John Cobb & Friends Gathering - Tim Eastman
2021-04-13 10:00 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Online Event
Presenter(s): Tim Eastman

Topic: Untying the Gordian Knot: Process, Reality, and Context

Matt Segall, chairman of the Cobb Institute’s Science Advisory Committee, will engage NASA plasma physicist Tim Eastman in conversation about his book, published in December, 2020. Eastman uses the Logoi framework—which is radically inclusive and incorporates both actuality and potentiality—to go beyond standard ways of knowing—that of context independence (science) and context focus (arts, humanities)—to demonstrate the inevitable role of ultimate context (meaning, spiritual dimension) as part of a transformative ecological vision. See Joe Petek’s review at the Process Research Project website, and the publisher’s reviews at Lexington Books.

Information about how to access the gathering are made available via email. To find out about a single meeting, send an email to events@cobb.institute. If you would like to be added to our email list to receive regular meeting announcements and updates about the Institute, please click here.

Breakfast with Whitehead
2021-04-19 08:00 - 09:00, 2021-04-26 08:00 - 09:00
Join a group of pastors and faith leaders as we explore how Whitehead’s ideas can meet us in our own religious traditions and become fertile ground for theological reflection and pastoral ministry. Led by Jay McDaniel, this four-week learning circle will focus on Whitehead’s concepts of Peace and God as found in Adventures of Ideas and Process & Reality. True to the nature of Open and Relational Theologies, we respect and welcome diversity in faith tradition, personal experience, and theological perspective.

SIGN UP

John Cobb & Friends Gathering - Jeremy Lent
2021-04-20 10:00 - 12:00 | Online Event
Presenter(s): Jeremy Lent

Topic: The Web of Meaning: An Integration of Modern Science with Traditional Wisdom

Jeremy Lent has previously published The Patterning Instinct. His newest book, The Web of Meaning, has recently been generously reviewed by John Cobb. Jeremy integrates traditional Chinese wisdom traditions with the Greek-based studies of science, a theme which underlies the “Liology Institute,” which he founded. Jeremy Lent is a frequent panelist in programs sponsored by the Institute for Ecological Civilization, and appeared recently in yes! magazine’s online forum co-hosted by Andrew Schwartz, and yes! managing editor Zenobia Jeffries Warfield.

Information about how to access the gathering are made available via email. To find out about a single meeting, send an email to events@cobb.institute. If you would like to be added to our email list to receive regular meeting announcements and updates about the Institute, please click here.

John Cobb & Friends Gathering - Bradley Shavit Artson
2021-04-27 10:00 - 12:00 | Online Event
Presenter(s): Rabbi Dr. Bradley Shavit Artson

Topic: Revelation and Creativity

Rabbi Artson is Roslyn and Abner Goldstine Dean’s Chair, Professor of Philosophy at Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, Los Angeles. Listen here to his “Conversation in Process,” with Jay McDaniel.

Information about how to access the gathering are made available via email. To find out about a single meeting, send an email to events@cobb.institute. If you would like to be added to our email list to receive regular meeting announcements and updates about the Institute, please click here.

Beauty and the Spirit
2021-05-03 08:00 - 17:00, 2021-05-10 08:00 - 17:00, 2021-05-17 08:00 - 17:00, 2021-05-24 08:00 - 17:00
Join a group of faith leaders as we explore how John O’Donohue’s idea of Beauty can serving as portal to the Spirit and provide meaning in everyday life. Led by Jay McDaniel, this four-week learning circle will reflect on selected passages from Donahue’s Beauty: The Invisible Embrace, and discuss their meaning for everyday life.

SIGN UP

John Cobb & Friends Gathering - Herman Daly
2021-05-04 10:00 - 12:00 | Online Event
Presenter(s): Herman Daly

Topic: A Future for Ecological Economics?

Herman Daly was the steady-state economist at John Cobb’s 1972 conference, “Alternatives to Catastrophe.” He and John together published For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future (Beacon Press, 1989, 1994). With assistance from Cliff Cobb, they created the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW), an alternative to GDP as a measure of economic well-being. Daly, emeritus professor at University of Maryland, School of Public Policy, served from 1988 to 1994 as senior economist in the Environment Department of the World Bank. Co-founder of the journal Ecological Economics, he has won multiple awards, but he has often faced opposition from mainstream economists.

Information about how to access the gathering are made available via email. To find out about a single meeting, send an email to events@cobb.institute. If you would like to be added to our email list to receive regular meeting announcements and updates about the Institute, please click here.

What is Process, Anyway?
2021-05-10 16:00 - 18:00 | Online Event
Taught by one of the world’s leading experts in process thought, Dr. Jay McDaniel will provide an introduction to some of the major themes and concepts found in process-relational philosophy and theology.

Online Zoom Event: Access information will be provided with your receipt.

Are you a member of the Cobb Institute or the Center for Process Studies? Contact us to receive a coupon code for 20% off.

This event is sponsored by the Cobb Institute and the Center for Process Studies.

John Cobb & Friends Gathering - Brianne Donaldson
2021-05-11 10:00 - 12:00 | Online Event
Presenter(s): Brianne Donaldson

Topic: Jainism, Process Thought and Animal Ethics

Credentialed with a Ph.D. degree from Claremont School of Theology, where she was also an instructor, she is now Assistant Professor, Philosophy and Religious Studies and Shri Parshvanath Presidential Chair in Jain Studies at University of California at Irvine. Explore her website and discover at “Events” videos of her interview about animal agriculture’s role in pandemics, and a half-hour demonstration of preparing some vegetarian dishes. Check out the syllabus for her current spring semester course, Animal Ethics and Religion. Her newest book, Insistent Life: Principles for Bioethics in the Jain Tradition, co-authored with Ana Bajželj (University of California Press), will be published in June, 2021.

Information about how to access the gathering are made available via email. To find out about a single meeting, send an email to events@cobb.institute. If you would like to be added to our email list to receive regular meeting announcements and updates about the Institute, please click here.

John Cobb & Friends Gathering - Barbara Muraca
2021-05-18 10:00 - 12:00 | Online Event
Presenter(s): Barbara Muraca

Topic: Degrowth–Transform the Social Imaginary

Dr. Muraca has been showing how a relational way of thinking will transform how we organize our living. With advanced degrees from Italy and Germany, she is now Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Environmental Studies at University of Oregon, where a course on Whitehead is one of her offerings. She served for six years as co-director of the International Association for Environmental Philosophy (IAEP). Since Summer 2018 she is a Lead Author of the IPBES assessment on multiple values of nature (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services). See her profile here.

Information about how to access the gathering are made available via email. To find out about a single meeting, send an email to events@cobb.institute. If you would like to be added to our email list to receive regular meeting announcements and updates about the Institute, please click here.

John Cobb & Friends Gathering - Philip Clayton
2021-05-25 10:00 - 12:00 | Online Event
Presenter(s): Philip Clayton

Topic: Eco-Civ and The New Possible

As Ingraham Professor of Theology at Claremont School of Theology, Dr. Clayton works at the intersection points of science, philosophy, and theology. As an activist, President of the Institute for Ecological Civilization, and the Institute for Postmodern Development of China, he works to convene, facilitate, and catalyze multi-sectoral initiatives toward ecological civilization. Check out his website for details.

He is one of the editors of The New Possible: Visions of Our World Beyond Crisis, a book sponsored by One Project. From six continents 28 authors reflect on the future after 2020 upended every aspect of our lives–Earth, Us, Change, Wealth, Work, Food, Education, Love, Community and Tomorrow. Dr. Clayton told the Associated Press that this was a Kairos book, an opportune time in history. “This is one of the few moments in life, when the world points to you and says, ‘Are you going to make that inner change or are you not going to transform?’”

Information about how to access the gathering are made available via email. To find out about a single meeting, send an email to events@cobb.institute. If you would like to be added to our email list to receive regular meeting announcements and updates about the Institute, please click here.

John Cobb & Friends Gathering - John Fahey & Friends
2021-06-01 10:00 - 12:00 | Online Event
Presenter(s): John Fahey & Friends

Topic: Transformative Communities and How Process Might Influence Them

It’s no secret that Cobb Institute Board Chair, John Fahey, has been an active supporter of the 12-step process for several years. He has assembled a panel of friends who are quite knowledgeable about process philosophy and recovery to discuss how a “process way” is enabling their creative transformation. See this link to an article from The Process Studies Journal as a helpful introduction to the topic, as well as other essays on recovery from alcoholism, from anorexia, and from drug addiction.

Information about how to access the gathering are made available via email. To find out about a single meeting, send an email to events@cobb.institute. If you would like to be added to our email list to receive regular meeting announcements and updates about the Institute, please click here.

John Cobb & Friends Gathering - Thomas Jay Oord
2021-06-08 10:00 - 12:00 | Online Event
Presenter(s): Thomas Jay Oord

Topic: Open and Relational Theology

Tom Oord has been offering an alternative to the conventional God for some time. Among his significant writings are The Uncontrolling Love of God and God Can’t: How to Believe in God and Love After Abuse, Tragedy, and Other Evils. At the website of his Center for Open and Relational Theology, you’ll find that “Thomas Jay Oord is a theologian, philosopher, and scholar of multi-disciplinary studies. Oord is a best-selling and award-winning author, having written or edited more than twenty-five books. He directs a doctoral program at Northwind Theological Seminary. A twelve-time Faculty Award-winning professor, Oord teaches at institutions around the globe. Oord is known for his contributions to research on love, open and relational theology, science and religion, and the implications of freedom and relationships for transformation.” This 2-minute video offers a brief introduction to Open and Relational Theology. See his blog posts on the topic here. His latest book, Open and Relational Theology: An Introduction to Life-Changing Ideas, will be published in July, 2021.

Information about how to access the gathering are made available via email. To find out about a single meeting, send an email to events@cobb.institute. If you would like to be added to our email list to receive regular meeting announcements and updates about the Institute, please click here.

Tim Eastman Unties the Gordian Knot
2021-06-12 08:00 - 10:00, 2021-07-10 08:00 - 10:00
In this series of conversations Tim Eastman will engage with other scholars about his new book, Untying the Gordian Knot: Process, Reality, and Context.

In Untying the Gordian Knot: Process, Reality, and Context, Timothy E. Eastman proposes a new creative synthesis, the Logoi framework-which is radically inclusive and incorporates both actuality and potentiality-to show how the fundamental notions of process, logic, and relations, woven with triads of input-output-context and quantum logical distinctions, can resolve a baker’s dozen of age-old philosophic problems.

Purchase from

Amazon

Bookshop.org

RSVP to receive Zoom meeting information.

John Cobb & Friends Gathering - RJ Lucchesi
2021-06-15 10:00 - 12:00 | Online Event
Presenter(s): RJ Lucchesi

Topic: Public Witness in a Time of Global Uprisings—A Process-Liberation Approach

Lucchesi is a pastor, theologian, activist, and entrepreneur. He holds a Master of Divinity & Master of Theological Studies (Process Studies) from Claremont School of Theology and is the Chief Operating Officer of Andee Love Inc., a coaching and consulting firm where his wife Andrea is the CEO. Alongside co-conspirators, RJ is a founder of Liberation Rising, a 501(c)(4) committed to developing a collective consciousness of liberation via theological and political education, while partnering with front line individuals, communities, and organizations in the spirit of mutual aid. He is also a co-founder of Ohana Áina Cooperative, a 501(c)(3) dedicated to establishing food security and alternative food systems to sustain healthy and thriving living environments in partner communities. RJ lives in San Diego, California with his wife and rescue dog Neo, and enjoys spending his time in nature, experiencing new things, reading theology and philosophy, engaging the creative arts, and being & becoming with his chosen family.

Information about how to access the gathering are made available via email. To find out about a single meeting, send an email to events@cobb.institute. If you would like to be added to our email list to receive regular meeting announcements and updates about the Institute, please click here.

John Cobb & Friends Gathering - Brian Henning & Joe Petek
2021-06-22 10:00 - 12:00 | Online Event
Presenter(s): Brian Henning & Joe Petek

Topic: Seeing into Whitehead’s Mind

One of the exciting developments in the Whitehead Research Project is the discovery of new Whitehead material that “allows us to see into the mind of Whitehead as he was developing his philosophy.” Brian G. Henning, Professor of Philosophy at Gonzaga University, is Executive Editor of the Critical Edition of Whitehead and Director of Research and Publication for the Whitehead Research Project. Joseph Petek is Chief Archivist and Assistant Series Editor of the Critical Edition of Whitehead. In January, 2021, they published Volume 2 (of 6) of The Harvard Lectures of Alfred North Whitehead. A discussion of implications of the first volume in that series is forthcoming asWhitehead at Harvard, 1924-1925. They will focus their discussion on the Whitehead Critical Edition, a project summarized at this website. Check these video play lists to explore conferences, book trailers, and recorded sessions of the Whitehead Reading Group—all projects of the Whitehead Research Project.

Information about how to access the gathering are made available via email. To find out about a single meeting, send an email to events@cobb.institute. If you would like to be added to our email list to receive regular meeting announcements and updates about the Institute, please click here.

John Cobb & Friends Gathering - Catherine Keller
2021-06-29 10:00 - 12:00 | Online Event
Presenter(s): Catherine Keller

Topic: Facing Apocalypse—Climate, Democracy, and Other Last Chances

When she wrote Apocalypse Now and Then in 1996, Catherine Keller, George T. Cobb Professor of Constructive Theology at Drew Theological School, thought she was finished with the Apocalypse theme. It’s back, not as disastrous ending, but as an “unveiling,” prompted by the last book of the Christian New Testament and our current reality. It’s a “dreamreading” of our current global crisis. Watch Drew’s celebratory book launch event here, which includes extensive dialogue with Dr. Keller. There you’ll discover Jürgen Moltmann’s judgment that this is “a brilliant work,” and Tripp Fuller’s affirmation, “By holding the apocalyptic text and the signs of the times in a generative and revelatory tension, Keller makes this ancient text shake and quake our present moment.” Find out more information about Facing Apocalypse at Orbis Press, or listen to a radio interview with her publisher, Robert Ellsberg.

Information about how to access the gathering are made available via email. To find out about a single meeting, send an email to events@cobb.institute. If you would like to be added to our email list to receive regular meeting announcements and updates about the Institute, please click here.

John Cobb & Friends Gathering - Sophia Said
2021-07-13 10:00 - 12:00 | Online Event
Presenter(s): Sophia Said

Topic: On Being Muslim in America

Sophia Said started a mosque in Arkansas, and will share her experience with us. See the website of the Madina Institute and Mosque, and the Arkansas Interfaith Center, which partners with Cobb Institute for interfaith conversations. See also her Open Horizons affirmation “I Am Not Afraid.“

Information about how to access the gathering are made available via email. To find out about a single meeting, send an email to events@cobb.institute. If you would like to be added to our email list to receive regular meeting announcements and updates about the Institute, please click here.

John Cobb & Friends Gathering - Derek Engdahl
2021-07-20 10:00 - 12:00 | Online Event
Presenter(s): Derek Engdahl

Topic: Making Compassion a Community Asset

Derek W. Engdahl, along with his wife Lisa, are General Directors of Servant Partners, “transforming communities with the urban poor.” He currently supervises several domestic and international sites. Alongside his international commitments, Derek also ministers in the urban poor community of Pomona, California, where he has lived with his wife and daughter since 1998.

Information about how to access the gathering are made available via email. To find out about a single meeting, send an email to events@cobb.institute. If you would like to be added to our email list to receive regular meeting announcements and updates about the Institute, please click here.

John Cobb & Friends Gathering - Dr. Yuan Gao
2021-07-27 10:00 - 12:00 | Online Event
Presenter(s): Dr. Yuan Gao

Topic: Whitehead and Agriculture

Ms. Gao was formerly a visiting scholar at the Center for Process Studies in Claremont, and she has just received her Ph.D. from China’s premiere educational institution, Beijing Normal University. She will share what she has learned by writing the first Ph.D. dissertation in China on Whitehead and Agriculture. She will be ZOOMing in live from Beijing.

Information about how to access the gathering are made available via email. To find out about a single meeting, send an email to events@cobb.institute. If you would like to be added to our email list to receive regular meeting announcements and updates about the Institute, please click here.

John Cobb & Friends Gathering - Ellie Leaning & Anna Hixson
2021-08-03 10:00 - 12:00 | Online Event
Presenter(s): Ellie Leaning & Anna Hixson

Topic: EcoCiv’s Water Initiatives: Help for Our Drought?

With drought in Southwest US at historic levels, what can we learn from global water initiatives of the Institute for Ecological Civilization? Ellie Leaning, Projects Director for EcoCiv, is also Project Director for W12+, “a movement that collects, catalyzes, and incubates urban water solutions.” She will be joined by Anna Hixson, an EcoCiv Research and Development Associate. For more information about Leaning and Hixson see team members.

Information about how to access the gathering are made available via email. To find out about a single meeting, send an email to events@cobb.institute. If you would like to be added to our email list to receive regular meeting announcements and updates about the Institute, please click here.

John Cobb & Friends Gathering - Lisa Landoe Hedrick
2021-08-10 10:00 - 12:00 | Online Event
Presenter(s): Lisa Landoe Hedrick

Topic: The Artisanship of Facthood

Dr. Lisa Landoe Hedrick will explore “The Artisanship of Facthood: Thinking with Whitehead on the Fragility of a Common World.” It’s a timely theme articulated in her June 3 article in Sightings, “Alfred North Whitehead and the ‘Facts’: How an old philosophical trap continues to ensnare us today.” (Before Tuesday, please read it!) Her conclusion? “If we are to make our way out of this era of ‘alternative facts,’ then we must beware the trap of appealing to the world of facts as some kind of bedrock. We would do better to remember that ‘facts’ themselves are constituted by the social relationality of belonging. In other words, we will not be able to persuade each other with facts alone, but must begin with what it means to be in relation with one another.”

Dr. Landoe Hedrick will elaborate on the context of the article, which draws upon her recent book, Whitehead and the Pittsburgh School: Preempting the Problem of Intentionality, and how it relates to her intellectual concerns going forward. Reviewing the book, Nancy Frankenberry (Dartmouth College) said, “Not since the pioneering work of the late George W. Shields has a Whitehead scholar tackled the critical relation of Whitehead to analytic philosophy. Hedrick does it here in a thoroughly up-to-date and decisive way with a brilliant focus on the meaning of intentionality and the need to make sense of the relationship between mind and world.”

Lisa Landoe Hedrick (Ph.D. U of Chicago, 2019), is now a Divinity Teaching Fellow in the College at the University of Chicago. Her current research explores the relationship between Anglo-American theories of language, nature, and metaphysics. She is Book Review Editor of The American Journal of Theology and Philosophy, the journal of the Institute for American Religious and Philosophical Thought.

Information about how to access the gathering are made available via email. To find out about a single meeting, send an email to events@cobb.institute. If you would like to be added to our email list to receive regular meeting announcements and updates about the Institute, please click here.

Tim Eastman Unties the Gordian Knot - Chapter 3
2021-08-14 08:00 - 10:00

John Cobb & Friends Gathering - Eugene Shirley
2021-08-17 10:00 - 12:00 | Online Event
Presenter(s): Eugene Shirley

Topic: What’s Up with Pando?

John Cobb is the Founding Board Chair of Pando Populus, and Eugene Shirley is its Founding President. Eugene will update us on Pando Days and other projects of Pando, an organization named after Earth’s largest living organism. Pando follows a process to enhance “Southland sustainability” among communities in Los Angeles County. They have developed multiple partnerships to work on Los Angeles County’s Sustainability Goals. “We have a process for creating and accelerating bold solutions to countywide sustainability challenges. The process includes leveraging the County’s talent pool in new ways to deliver innovative ideas and practical plans with measurable impact.”

Information about how to access the gathering are made available via email. To find out about a single meeting, send an email to events@cobb.institute. If you would like to be added to our email list to receive regular meeting announcements and updates about the Institute, please click here.

John Cobb & Friends Gathering - Andrew Schwartz
2021-08-24 10:00 - 12:00 | Online Event
Presenter(s): Andrew Schwartz

Topic: Resourcing “Process & Faith”

For many years the Center for Process Studies has provided resources for faith communities interested in process-relational approaches to exploring their commitments. The program was called “Process and Faith,” offering “Real Spirituality for Real Life.” CPS is partnering with the Cobb Institute to expand the reach to diverse faith communities with resources that will help them explore life and express their faith through a process-relational lens. We look forward to an update from Dr. William Andrew Schwartz, Executive Director of the Center for Process Studies and Assistant Professor of Process Studies & Comparative Theology at Claremont School of Theology. Cobb Institute board members Jay McDaniel and Kat Reeves are also playing a key role.

Information about how to access the gathering are made available via email. To find out about a single meeting, send an email to events@cobb.institute. If you would like to be added to our email list to receive regular meeting announcements and updates about the Institute, please click here.

John Cobb & Friends Gathering - Mary Elizabeth Moore
2021-08-31 10:00 - 12:00 | Online Event
Presenter(s): Mary Elizabeth Moore

Topic: Touching the Holy in Unholy Times

Through poetry and photography, Mary Elizabeth invites us to explore the sacred landscape of creation and the godness that fills every being and the cosmic whole. We will especially focus on the power of spiritual attuning and deepening to foster life-giving habits in individuals and societies – habits of delighting, mourning, healing, and social revolution. Mary Elizabeth is Dean Emerita and Professor of Theology and Education in Boston University School of Theology. On sabbatical now, she is writing two books that are enriching her life and will hopefully enrich others. They are a book of meditations from which the Tuesday readings and photos come, and a monograph on sacrality and revolution.

Information about how to access the gathering are made available via email. To find out about a single meeting, send an email to events@cobb.institute. If you would like to be added to our email list to receive regular meeting announcements and updates about the Institute, please click here.
