Is there a fruitful conceptual connection between Invitational Education Theory (IET), an I-CORT mindset, Emotional Intelligence, and one’s conception of God? Arguably, Invitational Education, an I-CORT mindset, and one’s overall Emotional Intelligence can positively influence one's conception of God by habituating people to relationships characterized by intentionality, care, optimism, respect, and trust, thereby providing an experiential and relational framework through which God may be understood less as a distant or coercive authority and more as a trustworthy, caring presence who respects human dignity and agency while inviting people toward their fuller potential. An I-CORT mindset may contribute to the development of emotional intelligence by encouraging intentional self-awareness, compassionate social awareness, optimistic self-management, respectful interpersonal engagement, and trustworthy relationship management. Increased emotional intelligence may, in turn, contribute to a more differentiated and positive self-concept by enabling individuals to recognize their emotions, regulate their responses, understand others, and develop healthy relationships. Within a theological framework, these relational and emotional capacities may also influence one's conception of God by providing experiential categories: intentionality, care, optimism, respect, and trust, whereby the character and relational posture of God are interpreted.
The reader is invited to note the author’s emphasis above on "may" and "within a theological framework." This treatise is an interpretive extension of IET rather than a claim that Purkey, Novak, and Fretz (2020), were presenting a theology of God. Their work is educational and relational. Likewise, neither Bradberry and Greaves' EI model (2009) nor Anderson's I-CORT research establish a causal relationship between emotional intelligence and one's conception of God. Ideally, as considered herein, the concepts will provide a compelling lens for theological reflection.
Invitational Education Theory (IET) begins with a fundamentally positive view of persons. Given this, IET assumes that people are able, valuable, and responsible and that human potential is greater than what may initially be visible. The educator's task is therefore not primarily to control people but to invite them toward the realization of their potential. The International Alliance for Invitational Education describes this as intentionally creating environments characterized by trust, respect, optimism, and care. If the way we experience human relationships influences how we understand ourselves and others, then consistently practicing intentionality, care, optimism, respect, and trust can provide a relational framework through which we may come to understand God as similarly inviting, caring, hopeful, respectful, and trustworthy.
When a person
repeatedly encounters the messages: “You are valuable. You are capable. I
believe there is more in you than you currently see. I will accompany rather
than control you…” then that person may begin to imagine God through a similar
relational paradigm. For instance: “God sees value in me even when I cannot see
it in myself; God calls me toward becoming rather than merely judging what I
have already become…” IET can thereby shift one's conception of God from an
exclusively evaluative God to an invitational God.
This does not
eliminate judgment, accountability, moral responsibility, or divine authority.
Rather, it emphasizes that authority can be understood relationally. In this regard,
God calls, summons, invites, and accompanies rather than merely commands.
Can intentionality
shape the perception of God as purposeful? Anderson's I-CORT framework emphasized
intentionality as an interdependent rather than a discrete element of a caring,
optimism, respect, and trust(worthy) mindset. His 2021
study found that teacher candidates' experiences of an instructor
demonstrating these qualities were associated with their emotional-intelligence
development and their embrace of Invitational Education.
Intentionality
is particularly significant for theological reflection. An intentional person
does not merely happen to be caring, respectful, optimistic, or
trustworthy. Those qualities become deliberate ways of being. Applied
metaphorically to one's conception of God, this could lead to seeing God's
relationship with humanity as purposeful rather than arbitrary. Experiences of
challenge, growth, correction, forgiveness, or opportunity might be interpreted
within a larger narrative of formation. An important qualification is that IET
cannot establish that God actually acts this way. Rather, I-CORT provides a
conceptual vocabulary through which a believer might interpret God's
relationship with humanity.
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