February 17th
Process in Practice: Society, Sustainability, and Ecological Civilization
Session 1: Economies and Communities for the Common Good
Presenters
Megan Anderson has a background in mathematics and theology. In 2019, she received her M.A. from Claremont School of Theology, studying interdisciplinary studies with a concentration in religion, society, and social change. She is specifically interested in how these topics intersect around environmental issues. Megan has significant experience in program management. In 2018, she worked for the Parliament of the World’s Religions, managing the schedule and needs for 900+ sessions. On-site, she oversaw designated volunteers, handled all schedule changes and last-minute additions, and helped coordinate the needs for international speakers during the event’s plenary on Justice. While in graduate school, Megan worked for the Institute of Ecological Civilization where she had a variety of roles including Executive Assistant to the President, Communications Manager, and Project Manager for their online Dialogues for Global Systems Change series. Megan comes to her work at CHERP with an enthusiasm to make long-lasting change in those lives who have been hurt most by America’s capitalist agenda and revert the planet’s climate trajectory. She believes that listening—to both Earth and local communities—and taking an intersectional approach to everything it does, are essential if CHERP is to succeed in its mission.
Paper Title: "A Future in Process: Energy & Economics In Service of the Common Good"
Dr. Wm. Andrew Schwartz is Executive Director of the Center for Process Studies and Assistant Professor of Process Studies & Comparative Theology at Claremont School of Theology, as well as Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of the Institute for Ecological Civilization. Dr. Schwartz earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy of Religion and Theology at Claremont Graduate University. His academic interests are broad, and include Comparative Religious Philosophies, Process Thought, Ecology, Education, and more. His recent work has been focused on high-impact philosophy and the role of big ideas in the transition toward ecological civilization. As Executive Director, Andrew has overall strategic and operational responsibility for CPS, including development and implementation of the CPS mission, programs, and strategic vision.
Paper Title: "More Money, More Problems: Relational Philosophy for a Wellbeing Economy"
Dr. Dongwoo Lee is a founder of EcoCiv Korea and an Executive Director. Dr. Lee is also a director of the Korea Project at the Center for Process Studies. He is an author of several books. His latest book, ‘Imagining Post-Pandemic Meta-Church’ which was published in South Korea in September, 2021 became the number one bestselling E-book in the Religious section at Ridibooks’ store. He earned the PhD degree at Claremont School of Theology. Dr. Lee’s major areas of expertise are comparative religion and philosophy, process thoughts, postcolonialism, poststructuralism, contextual studies, economics and ecological studies. He is currently located in Los Angeles, California. He enjoys hiking trails, cycling and watching movies with his wife.
Paper Title: "The Concept of the Common Good in a Theological Perspective"
Moderator
Dr. Gunna Jung is an economist, professor of Hanshin University in South Korea, and Research Fellow of Ecological Civilization in the Korea Project at the Center for Process Studies. He is also Steering Chairman of the 60+ Climate Action Korea and Chairman of the Lab 2050. Dr. Jung was born in 1959 and raised in Seoul, South Korea. He received his Ph.D at Seoul National University with a major in labor economics. He has expanded his interest to the local economy, community building, aging issue, circular economy and is currently interested in ecological transformation. He has been involved in nonprofit think-tanks for over 30 years, and for the past 10 years has been actively involved in collaborative public-private partnerships with Seoul metropolitan government and the Office of Seoul Education to promote local sustainable development and empowerment of communities.
Session 2: Power, Peace, and Politics in Process
Presenters
Dr. Stephanie Erev is a political theorist drawn to themes of democratic pluralism, anti-imperialism, eco-feminism, vital materiality, and the more-than-human. Her work engages such themes from a perspective informed by the tradition of process philosophy, and it frequently draws upon the life sciences and arts to enrich its political investigations. After graduating from Johns Hopkins University in December, 2019, Erev became assistant professor of political science at Portland State University. Currently on leave from Portland State, she finds herself in an enchanting Copenhagen working on a 2-year project, “Vital Politics: Rethinking Normativity in the Anthropocene,” with Lars Tønder. You can find out more about Stephanie and her work at her website.
Paper Title: "Process, Ecology, and Political Subjectivity"
Dr. Yuki Schwartz (they/them) is the assistant professor of constructive and political theologies, and the associate dean of academics and assessment, at Claremont School of Theology. Their areas of scholarship include deimperial/decolonial studies; Asian and Asian American theology; political theology; and critical race, gender, and sexuality studies. Their current research investigates the intersections of affect, politics, and US imperialism in Asia during the Cold War and its afterlife. They received a Master of Divinity from Phillips Theological Seminary and a PhD in theology and ethics from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. They are also ordained to Christian ministry in the United Church of Christ.
Paper Title: "Messianic Transformation: The Political Shame of the Coming Community"
Andrew Doss, JD, M.Div is an award-winning attorney and writer, whose work explores how process metaphysics might inform the changing shapes of international governance to address the 21st Century’s significant challenges. He has a JD from Georgetown University Law Center, an LLM in Public International Law from Leiden University & the Grotius Centre in the Hague, and an M.Div. from Yale University with certificates from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and Berkeley Episcopal Seminary. He recently served as the Director of the Governor’s Resilient Louisiana Commission, the Director of Policy & Partnerships of Future Tide Partners, and taught "International Challenges of the 21st Century" in the Yale Political Science Department.
Paper Title: "The End of Sovereignty, and the Hope of Process Models in International Governance Structures"
Moderator
Dr. Daniel Dombrowski is Professor of Philosophy at Seattle University. Among his twenty-two 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). He is Editor of the journal Process Studies and is Past-President of the Metaphysical Society of America. Email: ddombrow@seattleu.edu
Session 3: Cultivating Curiosity: Process Philosophy of Education
Presenters
Sinan von Stietencron is the lead curator on 'Nature' at the Art and Nature Foundation in Bad Heilbrunn, Germany, where he develops innovative cultural and educational formats on the topics of nature, philosophy and art. Since 2009 he has worked as a trainer for teachers, developer of teaching programs, lecturer and author in the field of philosophy of education, philosophical discourse, and sustainability education. He collaborates with several national parks, environmental education institutes and most closely with the Academy of Philosophical Education and ValueDialogue in Munich. His educational practice is heavily influenced by process thinking, Coyote Teaching and eastern philosophies. Currently he is contributing the treatises on Whitehead's "The Aims of Education" and the notion of "Rhythm" in his work for a new German standard compendium on the life, work and impact of A. N. Whitehead.
Paper title: "Overcoming the bifurcation of mind in education and daily life - The speedometer model of values and contrast in action"
Thomas Estes is a philosopher, Christian minister, and songwriter. He and his wife Bailey live in Abilene, Texas, where he teaches at Hardin-Simmons University and Cottonwood Baptist Church. His recently completed dissertation (Higher Education after Whitehead) examines the aims of university education from various process-philosophical perspectives.
Paper title: "Pedagogies of the Possible: Beauty, Tragedy, and Hope in Higher Education"
Rev. Bonnie Rambob shifted her paid job during the pandemic 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. She co-hosts the podcasts, Haystacks, a podcast for former and fringe Seventh-day Adventists, and Irenicast, a progressive Christian podcast. She is also co-editor of the book Partnering with God. Bonnie loves climbing trees, knitting, and hiking with her partner and two young adult sons.
Paper title: "Proximity and Relational Learning Communities: A Process Perspective on Social Presence"
Moderator
Dr. Lynn Sargent De Jonghe has had a career in progressive education that spans more than forty years. She served as the founding Head of East Bay Sierra School, which later merged with another school to form Prospect Sierra School, to become one of the preeminent schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. Prior to her work in independent schools, Lynn spent fifteen years in public education administering federal funds to innovative programs, advocating for project learning as an alternative to textbooks, and pushing for integration in Massachusetts schools. She received her BA degree in History from Harvard University and a MS in Library Science from Simmons College before completing her PhD in Education at Cornell University. Her doctoral work on children’s problem solving led her to push for challenging educational programs that encourage all students to pursue learning in depth and to use problem solving skills, collaborative learning, and exploration of values in an integrated curriculum. She is author of Starting With Whitehead: Raising Children to Thrive in Treacherous Times (Lexington, 2022).
Session 4: Environmental Ethics and Ecological Civilization
Presenters
Dr. Travis Cox is an Associate Professor in the Ecopsychology MA and Environmental Studies BA at Naropa University. His interests and research are about the intersections of social movements and social justice, education, metaphysics, environmental philosophy, agriculture, psychedelics, and deep sustainability. He earned his PhD at Iowa State University in sustainable agriculture, a Master of Philosophy and Religion, with an emphasis in philosophy, cosmology, and consciousness from the California Institute of Integral Studies, and a Bachelor of Philosophy from Central College in Pella, Iowa.
Paper Title: "Process Thought, Transpersonal Sustainability and Their Role in Evolving an Ecological Civilization"
Heeyoung Jung is a Ph.D. student in Process Studies at Claremont School of Theology. She received an S.T. M from Union Theological Seminary in New York City and an M.Div from Drew University in New Jersey. She studied a Th.M in systematic theology from Yonsei University and a B.A in Theology from Methodist Theological University in Seoul. Her academic interests and research in process studies are Asian and Korean ecofeminist studies from a postcolonial Whiteheadian worldview. She works at the Ecological Civilization and Center for Process studies as a Korea project assistant.
Paper Title: "A New Paradigm of Worldview for Asian Women’s Environmental Crisis from a Postcolonial-Process Perspective"
Dr. Jacob J. Erickson (he/him) is Assistant Professor of Theological Ethics in the School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies at Trinity College Dublin and Director of Undergraduate Teaching and Learning for the School. A constructive theologian and theological ethicist, Erickson writes to evoke an ecotheology of planetary conviviality—the playful and just cherishing of life together—in the midst of current ecological crises, ecological injustice, emerging perspectives in the wake of global warming, and new challenges in energy production. In his writing, Erickson meditates on the complex relationships of earth and divinity, decolonial environmental ethics and queer theory, classical Christian theologies and contemporary constructive theopoetics. He is currently working on an extended project on the intersections of global warming and theology called A Theopoetics of the Earth: Divinity in the Anthropocene and finishing up a book on climate grief and theopoetics forthcoming with Fortress Press. His vital work in queer ecotheology appears in Meaningful Flesh: Reflections on Religion and Nature for a Queer Planet (punctum, 2018).
Paper Title: "Epiphanic Ecologies: Queer Theopoetics for a Planet in Process"
Moderator
Dr. Meijun Fan was a professor at Beijing Normal University for more than ten years. Now she is the co-director of the China Project at the Center for Process Studies, Claremont; and the program director of the Institute for Postmodern Development of China. She completed her doctoral studies at Beijing Normal University and master program at Peking University. Her areas of specialty include Chinese traditional aesthetics, process philosophy and aesthetical education. She has authored several books including: Aesthetic Development of Children (1990), Beauty in Human Life (1993), Contemporary Interpretation of Chinese Traditional Aesthetic (1997), The Popular Aesthetics in Qing Dynasty (2001), and The Second Enlightenment with Zhihe Wang (2011).
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