Exploring the Life and Thought of Mulla Sadra: A 17th Century Muslim Process Philosopher with Jared Morningstar
Event Type:
- Discussion, Presentation
- (Online)
Program:
- Process Explorations
Theme:
- Compassion, Creativity, and Global Citizenship
Featuring:
- Jared Morningstar
Organizers:
- Center for Process Studies
In this session of Process Explorations, Jared Morningstar will introduce Mullā Ṣadrā, a Shiʿi Muslim philosopher and mystic who pioneered a process metaphysics within Islamic thought. Born in the Iranian city of Shiraz in the late sixteenth century, Ṣadrā drew together the major schools of philosophy and theology inherited from Islam’s classical period. From them he forged a new, systematic metaphysics that affirms the primacy of existence over essence, seeks to harmonize philosophy and revelation, and understands the cosmos in fluid, evolutionary terms.
Ṣadrā is widely regarded as the most important Muslim philosopher of the past four centuries and he remains a towering intellectual figure for Shiʿi Muslims. His major works, along with those of his followers, are still taught as core curriculum in the seminaries of Iran and Iraq. Outside the seminaries, however, he is largely unknown except to specialists in Islamic philosophy, despite his distinctive and revolutionary contributions to philosophy, theology, and mysticism. This presentation will offer a brief sketch of Mullā Ṣadrā’s life and introduce the central doctrines of his philosophical system, with the aim of bringing this post-classical Islamic thinker into the wider conversation on process-relational thought. Along the way, comparisons with canonical process philosophers such as Alfred North Whitehead and Gilles Deleuze will help clarify Ṣadrā’s place among them.
Featuring
Jared Morningstar is an independent scholar and public intellectual based in Chicago whose work explores philosophies and wisdom traditions that are attuned to our time of profound cultural, ecological, and spiritual transition. His research focuses especially on process philosophy and theology, classical and contemporary Islamic thought, metamodernism, comparative religion, and non-ordinary experiences. Across his writing and public scholarship, he explores how religious traditions can be articulated to respond constructively to contemporary challenges such as nihilism, interreligious conflict, ecological crisis, and the so-called “meaning crisis.” Jared’s work has appeared in a variety of publications including Metamodern Theory and Praxis, Process Perspectives, and Emerge alongside the edited volumes Open and Relational Theology and its Social and Political Implications: Muslim and Christian Perspectives and Amipotence: Expansion & Application. He is a frequent lecturer and conference presenter and has appeared on numerous podcasts and public forums to discuss religion, process thought, Islam, and metamodernism. He holds degrees in Religion and Scandinavian Studies from Gustavus Adolphus College and currently works with the Center for Process Studies and the Psychedelic Medicine Association.
RSVP for this Event
Free Online Event
Disclaimer: This event is open to the public and will be recorded. If you choose to enable your camera or participate in any discussions, your voice and likeness will be recorded, and may be posted on the Center for Process Studies websites and social media, or included in CPS materials and/or publications for noncommercial purposes. If you do not want your voice or likeness to be shared in any public venues, please send an email to optout@ctr4process.org.
