In this rich and wide-ranging conversation, philosopher Andrew M. Davis joins hosts Jay McDaniel and Jared Morningstar to explore how process philosophy, aesthetic values, and spiritual formation intersect across theology, science, and personal narrative.
Raised in an evangelical context, Davis shares how thinkers like Whitehead, Hartshorne, and Max Scheler helped him move beyond deconstruction toward a renewed vision of reality shaped by beauty, truth, and goodness.
This episode explores:
- The aesthetic foundations of value and metaphysics
- Whitehead’s vision of a universe in process and perpetual becoming
- Evangelicalism, post-evangelicalism, and the “anatheistic” journey of returning to the sacred
- Process views of teleology, eschatology, and the God of love
- The evolving role of religious ideals, compassion, and purpose in a fluid cosmos
Guest Bio
Andrew M. Davis
Dr. Andrew M. Davis is an American process philosopher, theologian, and scholar of the cosmos. He is Research and Academic Director for the Center for Process Studies, where he researches, writes, teaches, and organizes conferences on various aspects of process-relational thought. An advocate of metaphysics and meaning in a hospitable universe, he approaches philosophy as the endeavor to systematically think through what reality must be like—because we are a part of it. He is author, editor, and co-editor of nearly a dozen books, including Mind, Value, and Cosmos: On the Relational Nature of Ultimacy (2020); Process Cosmology: New Integrations in Science and Philosophy (2022); Metaphysics of Exo-Life: Toward a Constructive Whiteheadian Cosmotheology (2023); and Whitehead and Teilhard: From Organism to Omega (2025). His forthcoming book is a comprehensive yet conversational introduction to Alfred North Whitehead titled Whitehead’s Universe: A Prismatic Introduction. Follow his work at andrewmdavis.info.
Host Bios
Jay McDaniel
Jay McDaniel is professor emeritus of Religious Studies at Hendrix College in Arkansas, and founder of the website Open Horizons, which focuses on exploring a process outlook on life and way of living in the world. Active in the development of process thought in China, he is a consultant to the Institute for Postmodern Development of China, and the Cobb Institute. His books include With Roots and Wings: Christianity in an Age of Ecology and Dialogue; Living from the Center: Spirituality in an Age of Consumerism; and Gandhi’s Hope: Learning from Other Religions as a Path to Peace.
Jared Morningstar
Jared Morningstar is an independent scholar living in Chicago with academic interests in philosophy of religion, Islamic studies, comparative religion, metamodern spirituality, and interfaith dialogue. Their work in these areas seeks to offer robust responses to issues of inter-religious conflict, contemporary nihilism, and the “meaning crisis,” among other things. Jared graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College in 2018 with degrees in religion and Scandinavian studies and currently works for the Center for Process Studies and the Psychedelic Medicine Association.