Quotes & Sayings


We, and creation itself, actualize the possibilities of the God who sustains the world, towards becoming in the world in a fuller, more deeper way. - R.E. Slater

There is urgency in coming to see the world as a web of interrelated processes of which we are integral parts, so that all of our choices and actions have [consequential effects upon] the world around us. - Process Metaphysician Alfred North Whitehead

Kurt Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem says (i) all closed systems are unprovable within themselves and, that (ii) all open systems are rightly understood as incomplete. - R.E. Slater

The most true thing about you is what God has said to you in Christ, "You are My Beloved." - Tripp Fuller

The God among us is the God who refuses to be God without us, so great is God's Love. - Tripp Fuller

According to some Christian outlooks we were made for another world. Perhaps, rather, we were made for this world to recreate, reclaim, redeem, and renew unto God's future aspiration by the power of His Spirit. - R.E. Slater

Our eschatological ethos is to love. To stand with those who are oppressed. To stand against those who are oppressing. It is that simple. Love is our only calling and Christian Hope. - R.E. Slater

Secularization theory has been massively falsified. We don't live in an age of secularity. We live in an age of explosive, pervasive religiosity... an age of religious pluralism. - Peter L. Berger

Exploring the edge of life and faith in a post-everything world. - Todd Littleton

I don't need another reason to believe, your love is all around for me to see. – Anon

Thou art our need; and in giving us more of thyself thou givest us all. - Khalil Gibran, Prayer XXIII

Be careful what you pretend to be. You become what you pretend to be. - Kurt Vonnegut

Religious beliefs, far from being primary, are often shaped and adjusted by our social goals. - Jim Forest

We become who we are by what we believe and can justify. - R.E. Slater

People, even more than things, need to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. – Anon

Certainly, God's love has made fools of us all. - R.E. Slater

An apocalyptic Christian faith doesn't wait for Jesus to come, but for Jesus to become in our midst. - R.E. Slater

Christian belief in God begins with the cross and resurrection of Jesus, not with rational apologetics. - Eberhard Jüngel, Jürgen Moltmann

Our knowledge of God is through the 'I-Thou' encounter, not in finding God at the end of a syllogism or argument. There is a grave danger in any Christian treatment of God as an object. The God of Jesus Christ and Scripture is irreducibly subject and never made as an object, a force, a power, or a principle that can be manipulated. - Emil Brunner

“Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” means "I will be that who I have yet to become." - God (Ex 3.14) or, conversely, “I AM who I AM Becoming.”

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. - Thomas Merton

The church is God's world-changing social experiment of bringing unlikes and differents to the Eucharist/Communion table to share life with one another as a new kind of family. When this happens, we show to the world what love, justice, peace, reconciliation, and life together is designed by God to be. The church is God's show-and-tell for the world to see how God wants us to live as a blended, global, polypluralistic family united with one will, by one Lord, and baptized by one Spirit. – Anon

The cross that is planted at the heart of the history of the world cannot be uprooted. - Jacques Ellul

The Unity in whose loving presence the universe unfolds is inside each person as a call to welcome the stranger, protect animals and the earth, respect the dignity of each person, think new thoughts, and help bring about ecological civilizations. - John Cobb & Farhan A. Shah

If you board the wrong train it is of no use running along the corridors of the train in the other direction. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

God's justice is restorative rather than punitive; His discipline is merciful rather than punishing; His power is made perfect in weakness; and His grace is sufficient for all. – Anon

Our little [biblical] systems have their day; they have their day and cease to be. They are but broken lights of Thee, and Thou, O God art more than they. - Alfred Lord Tennyson

We can’t control God; God is uncontrollable. God can’t control us; God’s love is uncontrolling! - Thomas Jay Oord

Life in perspective but always in process... as we are relational beings in process to one another, so life events are in process in relation to each event... as God is to Self, is to world, is to us... like Father, like sons and daughters, like events... life in process yet always in perspective. - R.E. Slater

To promote societal transition to sustainable ways of living and a global society founded on a shared ethical framework which includes respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, universal human rights, respect for diversity, economic justice, democracy, and a culture of peace. - The Earth Charter Mission Statement

Christian humanism is the belief that human freedom, individual conscience, and unencumbered rational inquiry are compatible with the practice of Christianity or even intrinsic in its doctrine. It represents a philosophical union of Christian faith and classical humanist principles. - Scott Postma

It is never wise to have a self-appointed religious institution determine a nation's moral code. The opportunities for moral compromise and failure are high; the moral codes and creeds assuredly racist, discriminatory, or subjectively and religiously defined; and the pronouncement of inhumanitarian political objectives quite predictable. - R.E. Slater

God's love must both center and define the Christian faith and all religious or human faiths seeking human and ecological balance in worlds of subtraction, harm, tragedy, and evil. - R.E. Slater

In Whitehead’s process ontology, we can think of the experiential ground of reality as an eternal pulse whereby what is objectively public in one moment becomes subjectively prehended in the next, and whereby the subject that emerges from its feelings then perishes into public expression as an object (or “superject”) aiming for novelty. There is a rhythm of Being between object and subject, not an ontological division. This rhythm powers the creative growth of the universe from one occasion of experience to the next. This is the Whiteheadian mantra: “The many become one and are increased by one.” - Matthew Segall

Without Love there is no Truth. And True Truth is always Loving. There is no dichotomy between these terms but only seamless integration. This is the premier centering focus of a Processual Theology of Love. - R.E. Slater

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Note: Generally I do not respond to commentary. I may read the comments but wish to reserve my time to write (or write off the comments I read). Instead, I'd like to see our community help one another and in the helping encourage and exhort each of us towards Christian love in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. - re slater

Thursday, March 19, 2020

John Cobb - Introduction to Whitehead's Process & Reality





As an introduction to a six week study (March - April 2020) presented by John Cobb on Alfred North Whitehead's magnum opus, Process and Reality, I have listed here a video by our teacher and a general listing of videos and discussions on the subject of process philosophy and theology. Enjoy.

R.E. Slater


A Six Session Course Introducing Alfred North Whitehead’s PROCESS AND REALITY
Link - https://homebrewedchristianity.lpages.co/processandreality/

In these lectures John Cobb will provide an introduction to one of the most compelling and challenging philosophical texts of the Twentieth Century. Process and Reality is a notoriously difficult text, but the goal of this course is to enable students to not only skim the surface but probe its deeper dimensions. With his decades of experience as a scholar and teacher of Whitehead, Cobb will elucidate the major themes and illuminate the major concepts in a way that is accessible to anyone.


Why Whitehead?
by John Cobb



Introduction to Whitehead's
Process & Reality

John Cobb taught theology at the Claremont School of Theology from 1958 to 1990. In 2014 he became the first theologian elected to the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences for his interdisciplinary work in ecology, economics, and biology. He has published over 30 books including the first full length text in eco-philosophy.

In 1973, with David Griffin, he established the Center for Process Studies. In retirement he lives at Pilgrim Place in Claremont, California. Throughout his career he has contributed to Whitehead scholarship and promoted process-relational programs and organizations. Most recently, he helped found the Claremont Institute for Process Studies, and has been heavily involved in supporting work toward the goal of China becoming an ecological civilization.


The Process Metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead
(*1861, †1947)
A short introduction to the process philosophy & process theology of Alfred North Whitehead (*1861, †1947), containing several photos and 4 speakers, describing some core hypotheses of Whitehead's metaphysics. The speakers are: John B. Cobb, David Ray Griffin, Charles Hartshorne and Rupert Sheldrake.



Process Philosophy Explained



What in the World Is Process Theology?



Joseph A. Bracken
How Would You Explain Process Philosophy?



Alfred North Whiteheads Process Metaphysics




* * * * * * * * * * * *



JohnCObbJr_CTF_Hero.jpg
John B. Cobb, Jr.

Today on Carry the Fire Podcast we are joined by the esteemed professor John Cobb Jr. Dr. Cobb is an American theologian, philosopher, and environmentalist. Dr. Cobb is often regarded as the preeminent scholar in the field of process philosophy and process theology. He is also the author of over 30 books and he just celebrated his 95th birthday. He was the first theologian elected to the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences for his interdisciplinary work in ecology, economics, and biology.

While Dr. Cobb is well versed in process philosophy much of his work has been as a process theologian. Process philosophy and theology provide us a means for retaining values such as the good, the true, and the beautiful as well as explaining God’s agency in the world all without denying what we learn through science. And, often aligning more with what we learn through science vs what we learn through strict materialism. This is a bit of a heady conversation but, John is wise and a delightful human. I believe you will all enjoy this.


Monica A. Colemann & Tripp Fuller
Why Go Process?



Carry The Fire with John Cobb Jr.
What is Whitehead's Most Important Contribution to Philosophical Theology?



A History of Process Philosophy



John Cobb_An Introductory Introduction_01



John Cobb_An Introductory Introduction_02





Audio Streams

Stream 1 - JC on JC: a conversation with John Cobb and Tom Oord
https://trippfuller.com/2020/02/22/jc-on-jc-a-conversation-with-john-cobb-and-tom-oord-on-jesus-barrelaged/
This is a super special conversation between two preeminent scholars and dear friends. Two friends of the podcast gathered in Claremont a few years back as part of the Emergent Village Theological Conversation on Process Theology and this gem of a conversation happened! John Cobb and Tom Oord discuss Jesus and a number of other goodies.


Stream 2 - John Cobb: Process & Christology

I am beyond excited about the upcoming class with our guest in this episode – John Cobb.
This is the very first interview I ever recorded with Cobb and in it we discuss a proces
account of the incarnation, Kin-dom of God, and other Christological goodies. You will
likely notice how my accent has changed in the last 12 years of podcasting and moves
from North Carolina to Los Angeles and then to Edinburgh.



Stream 3 - Secularizing Christianity by John Cobb

John Cobb give a theo-philosophical sermon on the materializing trajectory of Christianity.
Then liberal Reformed Theologian, Paul Capetz, joins me for the conversation in which
we discuss the trinity, Religious Pluralism, The importance of the Incarnation, Discuss
fall of the Mainline Churches, Liberalism? Progressive?, and the Mission of the Church.