In this paper, I argue that autism places an important restraint upon the use of relationality in theological anthropology. This argument proceeds by outlining how the appropriation of dialectic personalism, which initiated ‘the relational turn’ in twentieth century theological anthropology, has struggled to escape the capacity or property‐based focus on individual subjects. As such, this relational account remains discriminatory against those who do not or cannot enact a particular kind of relationality, as some models of autism suggest. Moreover, attention to interpersonal relationships as a key human capacity within twentieth century theological anthropology closely parallels and may even have informed the development of autism within psychology as, in part, a social impairment. The devastating collision of these two intellectual trajectories is made apparent in explicit references by contemporary theologians to autism as a condition that prevents some humans from bearing the image of God, developing fully into persons, or receiving God’s grace by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

中文翻译：

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自闭症对神学人类学关系研究方法的挑战

在本文中，我认为自闭症对神学人类学中关系的使用施加了重要的限制。该论据概述了在二十世纪神学人类学中引发“关系转向”的辩证人格主义如何努力摆脱对个体主题的能力或基于财产的关注。这样，正如一些自闭症模型所暗示的那样，这种关系描述仍然歧视那些没有或不能实施某种特殊关系的人们。此外，在二十世纪神学人类学中，将人际关系作为一种重要的人的能力来关注是非常相似的，甚至在心理上自闭症的发展也可能部分是由于社会障碍而引起的。