In this paper I argue that autistic spectrum disorders place 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. It is suggested that attention to qualitative personal relationships as a key human capacity within twentieth century theological anthropology closely parallels 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 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 by contemporary theologians. In conclusion, I propose that the philosophy of Robert Spaemann offers a way forward by allowing relations to retain a central role in theological anthropology without turning relationality into yet another problematic capacity that excludes persons with autism from fully participating in the economy of salvation.