Relational Thinking as Renewal of Christian Democracy (2022)

Moving beyond a zero-sum game to a relational Europe is only possible if everyone has their place within a social whole. Relational thinking opens a pathway to this by focusing on relationships, and being grounded in a relational view of human dignity.

Door Matthew N. Williams

Gepubliceerd als Matthew N. Williams. Relational Thinking as Renewal of Christian Democracy. Amersfoort: Sallux, 2022

Through this, it offers us a social vision:

A society where everyone has a home in a flourishing community, contributing to a nation that cultivates bonds of fraternity that are extended to international neighbours.

It is made out of three main institutions: households, communities and nation:

Cohesive households whose members participate socially, economically and politically in a local community that cultivates its natural resources for the flourishing of all.

Communities interconnected within regions that house the means by which citizens can engage with social, economic and political life within the network of local relationships.

National governments that promote cultural unity, facilitate regional independence, and conduct confederal international relationships.

Finally, this vision must be grounded in a stakeholder economy, where everyone who is directly or indirectly involved in an organisation’s economic activity is considered in the way that resources are produced, consumed and distributed in a local area.

All this may sound more like a fairy tale than a genuine political programme. But in certain quiet sections of society, this relational mandate is being taken seriously and is happening. Nearly always away from the spotlight and often among Christians who are not part of the Church’s public face, there is pioneering work going on. It will increasingly happen if we dig deeper into the original biblical vision of relational thinking so as to engage in every sphere of life, uniting Christians in Europe, many of whom are part of diaspora communities, and appealing to society as a whole that is made In the Image of God. This is what Sallux exists to catalyse.

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