Process Thought & World Religions 2024

Live Session Info

Dates: April 9 – May 14, 2024
Times: Tuesdays, 4:30 – 6:00 PM Pacific

Course Summary

Over the course of six sessions, students will be introduced to several world religions (or ways of thinking and living) through a lens of process-relational thought. Each week will be devoted to a different tradition with several visiting teachers bringing their own expertise to the discussion.

Course Description

We live in a world marked by great diversity, and if humans are to live peaceably together, we must seek to understand each other. In this course, participants will explore various world religions, as well as indigenous/traditional ways of thinking and living, through a lens of process and relational thought. Over the course of six sessions, we will discuss Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Indigenous/Traditional Ways.

As we approach each tradition, we will seek to encounter its commitments and matters of ultimate concern alongside its primary practices, exploring how it may be situated within process and relational metaphysics. Through this lens, we might ask how each tradition fosters zest and enjoyment, nourishes its adherents’ spiritual and ethical lives, and knits communities together, with an eye on each tradition’s view of the proper relationship between the transpersonal or sacred and humans, as well as between humans and the earth.

Course Outline

• Session 1: Indigenous Life Ways: with Chris Daniels, PhD
• Session 2: Judaism: with Sandra Lubarsky, PhD
• Session 3: Hinduism: with Jeffery Long, PhD
• Session 4: Islam: with Farhan Shah, PhD
• Session 5: Buddhism: with Jay McDaniel, PhD and Reirin Gumbel
• Session 6: Christianity: with Anna Case-Winters, PhD