Center for Process Studies

Process Pop-Up: The God of the Growing Edge: Whitehead and Thurman on Theology, Spirituality, and Social Change
2025-04-30 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
In this Pop-Up, Bruce Epperly will draw from his book The God of the Growing Edge: Whitehead and Thurman on Theology, Spirituality, and Social Change to explore the intersecting spiritual visions of two towering figures: Alfred North Whitehead, the eminent philosopher and process theologian, and Howard Thurman, the influential African American mystic, theologian, and civil rights leader. Investigating these thinkers’ complementary strengths offers a timely resource for contemplative activists seeking a deeper integration of spirituality and social transformation in our turbulent times.

Whitehead’s metaphysics provides a robust intellectual framework for understanding a universe of interconnectedness, change, and possibility, while Thurman’s lived experience of oppression and spiritual resistance infuses this framework with prophetic urgency and practical wisdom. Together, they offer a powerful and timely message for today’s world. Exploring this “growing edge” of faith offers a compelling path toward a more just, compassionate, and sustainable future.

This Pop-Up will also serve as a jumping off point for Bruce’s upcoming course with Process & Faith, Exploring Global Mysticism through a Process Lens, beginning May 6.

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As We Think, We Live: Critical Challenges for Educational Systems and Teachers | Chris Hughes
2025-04-15 10:00 - 12:00
Public education serves the needs of a country, but what happens when those needs become too narrowly articulated, even partisan, and the deep learning of young people is forgotten? Deep learning shifts thinking towards the big stage of speculative philosophy and open horizons. Narrow learning pushes a selected set of possibilities.
PROcess is a seven-session course for young people. Why do we need it? The world is on a dangerous trajectory. It is young minds that carry the thoughts for tomorrow’s actions. Students breathe in not only the subjects they are taught but also how these subjects are framed by their teachers. Subject and frame together create transformative learning. Subjects and frames are fragmented in our schools today. At the heart of Whitehead’s thinking is a healing unity. For many people a first encounter with Whitehead’s vision is a romance, a felt sense in the body, a shift in the ground under their feet. Whitehead himself saw romance as the first, and necessary, stage of deep learning. I think we can spark such a romance in young people. PROcess is a first attempt in this direction. This session explores both the need and the how of this attempt.
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Process Pop-Up: A Tale of Two Narratives: Judeo-Christian Perspectives on Creation and Salvation
2025-04-10 17:00 - 18:00
The Christian grand narrative familiar to most people in Western Christianity is a story of Fall and Redemption. Organized around Augustine’s 4th century doctrine of “original sin,” the Fall/Redemption grand narrative begins with the concept that humankind and all of creation exist in a pervasive state of corruption from which only God in Christ can deliver them.

There is, however, an earlier Christian grand narrative that emerged from ancient Jewish and Christian traditions prior to the 4th century. This grand narrative tells the story of Creation/Restoration. It focuses on the concept of divine guidance and creaturely response in creating life that enacts God’s vision to restore shalom/peace among all aspects of creation.

Therefore, Western Christianity features two grand narratives. One highlights sin and the need for redemption. The other highlights God’s earthly aim for the restoration of shalom. The narrative Christians choose to live by determines how they approach life theologically, spiritually, and faithfully in the moment-by-moment interactions of each and every day.

After giving a brief introduction to each of the narratives, Dr. Gayle Hansen Browne will address the following topics:

Why the Story Christians Tell Makes a Difference

The Roots and Evolution of the Creation/Restoration Narrative

The Roots and Evolution of the Fall/Redemption Narrative

A Comparison of Perspectives On Major Christian Themes

Creation

Sin

Judgment

Salvation

Why the Story Christians Tell Makes a Difference

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The Untrolling Project | Thandeka and Jennifer Jennings
2025-04-08 10:00 - 12:00
Untrolling America is a new multimedia series created by Thandeka and Jennifer Jennings as part of a grassroots initiative to unite Americans across their partisan divides and cultural war battlefields.

Will they succeed?

Will their series create new actions everywhere, the kind that John B. Cobb Jr. called for in his 2024 public lecture on earthism at Peking University? Will it galvanize persons “to love the whole in its complex wholeness in a way that leads us to care about the consequences of our actions everywhere”? Will it change the way we feel, think and act?

Thandeka and Jennifer will ask us to reflect on, discuss, and answer these questions after a screening of the first episode of Untrolling America—which John helped fund— on April 8, 2025 on Process Explorations.

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Healing our Collective Pain: Whitehead, Jung, and Transformation | Sheri Kling
2025-04-01 10:00 - 12:00
Can we understand both cosmos and psyche in a way that promotes integration rather than fragmentation? Our present societal landscape, particularly in the West and the United States, is marked by fragmentation and division across multiple dimensions. Societally, there is significant polarization. Interpersonally, many individuals face growing loneliness and isolation. Intrapersonally, there is a surge in antidepressant use and a clear link between early adverse experiences and adult challenges. This highlights a deep-rooted crisis in how individuals perceive their existence and connections with others.

To heal our fragmentation, we must seek an understanding of both the cosmos and the psyche that unifies rather than divides. In this talk, Sheri D. Kling, Ph.D., will offer Whitehead and Jung as integrating resources that reveal a Reality that shows us that we matter, we belong, and we can experience positive change.

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Philosophy, Cultural Evolution, and the Hemisphere Hypothesis: A Lecture and Dialogue between Iain McGilchrist and Steve McIntosh
2025-03-27 10:30 - 12:00

The US and its Global Leadership for Refugees | Eric Shafer, Sid Mohn, and Karla Leitzman
2025-03-25 10:00 - 12:00
In the aftermath of World War 2, the United States emerged as a leader in the resettlement of persons displaced by war. With the birth of the United Nations, the global community articulated a commitment to the protection of refugees to which the US was party, and which was ultimately codified into U.S. law in 1980. The Trump Administration in its first term significantly reduced refugee admissions and within the initial weeks of Trump’s second Administration, all refugee admissions were suspended. The Rev. Dr. Sid Mohn, The Rev. Eric Shafer, and Karla Leitzman will join us for a discussion of the history of refugee resettlement and its current realities.
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Teilhard and Whitehead on Hope with Jay McDaniel and Ernie Tamminga
2025-03-18 16:00 - 17:30

The Practice, Spirituality, and History of Ramadan | Jared Morningstar
2025-03-18 10:00 - 12:00
In this session of Process Explorations, Jared Morningstar will introduce the Islamic holiday of Ramadan. Jared will share his own experiences of the spiritual and physical practices central to this holiday, dwelling on the ways that this month of fasting offers opportunities for connecting more deeply with Muslim community, the natural world, and the Divine. He will also share the origins and the history of Ramadan, drawing connections with other religious communities and practices.
Rather than just introducing the basic features of this central Islamic practice, Jared will draw connections between aspects of Ramadan and central values and themes present in process thought. Through presenting Ramadan from both personal and academic perspectives, Jared hopes to share insights and make connections that may be taken up by Muslims and non-Muslims alike and carried forward long after Ramadan 2025 has concluded.
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Process Pop-Up: From Amipotence to All-Encompassing Mercy: Integrating Oord’s Theology of Love into the Islamic Tradition
2025-02-27 17:00 - 18:00
In this session, Adis Duderija, a scholar of Islamic theology, will explore his agreement with Thomas Jay Oord’s critique of classical theistic omnipotence and his compelling concept of amipotence.
Drawing from Oord’s work as well as his own scholarship, Dr. Duderija will guide participants through the theological landscape, examining both the obstacles and opportunities for integrating amipotence within the Islamic interpretive tradition. We’ll delve into how we can reframe our understanding of the Qur’an and its portrayal of God’s mercy, emphasizing that divine love and mercy are not just attributes but the essence of God’s nature.
Expect to engage in thought-provoking discussions about the implications for human flourishing and well-being within our faith traditions.
Topics include:

Critique of Classical Theism: Examination of Oord’s critique of traditional concepts of omnipotence and the introduction of amipotence.
Integration into Islamic Tradition: Exploration of theological obstacles and opportunities for incorporating amipotence within the Islamic interpretive framework.
Understanding Divine Attributes: Discussion on the Qur’an’s portrayal of God’s attributes, particularly focusing on mercy (Ar-Rahman) and its implications for divine love.
Human Flourishing and Well-Being: Analysis of how the concept of amipotence relates to human well-being and the challenges of defining and applying these concepts in various contexts.

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