Welcome

Welcome to Relating Redemptively, a website dedicated to exploring close relationships  through the virtues of self-control, humility, relational work, faithfulness and wisdom.  My perspective is covenantally Christian and social scientific so you'll find insights here from scripture, research studies, and personal experience.

My hope is that visitors like you will discover what I have: that relating well begins with our heart condition which spills to our communication with people close to us whether friends, partners, colleagues, or relatives.  What is your heart full of?

Books

I've written two books. More Than Talk: A Covenantal Approach to Everyday Communication is a textbook for professors and university students  who are serious about all things communication. The other is The Relationship Project: Moving from 'You and Me' to 'We' intended for thoughtful people who want to see how virtue shows up in their close relationships. You can read about each  here.

Self Assessments

I believe in science and think we can learn about virtues and covenants by asking and answering the right questions and  scoring how we're doing. To this end I've developed five virtue assessments and one covenant scale here. You can print them off and use them for personal study or small groups.

Articles

Shorter pieces you'll find on this page may be popular articles written for other websites, original articles published only here, and devotionals that attempt to show God's perspective on relating redemptively. 

Blog Posts

I never wanted to be slavishly tied to a blog, ever required to crank out thoughtful material at a high level for visitors to read. But I see the value in posts as an avenue  to share new insights, comment on books, or review intriguing relationship research. So if you'd like to know when something new gets posted, I hope  you sign up here.