Interweavings: A Season of Darkness and Light
2022-11-30 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Cosmologically, this period of late fall marks the increase in hours of darkness until the winter solstice when the hours of light begin to make a return. Many religions have major holidays during this period. For some, the period of darkness is not feared but is celebrated as a time of rest and renewal or of waiting in a kind of pregnant pause. Most celebrate the increase in light and see this turning of the season as the welcome return of the energies of rebirth and growth.

In this event, we’ll introduce some of the major holidays in late fall and early winter, noting their significance in each tradition. We’ll look at Diwali, Advent, Hanukkah, St. Lucia Day, Winter Solstice, Christmas, Epiphany, Kwanzaa, New Year’s Eve, and Lunar New Year.

Come prepared to share a brief memory of a favorite winter holiday food or tradition from your own background!

Facilitator: Sheri Kling, Ph.D.

Sheri D. Kling, Ph.D. is an author, speaker, singer, and spiritual mentor who draws from wisdom and mystical traditions, relational worldviews, depth psychology, and the intersection of spirituality and science to help people find meaning, belonging, and transformation. She regularly delivers dynamic “Music & Message” presentations to groups, and offers courses, concerts, and spiritual retreats. Dr. Kling is director of Process & Faith and the John Cobb Legacy Fund and a faculty member of the Haden Institute. She sees her mission as midwifing wholeness in individuals, organizations, communities, and culture. Her work can be found online at www.sherikling.com.

Process Pop-Up: The Tao Flows on Like a River Forever
2022-12-13 17:00 - 18:00
Dating back in the Chinese oral tradition to the 11th Century BCE and now read by Westerners since the mid-1800s when Western-language translations were first available, the Tao in the Tao Te Ching is described as an endless source of novelty, ever flowing forward, yet always favoring the good. These depictions of the Tao resemble many of Alfred North Whitehead’s dynamic concepts, such as concrescence, process, living immediacy, and the inter-relatedness of contrasts. In this Pop-Up event, Dr. Rosemarie Anderson will provide examples of verses from her own translation of the Tao Te Ching, suggestive of the intimacy between the Tao Te Ching and Whitehead’s philosophy of organism and why modern Chinese are now attracted to Process Philosophy.

About the Facilitator

Rosemarie Anderson, PhD, is professor emerita of psychology at Sofia University, an author, poet, and Episcopal priest. In 2017 she received the Abraham Maslow Heritage Award from the Society for Humanistic Psychology of the American Psychological Association. She is author of Celtic Oracles (Random House, 1998) and The Divine Feminine Tao Te Ching: A New Translation and Commentary (Inner Traditions, 2021) and co-author of several scholarly books on transpersonal/transformative research methods.

Process Prep: Exploring Christian Process Theology in Small Groups
2022-12-19 17:00 - 18:00
Would you like to introduce friends to Christian Process Theology in a local setting? Not in a dogmatic way but in a friendly, conversational way so that people can explore its ideas for themselves? That’s the process spirit. The Cobb Institute offers a slideshow and power point for this purpose, based on Marjorie Suchocki’s understanding of process theology. In this one-hour pop-pop, Jay McDaniel will walk participants through the slideshow and offer tips for how to use it in a Sunday School class or discussion group. No need for experts. The slideshow does the teaching and you, the teacher, facilitate the discussion.

About the Facilitator

Jay McDaniel, PhD, is professor emeritus of world religions at Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas; editor of the website Open Horizons; author of several books on process and ecology and process and spirituality; and chair of the board of the Cobb Institute.

Process Pop-Up: Family, Parenting, Young Spirituality, and Process
2023-01-10 17:00 - 18:00
How might a process perspective help parents to raise their children to be spiritual, resilient, creative, and compassionate? Join Jay McDaniel and Bonnie Rambob as they join together to facilitate a conversation about such topics as:

Nurturing the spiritual child—practices for spiritual parents

Spiritual development across life stages

God as parent—new ways of thinking with process-oriented perspective

Bringing spirituality into parenting after a faith crisis, holding space for spirit in the desolate wilderness

Intergenerational and Interfaith Ministry/Community—the Village

Tenderness as tending the hearth at home

Facilitators

During the pandemic, Rev. Bonnie Rambob shifted her paid job from parish ministry to teaching kindergarten at her local public school. Bonnie enjoys working in, writing about, podcasting on, and exploring areas such as: multi-faith leadership, the spirituality of children and parenting, process theology, political activism, and progressive Christianity. As a spiritual traveler who migrated out of evangelical/fundamentalist Christianity, Bonnie co-leads several ministries of accompaniment for others who are in faith-shift. She co-hosts two podcasts: Haystacks, for former and fringe Seventh-day Adventists, and Irenicast, on progressive Christianity. Bonnie loves climbing trees, knitting, and hiking with her partner and two young adult sons.

Jay McDaniel, PhD, is professor emeritus of world religions at Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas; editor of the website Open Horizons; author of several books on process and ecology and process and spirituality; and chair of the board of the Cobb Institute.

Interweavings: Deep Listening: A Chaplain Approach to Healing and Wholeness
2023-01-19 17:00 - 18:00
Around the world, the polarization and radicalization of groups who have lost faith in their fellow humans is increasing. We are seeing a troubling rise in generalizations and manipulative propaganda that encourage dehumanization of our fellow human family members. It seems that as each year passes, the opportunities diminish for meaningful interactions and conversations which serve as short- and long-term reminders that we are communities that thrive on differences of thought and commonality of values. We have self-segregated to the point that we can stay in our physical and virtual bubbles, significantly limiting our connections to our neighbors. Single dimensions of complex identities have shifted would-be friends into presumed enemies. Chaplains learn to minister to people of all faiths and beliefs. These skills can be applied to heal divides and bring people back together.

Facilitators: Scott Nichols and Kathleen Reeves

Scott Nichols is the director of Spiritual Care and a Chaplain for Gentiva Hospice in central Illinois with over 15 years’ experience in Chaplaincy and Family Ministry. Having earned his BA in General Ministry and MA in Christian Leadership from Lincoln Christian University, Scott has combined his education and experience in developing a universal approach to spirituality and ministry. Scott began his clinical career as a Certified Substance Abuse Counselor for the state of Illinois, focusing on dual-diagnoses patients and family therapy with Gateway Foundation and Chestnut Health Systems. He has lectured on topics such as Case Management and Behavioral Therapy at the NAADAC Annual Conference. In his free time, Scott enjoys creating and teaching music in his studio and relaxes by retreating to his “cabin” in the hills of Alabama.

The Reverend Kathleen Reeves is the Director of Spiritual Care at RIVA Hospice of California where she works as chaplain and bereavement coordinator. Kathleen is an ordained interfaith minister and holds a Master of Divinity in interfaith theology. She has been active in interfaith peace and is a member of the Inland Valley Interfaith Working Group for Middle East Peace. She is the President of the Upland Interfaith Council. Kathleen is part of the Cobb Institute team and works to live a life in process.

Kathleen is a student of Japanese tea ceremony through the international Chado Urasenke Tankokai association of the Urasenke school in Kyoto, Japan. Kathleen follows an earth-based religion.

Interfaith Explorations Spring 2023: Cultivating Spirituality in Daily Life
2023-03-15 10:00 - 11:00, 2023-03-22 10:00 - 11:00, 2023-03-29 10:00 - 11:00, 2023-04-05 10:00 - 11:00, 2023-04-12 10:00 - 11:00, 2023-04-19 10:00 - 11:00, 2023-04-26 10:00 - 11:00, 2023-05-03 10:00 - 11:00 and 1 more date
In this offering, qualities of heart and mind to help us in our daily life at home, in family, in the workplace, and other situations in the journey of life, such as births, deaths, joys, traumas will be explored through the framework of Spiritual Alphabet, developed by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat. Our sessions will be facilitated by Dr. Jay McDaniel and Sophia Said, who will bring two “letters” from the spiritual alphabet to each session (“A” is for attention, “B” is for beauty, “C” is for connection, etc.), sharing quotations, poems, and stories from personal experiences that illuminate them; and then, with help from prompting questions, invite others to do the same.

Interfaith Explorations is a program of the Interfaith Center of Arkansas, and is co-sponsored by the Cobb Institute, Spirituality & Practice, and Process & Faith.

This event is free and open to the public.

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Process Pop-Up: Process Mysticism
2023-04-18 17:00 - 18:00
Drawing from his latest book, Process Mysticism, Dan Dombrowski will offer a process philosophical approach to mysticism or religious experience. “Mysticism” can refer to either direct experience of God or the claim that such experience is ineffable and both senses of the term will be analyzed. In this Pop-Up, Dan will use the process philosophies of Charles Hartshorne, Alfred North Whitehead, and Henri Bergson to explore this subject. His aim is not so much to demonstrate that such experiences are true or veridical as it is to understand, in a William Jamesian fashion, how they could be possible and not contradict the concept of God held by philosophers and theologians.

Dan’s presentation will touch on divine world-inclusiveness, ideal power and tragedy, the ontological argument, asceticism and the via negativa, divine visions and voices, and the aesthetics and ethics of mysticism. With an ecumenical approach, Dan will attempt to illuminate mystical experiences as they occur around the world in different religious traditions, while claiming familiarity only with the Abrahamic religions.

About the Facilitator

Daniel A. Dombrowski is Professor of Philosophy at Seattle University. He is the author of twenty-two books and over a hundred and ninety articles in scholarly journals in philosophy, theology, classics, and literature. Among his books are Rethinking the Ontological Argument: A Neoclassical Theistic Perspective (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006); Contemporary Athletics and Ancient Greek Ideals (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009); and Process Philosophy and Political Liberalism: Rawls, Whitehead, Hartshorne (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2019). His main areas of intellectual interest are metaphysics and philosophy of religion from a neoclassical or process perspective. He is the Editor of the journal Process Studies.

Process Pop-Up: Deconstructing Hell
2023-05-16 17:00 - 18:30
Would a loving God sentence anyone to eternal torment? Chad Bahl and other open and relational thinkers say no in their new book Deconstructing Hell: Open and Relational Responses to the Doctrine of Eternal Conscious Torment. In this online event, we’ll explore why Chad and his fellow authors argue that perhaps no modern church dogma has been more destructive to the mission of Jesus, created more atheists, or generated more religious trauma than that of eternal conscious torment (ECT) for the non-believer.

Chad, a doctoral student of Thomas Jay Oord, will highlight the very good reasons to deconstruct what many see as a harmful doctrine and introduce more constructive and healing approaches to understanding ‘final judgment.’

About the Facilitator

Chad Bahl is a DThM candidate at Northwind Theological Seminary, where he specializes in the study of Open and Relational Theology. Bahl is the author of God Unbound: An Evangelical Reconsiders Tradition in Search of Truth and the author/editor of Deconstructing Hell: Open and Relational Responses to the Doctrine of Eternal Conscious Torment.

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Process Pop-Up: Attuning with Things: The Mind According to Nishitani Keiji
2023-05-17 17:00 - 18:00
We are not our brains and brains are not computers. The mind is much more than computations. As more than a few authors acknowledge today in the philosophy of mind, the notion that the mind is a computer fails because it makes us ignore the relevance of the body for our mental lives. Yet, we need to go even further: tiles and stones, rivers and valleys, all things participate in the making of an individual mind. Regarding the problem of how we can ever hope to know anything about the world, we should not ask how we can get in contact with things: we already are essentially connected with them. The question is, rather, how we can attune with them so that they can show their real being.

This is the approach presupposed by the Japanese philosopher Nishitani Keiji (1900-1990), one of the main representatives of the Kyoto School. Even though the mind was not explicitly among his main topics of interest, Carlos Barbosa Cepeda believes that we can learn much about the way that Keiji touches upon the topic in his works. Keiji argues that we get to know a certain fact due to the mutual projection of mind and fact. This notion can help us to achieve a vivid (i.e. not merely theoretical/discursive) understanding of who we are, and it can also help us to regain our confidence that we can get to know reality even if we are not professional scientists.

In this Pop-Up, Kyoto School scholar Carlos Barbosa Cepeda will explore Nishitani Keiji’s philosophy of mind, showing how ideas from the Japanese philosopher help us move beyond metaphors of the mind as a computer and achieve a more vivid understanding of who we are.

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About the Facilitator

Carlos Barbosa Cepeda, PhD, is professor of philosophy at Universidad Pedagógica Nacional (Bogotá, Colombia). He is a member of the European Network of Japanese Philosophy (ENOJP) and the Latin-American Association of Intercultural Philosophy (ALAFI). His main research fields are Japanese philosophy and philosophy of religion. Some of his recent published papers include “Nishitani and Environmental Ethics” (2022), “The Interdependent Constitution of Subjectivity and the Socio-ecological Challenges of the 21st-century: An Approach from Dōgen” (2021; in Spanish), and “Nishitani Keiji’s Notion of Mind” (2020).

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Process Pop-Up: The Diabolical Trinity
2023-06-12 17:00 - 18:00
In this Pop-Up, Dr. Mark Karris will guide us through research on why individuals are distancing from or leaving the church and discuss the differences between spiritual abuse, religious trauma, religious disorientation growth syndrome, and adverse religious experiences. We’ll also delve into the religious trauma caused by Hell indoctrination: the unholy trinity of traumatizing beliefs in a tormenting Hell, a wrathful God, and human depravity. Lastly, we’ll explore the impact of these beliefs and coping strategies, and describe healing interventions for those with religious trauma.

RSVP required to receive ZOOM info.

About the Facilitator

Dr. Mark Gregory Karris is a licensed marriage and family therapist in full-time private practice in San Diego, California. He specializes in religious trauma, men’s issues, and couples therapy. Mark is the author of the best-selling book Divine Echoes: Reconciling Prayer with the Uncontrolling Love of God and The Diabolical Trinity: Healing Religious Trauma from a Wrathful God, Tormenting Hell, and a Sinful Self (SacraSage, 2023).

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Process Pop-Up: The Secular as Sacred: Taoism and Confucianism from the Perspective of Process Philosophy
2023-07-20 17:00 - 18:00
The cultural tradition of China is notorious for its secularism. There is no belief in God, no special emphasis upon spirituality, no expectation of eternal salvation. All the teachings of Taoism and Confucianism seem to be nothing more than ethical admonition focusing on secular benefits. Nevertheless, China’s civilization has persisted for more than 3000 years and seems even more compelling in our time.

In this event, Dr. Zhenbao Jin wishes to decode the secrets of Taoism and Confucianism from the perspective of his special experience of healing himself from lymphoma cancer and other chronic health problems, as well as his related research in the past 10 years. He will discuss the cosmology of Taoism and Confucianism from the perspective of process philosophy and meditation as the way to embody such a cosmology. He will show how Taoism and Confucianism are more a developing scholarship than a close system of belief, due to their non-dualistic cosmology.

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About the Facilitator

Dr. Zhenbao Jin earned his Ph.D. in philosophy of law at China University of Political Science and Law in 2011 and had been a lawyer and a law lecturer at Nanjing Normal University. After being diagnosed with lymphoma in 2012, Dr. Jin began practicing meditation and conducting related research. He has successfully recovered his health without using any medicine or standard therapies. He is now a meditation teacher and an independent researcher on healing meditation, Taoism, Confucianism, process philosophy and related scientific issues. Dr. Jin is based in Shenzhen, China. For more information, see: Zhenbao jin – YouTube and meditationtaoist.

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Process Pop-Up: Reviving Christian Process Theology
2023-08-14 17:00 - 18:00
“Revival is creative transformation that heals body, mind, and spirit, energizes us, and sends us out into the world as mystics in action, loving God in the world of the flesh and healing the world God loves.”

Does Christian process theology need revival and renewal? How can process theology be a transformational resource for mainline Christians, spiritual seekers, and evangelicals in search of a truly loving and life-affirming theology? Bruce Epperly sees ‘revival’ as the emergence of a deep and passionate spirituality that changes us and the world, grounded in reclaiming Jesus as a companion, challenger, and guide.

In this Pop-Up, Dr. Epperly will discuss why Christian process theology needs to open to creative transformation so that it can transform the spiritual landscape of our times. Believing there is good news of Jesus beyond the academy, Epperly will show how Christian process theology must join its theological vision with spiritual practices of healing and wholeness, integration of contemplation and action, and a rediscovery of an affirmative vision of Jesus.

RSVP required to receive ZOOM info.

About the Facilitator

Bruce Epperly is a professor, pastor, and author of over seventy books in the area of process theology, spirituality and mysticism, healing and wholeness, scripture, and ministerial spirituality and wholeness. His recent book Process Theology and the Revival We Need can be purchased from Amazon or Bookshop.org.

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Process Pop-Up: Spirituality, Psychedelics, and Process Thought
2023-09-12 17:00 - 18:00
What is the nature of transpersonal reality? How do we access it and can doing so tell us something true?

Drawing from his own deeply moving personal journey through the early death of his father and his quest for sobriety, in this event, John Buchanan, Ph.D. will introduce topics from his 2022 book, Processing Reality: Finding Meaning in Death, Psychedelics, and Sobriety. He’ll highlight why process thought and transpersonal psychology are especially useful for understanding how psychedelics (and nonordinary states more generally) provide a mode of access to the transpersonal realm – what people may refer to as the Sacred or Divine Reality. He’ll explore how and why these experiences may reveal truthful insights into the nature of the universe and its spiritual dimensions along with the ways in which Alfred North Whitehead’s metaphysics and psychiatrist Stanislav Grof’s mapping of exceptional experience offer a powerful interpretive lens through which to view these phenomena.

“Responding to the crises we face requires, among other things, a spiritual and philosophical reenvisioning of ourselves, the nature of reality, and our place in the cosmos – for the old vision is faltering.”

“The essence of psychedelic awareness lies at the intersection between psychology, philosophy, and religion; psychedelic enlightenment is a direct experience of the hidden meaning that lies within the area shared by these three overlapping circles.”

John H. Buchanan received his master’s degree in humanistic/transpersonal psychology from West Georgia College and his doctorate from the Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts at Emory University, where he first studied process thought with William Beardslee—then later with David Griffin. He has been trained and certified as a Holotropic Breathwork practitioner by Stan and Christina Grof. His book, Processing Reality: Finding Meaning in Death, Psychedelics, and Sobriety, based upon his continuing interests in process philosophy and transpersonal psychology, was published in the fall of 2022. Buchanan has contributed a number of journal articles and book chapters on similar topics, and in 2020 was contributing co-editor for Rethinking Consciousness: Extraordinary Challenges for Contemporary Science. Dr. Buchanan also serves as president of the Helios Foundation.

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Interweavings: Called To Be Sensitive: Process-Relational Perspectives on Highly Sensitive People
2023-10-10 17:00 - 18:00
How can people of faith best represent the eminently sensitive one, “the fellow-sufferer who understands”?

For followers of many religious traditions, how we conduct our lives is central to our faith, whether it’s following scriptural injunctions or emulating the way of Jesus. For those who embrace the process worldview, Lee McAuliffe Rambo writes, “conduct has even greater importance: We understand ourselves to embody God, contributing directly to the experience of other living creatures and to God Herself.”

Like other progressives, process people have demonstrated an eagerness to participate in large-scale movements for racial justice, feminism, and LGBTQ rights. Yet, in our routine, personal interactions, we often fail to represent the God we know as the eminently sensitive one, “the fellow-sufferer who understands.” While this undoubtedly hurts everyone, it is particularly damaging to a newly identified cohort: the 20 percent of Westerners known as “highly sensitive people (HSPs).”

It also constitutes a tragic loss: HSPs often are naturally spiritual and empathetic. But, in an effort to protect themselves, they frequently shun religious organizations.

In this Interweavings event from Process & Faith, Lee McAuliffe Rambo will describe highly sensitive people, their characteristics, and gifts, and she will recount her own experiences “toughing it out” in seminary, the church, and the workplace. An opportunity for positive and problem-centered discussion will follow the presentation.

About the facilitator:

Lee McAuliffe Rambo began her 50-year writing career at the Macon (Ga.) Telegraph. After a stint covering education and religion, she became the youngest editorial-page editor in the paper’s history.

In 1977, her editorials were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. The next year she moved to Paris, where she helped launch the Arabic edition of the Reader’s Digest. Returning to her native Atlanta in 1985, Lee was communications officer for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference during its commemoration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Lee’s work has been published by Religion News Service and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. A 2002 column is cited in three books: Wrestling with Zion; Persecution, Privilege and Power; and The Folly of War.

Lee earned an M.A. from Claremont School of Theology in 1991. She attends Trinity Episcopal Church in Asheville.

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Collaborating Partners

Interweavings: Remembering Our Ancestors: Honoring our Beloved Dead 2023
2023-10-26 17:00 - 18:00
Sponsored by the Pagan Path

The end of October is marked by many cultures as a sacred time when the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead becomes more porous. Gaelic or Celtic cultures celebrate Samhain and the Christian tradition has honored its dead on All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days. The wonderful animated film “Coco” honors the Mexican tradition of the Day of the Dead in exuberant color. Join Process & Faith for a special online Interweavings event, sponsored by the Pagan Path, that will be a service of remembrance for everyone who has lost or grieved a loved one. Participants may want to have a candle to light and/or to bring a photo of their loved one(s).

About the facilitator:

The Reverend Kathleen Reeves is the leader of the Spiritual Integration group, and a fundraising and social media consultant at the Cobb Institute as well as a core team member at Process & Faith. She is also a hospice chaplain and bereavement coordinator for a hospice in Riverside, California. She is a writer, artist and published poet. She holds a Master of Divinity in interfaith theology, and is an ordained interfaith minister. She has been active in interfaith peace, and is a member of the Inland Valley Interfaith Working Group for Middle East Peace. She is the President of the Upland Interfaith Council, and has held leadership positions in Unitarian Universalists congregations. Her community interfaith ministry led her to volunteer with Syrian refugees as they settled into their new country. Her deep connection with one special family is captured in her series of stories she wrote for the Huffington Post. She is a student of Japanese tea ceremony through the international Chado Urasenke Tankokai associations of the Urasenke school in Kyoto, Japan. Kathleen has also trained in Restorative Practice, and she follows an earth-based religion and belongs to The Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids. She is working on ways to build a process-relational community through small group ministry.

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Collaborating Partners

Interweavings: A Season of Darkness and Light 2023
2023-12-05 17:00 - 18:00
Cosmologically, this period of late fall marks the increase in hours of darkness until the winter solstice when the hours of light begin to make a return. Many religions have major holidays during this period. For some, the period of darkness is not feared but is celebrated as a time of rest and renewal or of waiting in a kind of pregnant pause. Most celebrate the increase in light and see this turning of the season as the welcome return of the energies of rebirth and growth.

In this event, we’ll introduce some of the major holidays in late fall and early winter, noting their significance in each tradition. We’ll look at Diwali, Advent, Hanukkah, St. Lucia Day, Winter Solstice, Christmas, Epiphany, Kwanzaa, New Year’s Eve, and Lunar New Year.

Come prepared to share a brief memory of a favorite winter holiday food or tradition from your own background!

About the facilitator:

Sheri D. Kling, Ph.D., is the director of Process & Faith with the Center for Process Studies and interim minister of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Bradenton, FL. Sheri earned her Ph.D. in Religion: Process Studies from Claremont School of Theology. She is a theologian, songwriter, and spiritual mentor, as well as a faculty member of the Haden Institute, adjunct faculty with Claremont School of Theology, and the author of A Process Spirituality: Christian and Transreligious Resources for Transformation. She regularly delivers dynamic “Music & Message” presentations to groups, and offers courses, concerts, and spiritual retreats. She may be found online at sherikling.com.

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Collaborating Partners

Process Pop-Up: The Not-Yet God and the Relational Whole
2024-01-08 17:00 - 18:00
We are part of a creative whole of unlimited potential whereby God, self and world are constantly drawn into new existence together

The new science, especially quantum physics, has changed our understanding of space, time and matter; hence it raises new questions on the meaning of God. Is God outside space and time? Or is God integral to the unfolding of the universe? If consciousness is fundamental to matter, is consciousness fundamental to the reality of God as well? We will discuss these questions and more as we explore the essential role of consciousness in relation to the religious experience of God.

We’ll discuss Ilia’s latest book, The Not-Yet God: Carl Jung, Teilhard de Chardin, and the Relational Whole.

Entanglement is the inextricable and insuperable relationality of all that is, including God. If pantheism conjures up the collapse of God into matter, then entanglement holds everything together in a relational whole. There is no transcendence without immanence and no immanence without transcendence; there is no God without matter and no matter without God. God and matter form a complementary whole.
Ilia Delio

Articles about Ilia’s work on Open Horizons

The Not-Yet God” by Ilia Delio: A Reflection and Review

To Love More Radically: John Cobb and Ilia Delio, Whitehead and Teilhard, Buddhism and AI

God is the Whole of every whole: Teilhard de Chardin, Ilia Delio, and Process Theology

Ilia Delio, OSF, PhD is a Franciscan Sister of Washington, DC and American theologian specializing in the area of science and religion, with interests in evolution, physics and neuroscience and the import of these for theology.

Ilia currently holds the Josephine C. Connelly Endowed Chair in Theology at Villanova University, and is the author of twenty books including Care for Creation (coauthored with Keith Warner and Pamela Woods) which won two Catholic Press Book Awards in 2009, first place for social concerns and second place in spirituality. Her book The Emergent Christ won a third place Catholic Press Book Award in 2011 for the area of Science and Religion. Her recent books include The Unbearable Wholeness of Being: God, Evolution and the Power of Love (Orbis, 2013), which received the 2014 Silver Nautilus Book Award and a third place Catholic Press Association Award for Faith and Science. Ilia holds two honorary doctorates, one from St. Francis University in 2015, and one from Sacred Heart University in 2020.

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Process Pop-Up: Process, Pluralism, and Respecting Diverse Religious Ultimates
2024-01-29 17:00 - 18:00
Ultimate reality is often characterized in terms of what are thought to be a variety of incompatible concepts, like God, Dao, Brahman, śūnyatā, etc. In his new book, Religious Pluralism: Towards a Comparative Metaphysics of Religion, Matthew S. LoPresti suggests that shifting to a process understanding of the world allows us to engage multiple religious ultimates alongside diverse religious practices and programs for salvation.

In this event, LoPresti will share key ideas from his book to describe a “meta-theology” of world religions, arguing that both Western and non-Western traditions are helpful. He’ll draw from John B. Cobb’s Whiteheadian “deep religious pluralism” as well as South Asian philosophy, Western analytic philosophy, and the writings of Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI).

Matthew S. LoPresti, PhD (University of Hawai‘i at Manoa) is Chair of the Asian Studies Program at Hawai‘i Pacific University and has been teaching philosophy since 1999. While at HPU (since 2004) he has expanded his teaching to include courses in religious studies and the inter-disciplinary humanities. He is currently developing a course on Yoga Philosophy.

A specialist in South Asian and Comparative Philosophy as well as Philosophy of Religion, his primary area of research has been in developing a metaphysical basis for a genuine religious pluralism. He has published several articles in comparative philosophy and philosophy of religion and serves as a referee for Comparative Philosophy.

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Process Pop-Up: Yoga, Experience, and the Vagus Nerve
2024-02-08 17:00 - 18:00
We are no longer concerned with the dualistic opposition between God and [human], but with the immanent tension in the God image itself…This inner non-equilibrium, the glorious imperfection of life, is the effective principle of evolution. God is not the creator but the mind of the universe.
CG Jung (Eastern Body, Western Mind, 392)

Yoga, a spiritual practice from the Hindu tradition, provides gentle and consistent contributions to the practitioner’s wellbeing. This conversation will introduce participants to recent research on the Vagus Nerve, Pranayama Breathing practices and Asanas, or flows of movement. In addition, Whitehead’s notion of “experience all the way down” is particularly relevant for vagus nerve research.

Pranayama or breath is at the heart of yogic strength and somatic or body awareness. In this event, we’ll look at ways in which process thought on the primordial and consequent natures of God can be deeply applied through pranayama and its effect on various bodily regions. We’ll introduce simple chair yoga movements or asanas and each participant will learn more about their range of movement and how yogic practices best make sense for the body.

Students will be invited to join a follow-up Learning Circle to explore the practices even more deeply.

Without evolutionary inquiry, we lack a sense of direction; without mythological inquiry, we lack a sense of systemic existence. Without both, we separate ourselves from the world we live in.
Erich Jantsch (Eastern Body, Western Mind, 397)

Rev. Dr. Leslie King began her service to First Presbyterian Church of Waco in 2012. She received her BA from Kansas University (’91) and her Masters of Divinity from McCormick Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Chicago (‘94). In 2010 she completed her Doctor of Ministry at Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City Missouri with an emphasis in Spirituality and Organizational Change.

Since September 2020, she has been a yoga instructor (RYT 200) with Spirit Bear Yoga and (RYT 500) with My Vinaysa Practice. She’s a member of Yoga Alliance and has recently completed a Polyvagal Informed Certificate for Mind-Body Practitioners. She enjoys leading yoga flows for her church and the studio, Duality Yoga. Her particular interest is in Yin and Restorative yoga as it relates to spiritual well-being. Piano competency is slowly emerging and music is a source of a lot of joy.

She has been married to DJ King since November of 1996 and together they enjoy watching their three young adult children, Cody, Katie and Claire, make their way in the world. With a menagerie of stray animals, the Kings are glad to call Waco “home”.

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Process Pop-Up: God Will be All in All
2024-02-22 17:00 - 18:00
In her book, God Will be All in All: Theology Through the Lens of Incarnation, Anna Case-Winters re-envisions central affirmations and questions of Christian theology by looking through the lens of incarnation—making incarnation a presupposition rather than a conclusion. Her process-panentheist approach takes a broad view of incarnation proposing that God is already in all things, and all things are in God. Through this lens, the ancient Christological controversies around how Jesus can be “truly God and truly human… two natures in one person” can be unraveled. If we see that God is already in all things, and if we shift from “substance thinking” to dynamic relational thinking, there is no contradiction here. The trinitarian vision of God and our understanding of how God acts in the world are also illumined by this approach.

In this event, Dr. Case-Winters will explore these themes as well as the provoking questions that arise with our affirmation that “God is with us.” How can we believe “God is with us” when there is so much suffering and evil in the world? When we make this affirmation what do we mean by “us”? Do we mean “just us Christians”? Is the claim that “God was in Christ” automatically exclusivist—as if God is nowhere else? Does “us” even mean “only us human beings”? What about divine presence in the larger natural world? Widening our view still further, what if we who are on planet earth, are not alone in the cosmos? Is God with others out there, too? What is the depth and scope of incarnation? How wide is the divine embrace?

Christians affirm that God is with us—a presence and activity we see most clearly in Jesus the Christ. Questions arise around this affirmation, but looking through the lens of incarnation, we can continue to affirm that God is with us—all of us—and especially in the face of suffering and evil. The question is not so much whether God is with us, but whether we are with God in the struggle to engage in transforming work so that all may flourish.
Anna Case-Winters (God Will be All in All: Theology Through the Lens of Incarnation)

Rev. Dr. Anna Case-Winters is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and serves as Professor of Theology at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago where she has been on faculty since 1986. Case-Winters has research interests and publications in several areas: dialogues in religion and science, open and relational theologies, theological contributions of Reformed tradition, and theologies attending to global economic, ecumenical, ecological issues.

Case-Winters is a grant recipient and project leader for the Science for Seminaries program, an initiative of AAAS and ATS. She has also received grants from the Templeton Foundation including: the Religion and Science Course Award, the Templeton/ASA Lecture Series Grant, and the Exemplary Paper in Humility Theology Award. In 2020, she was inducted as a fellow into the International Institute on Religion and Science.

In the wider church, Case-Winters served as a pastor and a denominational leader. For the PCUSA General Assembly, she chaired the Code of Professional Ethics Committee as well as the Committee on Confessions and Christology. In two terms of service as Chair of Christian Unity, she furthered the work in ecumenism that has marked her ministry. Prof. Case-Winters has also been a leader in the global Reformed church serving in various leadership roles and as a theological consultant in the World Communion of Reformed (WCRC).

She is the author of four books: God’s Power: Traditional Understandings and Contemporary Challenges; Reconstructing a Christian Theology of Nature: Down to Earth; A Theological Commentary on Matthew; and God Will be All in All: Theology Through the Lens of Incarnation. Case-Winters is a member of the American Academy of Religion, the past President of the American Theological Society, Midwest Region.

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Interweavings: indigo, the color of grief
2024-03-07 17:00 - 18:00
In a world that Alfred North Whitehead described as one of “perpetual perishing,” grief must certainly be a universal human experience. In this conversation, Jonathan Foster will read excerpts from his book, indigo: the color of grief. From the book’s description:

indigo is thejoy and lament of ahuman beingtheologianfather

fashioning new ideas about the divinewithin the painful loss of his daughterwithin the constraints of his own intelligencewithin the constraints of what religionhad been telling him his whole lifesome of which was good andsome of which wasn’tgood

it’s a way forwardwhere forward means theinteraction ofpast choicespast eventsand personal agencyin this momentand this momentand … yes, this moment

After the readings, chaplain Kathleen Reeves will respond, sharing thoughts and tools on our movement through grief.

About the facilitator:

Jonathan J. Foster, Ph.D., is the author of several books, including indigo: the color of grief, Questions About Sexuality that Got Me Uninvited from My Denomination, The Reconstructionist: People>Text, Mercy>Sacrifice, Love>Fear, and Theology of Consent: Mimetic Theory in an Open and Relational Universe. He’s the partner of one, and the father of three, who’s won some writing awards, reached #1 in multiple Amazon categories, has some degrees from NorthWind Seminary, podcasts, but mostly likes to hike.

About the Respondant:

Kathleen (Kat) Reeves, M.Div., is the leader of the Spiritual Integration group, and a fundraising and social media consultant. She is a writer, artist and published poet. She holds a Master of Divinity in interfaith theology, and is an ordained interfaith minister. She has been active in interfaith peace, and is a member of the Inland Valley Interfaith Working Group for Middle East Peace. She is the President of the Upland Interfaith Council, and has held leadership positions in Unitarian Universalists congregations. Her community interfaith ministry led her to volunteer with Syrian refugees as they settled into their new country. Her deep connection with one special family is captured in her series of stories she wrote for the Huffington Post. She is a student of Japanese tea ceremony through the international Chado Urasenke Tankokai associations of the Urasenke school in Kyoto, Japan. Kathleen has also trained in Restorative Practice, she follows an earth-based religion, and belongs to The Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids. She is working on ways to build a process-relational community through small group ministry.

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Collaborating Partners

Process & World-Building in Dune Messiah
2024-03-17 16:00 - 17:30
Through the intersections of environment, religion, self identity, and government, participants in this learning circle will explore themes of environment, terrain, and traveling through the religious life.

Our reading of Dune Messiah will consider process themes found in Whitehead’s Process and Reality, while engaging with care to not overlay process theology on Herbert’s work. Rather, the conversation series will consider elements of Herbert’s world-building that are shared with Whitehead’s philosophy of organism. In the consideration, careful attention will be paid to the impediments to process principles in the establishment of institutions of any type.

Some experience with Whitehead’s philosophy is preferred but not required. Dune Messiah will be read over four weeks, with excerpts from Whitehead coupled with each reading.

LEARN MORE & ENROLL
