What does it mean to be human? This is a profound question and the answer has huge implications. Are human beings a mere biological accident in a vast cosmological accident? Are human beings the creative product of a divine mind? Or are they something else entirely?
A recent short web article has again made me reflect that to be a human is to be a creature that exists in and for relationships. Not just physical relationships in a biological exchange but emotional and spiritual relationships. So deeply are relationships at the core of our existence that if our heart breaks when someone dies it seems that a broken heart can break a heart.
The Christian message is all about relationship. Jesus summarises all the commands of God as love God with your heart, mind, soul and strength and love your neighbour as yourself. Loving God and loving people: relationships.
What other way of thinking about human beings recognises the reality that the essence of what it means to be human is to be in relationship?