"I came so that they may have life": amative space and faith as vital concern

This article describes four attributes of faith as vital concern--relational spontaneity, responsiveness, receptiveness, and vulnerability--which are key ingredients to subjective and intersubjective experiences of being alive and real. The metaphor, amative space, refers to the processes and dynamics that make faith as vital concern a viable possibility between and among people. The author depicts these processes as four, interrelated dialectical pairs--recognition-negation, surrender-generation, trust-distrust, and disruption-repair. The four attributes of faith as vital concern combined with the processes and dynamics of amative space can be used as a relational model to understand faith experience and interactions of individuals and groups.