitarian view of holiness is welcome but not sufficiently developed here. The book is aimed at a general lay readership and is pitched reasonably well at that audience I suppose but both authors are capable of much more serious writing. It is a book typical of the crisis in the Wesleyan-Holiness churches over the doctrine of sanctification. Having given up on the simplistic formulas of nineteenth century second blessing formualtions of the teaching, no adequate substitute has yet been found. Much that is said here might be found in a book by an evangelical of any particular theological tradition or none. There are a few distinctively Wesleyan insights but the tradition still awaits a contemporary formulation of its core doctrine. The reading lists at the end of each chapter provide valuable clues for further reading. PS Does a book that is 140 pages long really need two forwards and two prefaces?