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My name is Al Gephart. I am a retired Presbyterian minister, having served three parishes — Spokane and Redmond, WA, and for 18 years, University PC in Tempe, AZ. My formal education was in music; a voice major in college, and after seminary, graduate work in church and choral music. I was introduced to process theology during a month-long focus on faith and science in 2003. Leading a book study of Ian Barbour’s book, When Science Meets Religion, I read that those who seek to integrate faith and science most often end up espousing process theology. Something said Yes in the depths of my soul. Many life-long questions began to be answered in new ways. This resulted in trips to Claremont for the Summer Institute and the Whitehead Film Festival, and in an ongoing exploration of process theology / philosophy authors. I have been active in interfaith dialogue in the Phoenix area, and recently accepted the position of coordinator of the Cobb Institute’s revised Process and Faith Christian team.

It is helpful to read these comments from both of you. Of course I know about Kazantzakis, Bergson, and Shaw, also William James, but confess I have not read their works, just seen the movies made from them. But I’m sure that Whitehead, as creative and innovative as he is, did not arise out of a vacuum. He too was challenged and influenced, a person in process like each of us. Thanks for sharing about these authors who also show signs of process thought, and of the challenge to rebirth perceptions of God. Al

Elizabeth, I’m not sure whether or not as someone who signed up for the Rebirthing class you can also view the Tuesday Cobb Institute sessions. If so, I highly recommend you watch yesterday’s session led by a young scientist. He sought to make the case for Whitehead’s theistic view of science and creation. This is the notice that went out to participants about the upcoming class. It doesn’t indicate consideration of God within creation, but Segall addressed this issue. Might be helpful as you reflect on your questions. Mesle usually participates, but wasn’t with us yesterday. Al

Partners in Process, on Tuesday, September 28, 10 am PDT: Matt Segall will discuss “Whither Science?” with John Cobb and Friends. Here is Matt’s description of his topic. “The ‘model-centrism’ of much contemporary science has been thoroughly critiqued by Whiteheadians for its ‘misplaced concreteness.’ Drawing upon Whitehead’s view of philosophy as the critic of abstractions, Matt will examine the relationship between typical modes of scientific explanation and everyday human experience. All too often, models of, e.g., brain scans are used to explain conscious experience. What would it mean to take seriously Whitehead’s claim that it is the concrete which explains the abstract, rather than the reverse? In answering this question, Matt will attempt to re-imagine natural science on more radically empirical grounds.”

Dr. Segall chairs the Cobb Institute Science Advisory Board. On the faculty of California Institute of Integral Studies he is Assistant Professor in the Philosophy and Religion Department. His doctoral dissertation (2016) in the program on Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness was Crossing the Threshold: The Post-Kantian Process Philosophy of Schelling and Whitehead. It will be published as a book later this year. His book Physics of the World-Soul, has now been published by Sacra Sage (May, 2021) in Kindle and paperback editions. An earlier edition subtitled the book, “The Relevance of Alfred North Whitehead’s Philosophy of Organism to Contemporary Scientific Cosmology.” John Cobb’s Foreword to the book calls it “at the cutting edge!” Explore Matt’s podcasts and articles at Footnotes2Plato.

Hi Allison, I’m so pleased you have joined our group. I certainly understand not being able to join us in real time, but please you are able to view the sessions later. I have the luxury of retirement and you need to work during the day. Please feel free to email or text me if you have any questions or issues you’d like to discuss further. All the best to you and your family. Al

Hi Elizabeth — Thanks for your posts. Almost twenty years ago Robert Mesle wrote a book entitled Process Theology: A Basic Introduction. It is an excellent resource, used by many. However, after presenting Whitehead’s view of God hidden within the processes of creation in the next to last final chapter Mesle informs the reader that as a process naturalist he is not a theist. Then he gives the final word to John Cobb, who makes a case for process theism. Cobb suggests: we don’t just repeat the past, in freedom we are always creating the future. Life is not meaningless. What happens matters. We do not inherently know what is good, what has greater value and purpose. God is necessary as that Reality, within and beyond us, that Light pantheistically hidden within every person that is the lure toward value, ultimately toward love. Without that Reality life can lose any meaning other than the struggle for existence. As the One who suffers with creation God knows the suffering realities of each of us and seeks to redeem those realities by the continuous lure toward value within the possibilities that exist in the moment. This is what is meant by “good news”, which is not a part of a strictly naturalistic perspective. He ends by saying that for him “God is the ground of hope.”