Learning Circle: Labor & Creativity
2024-11-12 16:00 - 18:00, 2024-11-19 16:00 - 18:00, 2024-11-26 16:00 - 18:00, 2024-12-03 16:00 - 18:00, 2024-12-10 16:00 - 18:00, 2024-12-17 16:00 - 18:00, 2025-01-07 16:00 - 18:00, 2025-01-14 16:00 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles) and 1 more date | Online Event
Reading and Reflecting on A. F. Pomeroy’s Integrative Perspective on Marx and Whitehead

This 9-week learning circle provides a discussion-based study of Anne Fairchild Pomeroy’s text Marx and Whitehead, which systematically links Whitehead’s process-relational philosophy to Marx’s dialectical critique of political economy, identifying deep resonances between the two in order to develop a pathway for the vital integration of these two great thinkers into a more comprehensive perspective.

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Learning Circle: Process & Coffee
2024-11-14 08:00 - 09:00, 2024-11-21 08:00 - 09:00, 2024-11-28 08:00 - 09:00, 2024-12-05 08:00 - 09:00, 2024-12-12 08:00 - 09:00, 2024-12-19 08:00 - 09:00
Process & Coffee is about spiritual integration and exploration. We meet weekly to dive into books by mystics and sages. The discussion that follows helps to deepen our own spiritual lives.

Click here to learn more or join.

John Cobb & Friends Gathering: Rolla Lewis and Mary Elizabeth Moore
2024-11-19 10:00 - 12:00 | Online Via Zoom
Topic: Cultivating Beloved Communities in Divided Times

Presenters: Rolla Lewis and Mary Elizabeth Moore

The Cobb & Friends session will invite participants to reflect on their own lives and those of others in small groups and all together. We will especially focus on the presence of cosmic Life and its potential for cultivating beloved communities and the thriving of life in individuals, local communities, and the universe, even in the hardest of times.

The two leaders of this session have long experience in leading reflective processes in groups seeking to know themselves and the world in a deeper way, and to contribute to creative transformation.

Rolla Lewis is the primary leader. He is the 2024 Dean of the Cobb Institute Certificate Program and Professor Emeritus of Educational Psychology at California State University East Bay. He is author of Lifescaping Practices in School Communities and co-author of What Is the Color of Your Heart: A Humanist Approach to Diversity. Rolla identifies himself as an advocate in public education, a builder of eco-relational understandings, and a researcher seeking to enhance schools, student learning, and wellness.

Mary Elizabeth Moore is co-leader. She is Chair of the Cobb Institute and Dean Emerita and Professor Emerita of the Boston University School of Theology. Among her books are Teaching from the Heart, Teaching as a Sacramental Act, and a recent book of poetry, So Much to Love, So Much to Lose. Her passion is to work with others toward tikkun olam, repair of the world.

* John B. Cobb, Jr., “Cosmic life,” in D. Bartosch, A. Grandpierre, and B. Peng (Eds.), Towards a philosophy of cosmic life: New discussions and interdisciplinary views (Singapore: Springer Nature 2023), 9-16.

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If you experience any difficulty with the RSVP, please send an email to events@cobb.institute. If you would like to receive regular announcements and updates about activities and events at the Cobb Institute, please join our list of Friends.

Can’t make it to the live session? Click here to access our archive of Cobb & Friends recordings.

John Cobb & Friends Gathering: Tze-Ki Hon
2024-11-26 10:00 - 12:00 | Online Via Zoom
Topic: Yijing and Process Cosmology

Presenters: Tze-Ki Hon

Dr. Tze-ki Hon, a long-time scholar of contemporary interpretations and readings of the Yijing (The Changes in Our Times), was one of the lecturers at the recent celebration of the 100th anniversary of Alfred North Whitehead’s arrival at Harvard. He will discuss with us the topic of that lecture, “Yijing and Process Cosmology.”

Dr. Hon currently serves as the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University United International College (UIC). After obtaining his bachelor’s degree from the University of Hong Kong, he pursued further studies in the United States, earning a master’s degree from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Over the past twenty-plus years, he has taught at Hanover College in Indiana (1992-1996), SUNY Geneseo (1996-2016), and City University of Hong Kong (2017-2021). Professor Hon specializes in the study of the Yijing (I Ching), Chinese cultural history, modern intellectual history, and the transmission of Chinese classics to the West. He has published three books: The Yijing and Chinese Politics (2005), Revolution as Restoration (2013), The Allure of the Nation (2015); and co-authored Teaching the I Ching (Book of Changes) (2014) with Geoffrey Redmond, which instructs Westerners on how to read the I Ching. He has also edited six volumes of collected papers, including Confucianism for the Contemporary World (2017), Cold War Cities (2021), and The Other Yijing (2022). His papers appear in journals such as the Journal of Chinese Philosophy, Modern China, Monumenta Serica, and the Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies.

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If you experience any difficulty with the RSVP, please send an email to events@cobb.institute. If you would like to receive regular announcements and updates about activities and events at the Cobb Institute, please join our list of Friends.

Can’t make it to the live session? Click here to access our archive of Cobb & Friends recordings.

John Cobb & Friends Gathering: David Rosen, Osman Örs, and Sheri Kling
2024-12-03 09:00 - 11:00 | Online Via Zoom
Topic: Relational Abrahamic Faiths

Presenters: David Rosen, Osman Örs, and Sheri D. Kling, PhD

Several locations around the world have taken concrete steps toward interreligious understanding and relationship by creating communities of faith that house all three Abrahamic traditions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The House of One in Berlin, Germany and the Abrahamic Family House on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi are two such communities. Each has its own unique way of approaching its mission.

Seeking to learn more, Sheri Kling, director of Process & Faith, reached out to invite a representative from each community to join her in this presentation to the Cobb & Friends gathering. Rabbi David Rosen and Imam Osman Örs readily agreed. They’ll share highlights and images from their communities and discuss the joys and challenges they’ve experienced. Dr. Kling will facilitate the conversation.

Speakers

David Rosen serves as Special Interfaith Advisor to the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi. Rosen has been advancing understanding and good relations between religious communities for more than forty years – from the time he served as rabbi of the largest Orthodox Jewish congregation in South Africa, during his tenure as Chief Rabbi of Ireland; and throughout the last more than thirty years based in Jerusalem. In addition to interreligious representation and education, his work involves mediation and peace building and he is heavily involved in multi-religious engagement on ecological issues. Among the various awards and recognition he has received, Rabbi Rosen was granted a papal Knighthood in 2005 for his contribution to Jewish-Catholic reconciliation and in 2010 he was made a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II for his work promoting interfaith understanding and cooperation.

Osman Örs holds a Masters Degree (M.A.) in Islamic Sciences, Education, and Anglistics from George-August University in Göttingen, Germany. Since 2015, he has worked as a theological advisor and imam at the House of One Foundation in Berlin. He also collaborates with Demokratie Leben in combating antisemitism and racism, conducts educational workshops, and addresses theological and liturgical aspects of interreligious unity at the House of One. In addition to his work at the House of One, Osman Örs is involved in various community roles. He has been a member of the coordinating committee of the Berlin Forum of Religions since 2016 and is a charter member of the Council of Imams of Berlin since 2021. Osman Örs is committed to fostering interfaith dialogue and combating discrimination in Berlin’s religious communities.

Sheri D. Kling, Ph.D., is the director of Process & Faith with the Center for Process Studies and interim minister of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Bradenton, FL. Sheri earned her Ph.D. in Religion: Process Studies from Claremont School of Theology. She is a theologian, songwriter, and spiritual mentor, as well as a faculty member of the Haden Institute, adjunct faculty with Claremont School of Theology, and the author of A Process Spirituality: Christian and Transreligious Resources for Transformation. She regularly delivers dynamic “Music & Message” presentations to groups, and offers courses, concerts, and spiritual retreats. She may be found online at sherikling.com.

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This event is co-sponsored by

If you experience any difficulty with the RSVP, please send an email to events@cobb.institute. If you would like to receive regular announcements and updates about activities and events at the Cobb Institute, please join our list of Friends.

Can’t make it to the live session? Click here to access our archive of Cobb & Friends recordings.

John Cobb & Friends Gathering: Jo Paz Dominguez
2024-12-10 10:00 - 12:00 | Online Via Zoom
Topic: Make Turtle Island Indigenous Again: Regenerating Land, Identity, and Community

Presenters: Jo Paz Dominguez

Jo Paz (he/they) is an Indigenous community advocate, organizer, and trauma informed facilitator whose work is rooted in the belief that healing—both personal and collective—is a journey of interconnectedness. Guided by decolonial and regenerative principles, Jo emphasizes relational well-being, racial equity, and hyperlocal, place-based strategies that honor the wisdom of the land and community self-determination.

Jo summarizes the conversation they’ll have with Cobb and Friends this way:

What if the way forward is not forward at all, but a turning back to the land, to the stories it whispers, and to the cracks in the systems that hold us captive? In this workshop, we will lean into the wisdom of the Peoplehood Matrix and decolonial placekeeping, unraveling how the entanglements of land, language, history, and ceremony shape who we are and who we might yet become. This is not about fixing a broken world, but about befriending its brokenness with compassion, nurturing the soil of community, and listening deeply to ancestral wisdom. Together, we will name and weave our collective care, dreaming strategies for liberation that honor the land, disrupt the systems we inhabit, and welcome the impossible. What does it mean to truly belong, to truly thrive? Let’s ask the land—and each other.

Here are a few links showcasing Jo’s engagement in community building in the Los Angeles area.

Meet the Outreach Workers Working to End Homelessness

Protesters call on Garcetti to find shelter for 1,000 homeless women

Everyone In – Meet Elyse and Joseph

L.A.’s homeless agency faces calls to dissolve ties with police

Our Land, Our Voice

First Residential Community Land Trust Project in East Los Angeles

Crenshaw Mall Redevelopment Plan Health Impact Assessment

Green Pets Program – Caring for Mother Earth

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If you experience any difficulty with the RSVP, please send an email to events@cobb.institute. If you would like to receive regular announcements and updates about activities and events at the Cobb Institute, please join our list of Friends.

Can’t make it to the live session? Click here to access our archive of Cobb & Friends recordings.

John Cobb & Friends Gathering: Sheri Kling
2024-12-17 10:00 - 12:00 | Online Via Zoom
Topic: A Season of Darkness and Light

Presenters: Sheri D. Kling

Cosmologically, this period of late fall marks the increase in hours of darkness until the winter solstice when the hours of light begin to make a return. Many religions have major holidays during this period. For some, the period of darkness is not feared but is celebrated as a time of rest and renewal or of waiting in a kind of pregnant pause. Most celebrate the increase in light and see this turning of the season as the welcome return of the energies of rebirth and growth.

In this Cobb & Friends gathering, Dr. Sheri Kling, director of Process & Faith, will introduce some of the major holidays in late fall and early winter, noting their significance in each tradition. We’ll look at Diwali, Advent, Hanukkah, St. Lucia Day, Winter Solstice, Christmas, Epiphany, Kwanzaa, New Year’s Eve, and Lunar New Year.

Sheri D. Kling, Ph.D., is the director of Process & Faith with the Center for Process Studies and interim minister of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Bradenton, FL. Sheri earned her Ph.D. in Religion: Process Studies from Claremont School of Theology. She is a theologian, songwriter, and spiritual mentor, as well as a faculty member of the Haden Institute, adjunct faculty with Claremont School of Theology, and the author of A Process Spirituality: Christian and Transreligious Resources for Transformation. She regularly delivers dynamic “Music & Message” presentations to groups, and offers courses, concerts, and spiritual retreats. She may be found online at sherikling.com.

To receive the Zoom info for this gathering, click the Going button and enter your name and email.

This event is co-sponsored by

If you experience any difficulty with the RSVP, please send an email to events@cobb.institute. If you would like to receive regular announcements and updates about activities and events at the Cobb Institute, please join our list of Friends.

Can’t make it to the live session? Click here to access our archive of Cobb & Friends recordings.

Course: Introduction to Process-Relational Thought & Practice 2025
2025-01-22 17:00 - 18:30, 2025-01-29 17:00 - 18:30, 2025-02-05 17:00 - 18:30, 2025-02-12 17:00 - 18:30, 2025-02-19 17:00 - 18:30, 2025-02-26 17:00 - 18:30 | Online Event
Discovering Dynamic Ideas for a Relational Life

This 6-week course provides an introduction to the process tradition by examining key ideas in Whitehead’s philosophy, exploring some general ideas that flow from his philosophy, and considering applications of these ideas in personal life and community development.

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Renewing Faith Online Conference
2025-01-23 15:00 - 2025-01-25 13:30
Process & Faith invites you on a sacred online journey to renew your faith and explore how we live into process and open & relational theology together. Let’s bring more beauty into our Christian paths!

During this multi-day online event, we’ll explore several core themes of Christian faith—not academically, but in “big conversations” and practices.

Renewing Faith: A Call for Reimagination and Renewal

Renewing God: Deep Listening, Creativity, Transformation

Renewing Jesus: Atonement, Salvation

Renewing Message: Preaching, Scripture

Renewing Worship: Liturgy, Creeds, Sacraments, Aesthetics

Renewing Spirit: Practices, Religious Experience

Renewing Community: Education, Outreach, Service

We’re going to do our best to not be all heady about it, but actually drop down deeper—into our bodies and souls! It’ll be online, so body and soul can join from home.

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Memorial Service | John B. Cobb, Jr.
2025-02-15 15:00 - 16:30
The Center for Process Studies is planning a public memorial for Dr. Cobb on Saturday, February 15th, 2025 at the Claremont United Church of Christ. The Service will run between 3:00pm – 4:30pm PST. We will also be livestreaming the memorial on YouTube. A reception will be held immediately after the service, offering a time for fellowship and sharing memories of John.

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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:

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.

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.

RSVP required to receive ZOOM info.

RSVP at Process & Faith

Process Explorations: Kathleen Wakefield
2025-03-11 10:00 - 12:00 | Online Via Zoom
Topic: Songs “Planted in Clay”

Presenter(s): Kathleen Wakefield

In this session of Process Explorations, Kathleen Wakefield shares her creative, trans-disciplinary thinking in a program that promises to be evocative for poets and artists, activists and philosophers alike. She will present “Songs ‘Planted in Clay,’” a plea for the liberating and healing power of Whiteheadian metaphysics and poetry. This theme was her Springboard Project for the 2024 Certificate Program in Process Studies.Kathleen explores how the process of writing exemplifies Whitehead’s theory of prehensions and how poetry as an art form evoking the thickness of experience “embodies a protest against the ‘bifurcation’ of nature.” (PR 289) Poetry is gradually recognized as a form of earth speech, aligning with Whitehead’s notion of a work of art as “a fragment of nature.” In the light of Process Thinking, a family trauma is excavated through family letters which provide new lures for healing, transformation, and poetic expression.

Kathleen A. Wakefield is the author of two books of poetry, Notations on the Visible World (Anhinga Press, 2000), winner of the Anhinga Prize for Poetry, and Grip, Give and Sway (Silver Birch Press, 2016). She holds degrees from Mount Holyoke College (Chemistry) and the University of Michigan (History of Art). She taught creative writing at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Rochester, worked as a poet-in-the-schools, and shares poetry through public libraries. Her work has appeared in numerous journals, including the Alaska Quarterly Review, Christian Century, Georgia Review, Poetry, Sewanee Review, and Visions International, with work forthcoming in Half-Mystic and Amethyst Review. She serves on the leadership committee of the Cobb Institute Certificate Program.

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If you experience any difficulty with the RSVP, please send an email to events@cobb.institute. If you would like to receive regular announcements and updates about activities and events at the Cobb Institute, please join our list of Friends. Can’t make it to the live session? Click here to access our recordings archive.
