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

-----

Note: Generally I do not respond to commentary. I may read the comments but wish to reserve my time to write (or write from 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, August 25, 2022

Walking in the Footsteps of John the Baptist - Introduction to the Mandeans



Walking in the Footsteps of John the Baptist

James McGrath has recently traveled to Israel to walk in the footsteps of John the Baptist. I thought it might be of interest that we journey with James as well to discover the early days of Jesus' ministry through his cousin John. Enjoy.

R.E. Slater
August 25, 2022




John the Baptist and the Mandaeans

by James F. McGrath
June 22, 2022


For anyone interested in getting a glimpse of some of the exciting insights and groundbreaking new perspectives I’ve already come up with in the early stages of my research project focused on John the Baptist, I’m the keynote speaker at the Apostolic Johannite Church Conclave this weekend. My talk is titled “John the Baptist and the Mandaeans” and presents for a general audience some of what I consider the most interesting discoveries I’ve made thus far. Some are things implicit in our most familiar sources about John, yet which we’ve failed to see because we have not been as interested in John for his own sake as we ought to have been. Others involve connecting the dots between sources that are relatively unknown and neglected even by scholars. All of this will be presented in a form accessible to a general audience.

For those who may not already know, I’m writing a biography of John the Baptist for a general audience as well as an academic book with lots of detailed studies on specific matters related to John. I’m delighted to have this opportunity to share some of the answers I’ve come up with to questions like “Why did John, the son of priest, develop a baptism for the forgiveness of sins that competed with his father’s work in the temple?” and “What is the connection between John the Baptist and the origin of Gnosticism?” What better place to do so than the annual conference of a modern Gnostic church that emphasizes the spiritual legacy of John the Baptist?

Interested in attending? Visit the Apostolic Johannite Church’s website for details on how to register for this online event as well as details about the program, speakers, and more.

Many of you are already familiar with the Johannite Church through their TalkGnosis YouTube series which has interviewed scholars such as myself (many times) as well as just recently two leading scholars of “Gnosticism” (or whatever else one might prefer to call it), David Brakke and M. David Litwa. Take a look:


[Talk Gnosis] Found Christianities w/ Dr. M.David Litwa
Jun 12, 2022

From believing Jesus is a cosmic space dragon to the need to build a communal heaven on earth, there were a variety of different Christian beliefs and doctrines from a variety of lost Christianities in the 2nd Century. To find out more about these groups and their fascinating, and to modern people maybe trippy, teachings we welcome back to the show Dr. M. David Litwa to talk about his book "Found Christianities".

[Talk Gnosis] The Gospel of Judas w/ Dr. David Brakke
 Jun 20, 2022

For more than 2000 years, Judas Iscariot has been THE villain and betrayer. BUT in a lost-until-recently text, the ancient Gnostics had an actual Gospel of Judas where Judas is...
  • a hero?
  • a religious leader?
  • an ambiguous figure?
  • an evil demon?
  • the new god of this world?!
So you can guess interpreting this text isn't easy so that's why we're joined by Dr. David Brakke who has a new book "The Gospel of Judas: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary" and serves as our guide to this fascinating Gospel.

Buy Dr. Brakke's books and we highly rec taking one of his courses on the Great Courses, they're all awesome: https://www.thegreatcourses.com/profe...

For those who know that I’ve been traveling recently, spending a week and a half in Israel and Palestine focused on places connected (in history and/or legend) with John the Baptist, I will soon share photos from the trip together with commentary. For now, I’ve been focusing on recovering from jet lag and getting ready for Conclave! Also of related interest, the provisional program for the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting in November is now online. I’m in there twice, including in a session of the Traditions of Eastern Late Antiquity program unit in which I am presenting on a topic related to my keynote address this Saturday. Here is the abstract:

Late Antique Texts and Earlier History: The Case of John the Baptist and Mandaean Sources:
"There is a noticeable inconsistency when it comes to the use of sources from Late Antiquity as evidence for people and events in earlier times. In the case of Rabbinic sources, while there has been a shift away from the earlier tendency to assume they accurately depict the views of rabbis who lived centuries earlier, the consensus remains that there is material of historical value to be found in the Talmudim and related sources. In the case of Christian sources, on the other hand, most historians regard sources from our period (whether the Nag Hammadi texts or Syriac hagiography) as of little independent historical value in relation to the period of Christian origins. The main exception is the Gospel of Thomas. Precisely because it overlaps so extensively with the Synoptic Gospels in the New Testament, its connection with the historical Jesus (whether direct or indirect) is confirmed, and yet for the same reason its independent usefulness can be dismissed. If we lacked most of our earliest sources available to us, however, a source like Thomas might be simultaneously more precious to historians, and more difficult to confirm as historically valuable.

"This conundrum provides an illustration of the situation with respect to the Mandaeans and John the Baptist. Using the relationship between late antique Jewish and Christian sources and first century history as a guide, I will make the case Mandaean literature can be useful to historians when studied in an appropriately critical fashion. This comparative study of how historical scholars treat Jewish, Christian, and Mandaean texts and traditions will further provide a basis for elaborating methodological principles that may (and, I will argue, should) equally be applied to all of them."

* * * * * * *


photo link - Followers of the Sabian Mandean faith in Iran have been forced
into exile as their religion is not recognized in the Islamic republic. (Reuters)


Iran Mandaeans in exile following persecution

Ahmed al-Sheati, Al Arabiya
Virginia, UNITED STATES


More than 300 Iranian families were forced to leave their homeland in the western province of Khuzestan after facing a series of discriminatory acts for following the faith Sabian Mandaeism which is not officially acknowledged in the Islamic republic.

Sabian Mandaeans had been an integral part of the Iranian social and national fabric especially in Khuzestan where most of the community used to live, said Emad Fawzy, a 44-year-old Sabian Mandaean who immigrated to the United States a year ago.
“This is no longer the case, for after the fall of the Shah we are not even allowed to talk about our faith or our rituals,” he told Al Arabiya.
Enaam Hamed, 39, is not surprised that Iranians harbor all this hate against Mandeans and against Arabs in general, of whom they are considered part.
“I used to work as an Arabic language teacher in Khuzestan and I know how instilling this hatred starts from school curricula,” she told Al Arabiya. “Everything Arab is condemned; our community was part of the Arab community in Khuzestan and its capital Ahwaz.”
Hamed explained that she and other members of her community suffered dual persecution, for being Arab and for being Mandaean and were accordingly robbed of both national and religious rights to which minorities are entitled.
“Iranian authorities refused to list our faith as one of the officially recognized languages.”
According to Hani Salah, a refugee in the United States, the Iranian authorities committed several crimes against the Mandaeans but none of them was known to the world because of lack of media coverage inside Iran.
“Three years ago, the Iranian government desecrated Mandaean graves in Ahwaz city,” he told Al Arabiya. “If we can’t protect our dead, how can we protect our living?”
Talal Nasser, 55, spoke about the double standards of the Iranian regime which becomes apparent when they practice the opposite of what they preach.
“They keep persecuting Mandaeans while calling for inter-faith dialogues and eliminating sectarian and racial discrimination,” he told Al Arabiya.
A website administered by the Mandaean community in Denmark reported that Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of Iran’s first post-revolution Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, received in August 2011 several members of the Zoroastrianist faith. This, Mandaeans argued, is indicative that Iranian leaders are treating Zoroastrians in a much better manner.


The report added that Zoroastrianists, who number 40,000, have a representative in the Iranian parliament and the same applies to Jews, whose number does not exceed 35,000.

According to the report, both groups are granted political and cultural rights and they have their own schools and their own newspapers.

Other groups represented in the parliament, the report added, include Armenians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians.

All those groups, said the report, have their places of worship too.

The report stated that this is not the case with Mandaeans, whose number is estimated at 60,000 and who have to hide in little villages in order to practice their rituals in improvised temples.

According to Article 13 of the Iranian Constitution, Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism are officially acknowledged religions and there is no mention of Sabian Mandaeism.

Sabian Mandaeans originally lived in Palestine where John the Baptist was born then they immigrated to several countries in the region like Iran, Iraq, and Syria, and few of them went to Jordan. Mandaeans in Iran mainly live in the province of Khuzestan, commonly known as Arabstan owing to its Arab population. They particularly live by rivers since water constitutes a basic part of their faith rituals.

Before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Mandaeans were known for working as goldsmiths, a craft they had been passing from one generation to another for years.

(Translated from Arabic by Sonia Farid)


Mandaeans

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Mandaeans
ࡌࡀࡍࡃࡀࡉࡉࡀ
الصابئة المندائيون
Mandaeans 03.jpg
Mandaeans in prayer
Total population
c. 60,000–100,000[1][2][3]
Regions with significant populations
 Sweden10,000–20,000[4][5]
 Australia8,000–10,000[6][7][8]
 United States5,000–7,000[9][10][11][12][13]
 Iraq3,000[a]–6,000[14][13]
 Netherlands4,000[3]
 Iran2,500 (2015)[15][13]
 United Kingdom2,500[3]
 Germany2,200–3,000[16][5]
 Jordan1,400–2,500[17][18]
 Syria1,000 (2015)[19][13]
 Canada1,000[20]
 New Zealand1,000[5]
 Denmark650–1,200[21][13]
 Finland100 families[22]
 France500[23]
Religions
Mandaeism
Scriptures
Ginza RabbaQolastaMandaean Book of JohnHaran Gawaita, etc. (see more)
Languages

Mandaeans (Classical Mandaicࡌࡀࡍࡃࡀࡉࡉࡀlit.'Gnostics, Knowers, Enlightened Ones') (Arabicالمندائيون al-Mandāʾiyyūn), also known as Mandaean Sabians (الصابئة المندائيون al-Ṣābiʾa al-Mandāʾiyyūn) or simply as Sabians (الصابئة al-Ṣābiʾa),[b] are an ethnoreligious group, native to the alluvial plain of southern Mesopotamia, who are followers of Mandaeism. They may have been among the earliest religious groups to practice baptism, as well as among the earliest adherents of Gnosticism, a belief system of which they are the last surviving representatives today.[24][25]: 109  The Mandaeans were originally native speakers of Mandaic, an Eastern Aramaic language, before many switched to colloquial Iraqi Arabic and Modern Persian.

After the invasion of Iraq by the United States and its allies in 2003, the Mandaean community of Iraq, which used to number 60,000–70,000 persons, collapsed; most of the community relocated to nearby IranSyria and Jordan, or formed diaspora communities beyond the Middle East.[26] The other community of Iranian Mandaeans has also been dwindling as a result of religious persecution over those two decades.[15][27][28] By 2007, the population of Mandaeans in Iraq had fallen to approximately 5,000.[29]

There are estimated to be 60,000–100,000 Mandaeans worldwide.[11] About 10,000 Mandaeans live in Australia and there are between 10,000–20,000 in Sweden, making them the countries with the most Mandaeans.[5][7] There are about 2,500 Mandaeans in Jordan, the largest Mandaean community in the Middle East outside of Iraq and Iran.[18]

Etymology

The name "Mandaean" comes from the Mandaic word manda, meaning "knowledge".[30]

In Muslim countries, Mandaeans are sometimes also called Sabians (Arabicالصابئة al-Ṣābiʾa), a Quranic epithet historically claimed by several religious groups (see also below).[31] The etymology of the Arabic word Ṣābiʾ is disputed. According to one interpretation, it is the active participle of the Arabic root -b-ʾ ('to turn to'), meaning 'converts'.[32] Another widely cited hypothesis is that it is derived from an Aramaic root meaning 'to baptize'.[33]

History

Origin

According to a theory first proposed by Ignatius of Jesus in the 17th century, the Mandaeans originated in the Palestine region and later migrated east to the Mesopotamian marshlands.[34] This theory was gradually abandoned, but was revived in the early 20th century through the first translation of Mandaean texts, which Biblical scholars like Rudolf Bultmann believed capable of shedding new light on the development of early Christianity.[34] However, most New Testament scholars rejected the Palestinian origin thesis, which by World War II was again largely deserted by scholars.[34] It was revived in the 1960s by Rudolf Macúch, and despite the opposition of scholars like Edwin M. Yamauchi and many scholars from other fields (for the most part still Biblical scholars), it is now accepted by Mandaean scholars such as Jorunn J. Buckley and Şinasi Gündüz.[34] According to Macúch, the eastward migration from Palestine to southern Iraq took place in the first century CE, while other scholars such as Kurt Rudolph think it probably took place in the third century.[35]

There are also other theories. Kevin van Bladel has argued that the Mandaeans originated in Sasanian Mesopotamia in the fifth century CE.[36] According to Carlos Gelbert, Mandaeans formed a vibrant community in Edessa during the Late Antique period.[37] Brikha Nasoraia, a Mandaean priest and scholar, accepts a two-origin theory in which he considers the contemporary Mandaeans to have descended from both a line of Mandaeans who had originated from the Jordan valley of Palestine, as well as another group of Mandaeans (or Gnostics) who were indigenous to southern Mesopotamia. Thus, the historical merging of the two groups gave rise to the Mandaeans of today.[38]: 55 

There are several indications of the ultimate origin of the Mandaeans. Early religious concepts and terminologies recur in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Yardena (Jordan) has been the name of every baptismal water in Mandaeism.[39] One of the names for the Mandaean God Hayyi RabbiMara d-Rabuta (Lord of Greatness) is found in the Genesis Apocryphon (1Q20) II, 4.[40]: 552–553  They formally refer to themselves as Naṣuraiia (Classical Mandaicࡍࡀࡑࡅࡓࡀࡉࡉࡀlit.'Naṣoraeans') meaning guardians or possessors of secret rites and knowledge.[41][42] Another early self-appellation is bhiri zidqa meaning 'elect of righteousness' or 'the chosen righteous', a term found in the Book of Enoch and Genesis Apocryphon II, 4.[40]: 552–553 [41][43]: 18 [44] As Nasoraeans, Mandaeans believe that they constitute the true congregation of bnai nhura meaning 'Sons of Light', a term used by the Essenes.[45]: 50 [46] The beit manda (beth manda) is described as biniana rab ḏ-srara ("the Great building of Truth") and bit tuslima ("house of Perfection") in Mandaean texts such as the QolastaGinza Rabba, and the Mandaean Book of John. The only known literary parallels are in Essene texts from Qumran such as the Community Rule, which has similar phrases such as the "house of Perfection and Truth in Israel" (Community Rule 1QS VIII 9) and "house of Truth in Israel."[47]

The Mandaic language is a dialect of southeastern Aramaic with Jewish Palestinian AramaicSamaritan AramaicHebrewGreekLatin,[48][49] as well as Akkadian[50] and Parthian[51] influences and is closely related to Syriac and especially Jewish Babylonian Aramaic.[52] Mandaic is mainly preserved as a liturgical language.

A priest holds the title of Rabbi[53] and a place of worship is called a Mashkhanna.[54] According to Mandaean sources such as the Haran Gawaita, the Nasuraiia inhabited the areas around Jerusalem and the River Jordan in the 1st century CE.[25][42] There is archaeological evidence that attests to the Mandaean presence in pre-Islamic Iraq.[55][56] Scholars, including Kurt Rudolph, connect the early Mandaeans with the Jewish sect of the Nasoraeans. However, Mandaeans themselves believe that their religion predates Judaism.[56][25][57][58] According to Mandaean scripture, the Mandaeans descend directly from ShemNoah's son, in Mesopotamia[59]: 186  and also from John the Baptist's original Nasoraean Mandaean disciples in Jerusalem.[42]: vi, ix  According to the Mandaean Society in America, Mani (the founder of Manichaeism) was influenced by the Mandaeans, and a pre-Manichaean presence of the Mandaean religion is more than likely.[60]

Gerard Russell quotes Rishama Sattar Jabbar Hilo, "Ours is the oldest religion in the world. It dates back to Adam." Russell adds, "He [Rishama Sattar Jabbar Hilo] traced its history back to Babylon, though he said it might have some connection to the Jews of Jerusalem."[61] The Mandaean Synod of Australia lead by Rishama Salah Choheili states:

Mandaeans are followers of John the Baptist. Their ancestors fled from the Jordan Valley about 2000 years ago and ultimately settled along the lower reaches of the TigrisEuphrates and Karun Rivers in what is now Iraq and Iran. Baptism is the principal ceremony of the Mandaean religion and may only take place in a freshwater river.[62]

Parthian and Sasanian period

Kartir's inscription at Ka'ba-ye Zartosht claimed that he "struck down" the non-Zoroastrian minorities, such as the Mandaeans

A number of ancient Aramaic inscriptions dating back to the 2nd century CE were uncovered in Elymais. Although the letters appear quite similar to the Mandaean ones, it is impossible to know whether the inhabitants of Elymais were Mandaeans.[63]: 4  Rudolf Macúch believes Mandaean letters predate Elymaic ones.[63]: 4  Under Parthian and early Sasanian rule, foreign religions were tolerated and Mandaeans appear to have enjoyed royal protection.[63]: 4  The situation changed by the ascension of Bahram I in 273, who under the influence of the zealous Zoroastrian high priest Kartir persecuted all non-Zoroastrian religions. It is thought that this persecution encouraged the consolidation of Mandaean religious literature.[63]: 4  The persecutions instigated by Kartir seems to temporarily erase Mandaeans from recorded history. Their presence, however can still be found in Mandaean magical bowls and lead strips which were produced from the 3rd to the 7th centuries.[63]: 4 

Islamic period

The Mandaeans re-emerged at the beginning of the Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia in c. 640, when their leader, Anush Bar-Danqa, is said to have appeared before the Muslim authorities, showing them a copy of the Ginza Rabba, the Mandaean holy book, and proclaiming the chief Mandaean prophet to be John the Baptist, who is also mentioned in the Quran by the name Yahya ibn Zakariya. Consequently, the Muslim caliph provided them acknowledgement as People of the Book (ahl al-kitāb, people who followed a legal minority religion).[63]: 5  However, this account is likely apocryphal: since it mentions that Anush Bar Danqa traveled to Baghdad, it must have occurred after the founding of Baghdad in 762, if it took place at all.[64]

Mandaeans appeared to have flourished during the early Islamic period, as attested by the voluminous expansion of Mandaic literature and canons. Tib near Wasit is particularly noted as an important scribal center.[63]: 5  Yaqut al-Hamawi describes Tib as a town inhabited by 'Nabatean' (i.e. Aramaic speaking) 'Sabians' (see below) who consider themselves to be descendants of Seth.[63]: 5 

The status of the Mandaeans was questioned by the Abbasid caliph al-Qahir Billah (899–950 CE), even though they had received recognition as People of the Book. To avoid further investigation by the authorities, the Mandaeans paid a bribe of 50,000 dinars and were left alone. It appeared that the Mandaeans were even exempt from paying the Jizya, otherwise imposed upon non-Muslims.[63]: 5 

It has been suggested by some scholars that Harranian intellectuals who worked at the Abbasid court such as Thābit ibn Qurra may have been Mandaeans,[65] though most scholars believe they were adherents of the pagan astral religion of Harran.[66]

Early modern period

Early contact with Europeans came about in the mid-16th century, when Portuguese missionaries encountered Mandaeans in Southern Iraq and controversially designated them "Christians of St. John". In the next centuries Europeans became more acquainted with the Mandaeans and their religion.[63]: 5 

The Mandaeans suffered persecution under the Qajar rule in the 1780s. The dwindling community was threatened with complete annihilation, when a cholera epidemic broke out in Shushtar and half of its inhabitants died. The entire Mandaean priesthood perished and Mandaeism was restored due to the efforts of few learned men such as Yahya Bihram.[63]: 6  Another danger threatened the community in 1870, when the local governor of Shushtar massacred the Mandaeans against the will of the Shah.[63]: 6 

Modern Iraq and Iran

Mandaean silversmith at work in Baghdad, Iraq, 1932

Following the First World War, the Mandaeans were still largely living in rural areas in the lower parts of British protected Iraq and Iran. Owing to the rise of Arab nationalism, Iraqi Mandaeans were Arabised at an accelerated rate, especially during the 1950s and '60s. The Mandaeans were also forced to abandon their stands on the cutting of hair and forced military service, which are strictly prohibited in Mandaeaism.[67]

The 2003 Iraq War brought more troubles to the Mandaeans, as the security situation deteriorated. Many members of the Mandaean community, who were known as goldsmiths, were targeted by criminal gangs for ransoms. The rise of Islamic extremism forced thousands to flee the country, after they were given the choice of conversion or death.[68] It is estimated that around 90% of Iraqi Mandaeans were either killed or have fled after the U.S. led invasion.[68]

The Mandaeans of Iran lived chiefly in AhvazIranian Khuzestan, but have moved as a result of the Iran–Iraq War to other cities such as TehranKaraj and Shiraz. The Mandaeans, who were traditionally considered as People of the Book (members of a protected religion under Islamic rule), lost this status after the Iranian Revolution. However, despite this, Iranian Mandaeans still maintain successful businesses and factories in areas such as Ahwaz. In April 1996, the cause of the Mandaeans' religious status in the Islamic Republic was raised. The parliament came to the conclusion that Mandaeans were included in the protected status of People of the Book alongside Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians and specified that, from a legal viewpoint, there is no prohibition against Muslims associating with Mandaeans, whom the parliament identified as being the Sabians mentioned explicitly in the Quran. That same year, Ayatollah Sajjadi of Al-Zahra University in Qom posed three questions regarding the Mandaeans' beliefs and seemed satisfied with the answers. These rulings, however did not lead to Mandaeans regaining their more officially recognized status as People of the Book.[69] In 2009, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a fatwā recognizing the Mandaeans as the People of the Book (ahl-il-kitāb).[70]



MORE OF THE WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE MAY BE FOUND HERE
as it is quite extensive re Iraq, Iran, etc



* * * * * * *




THE MANDAEANS: THE LEGITIMATE
HEIRS OF THE CHALDEAN HERITAGE

In 2002, author and historian Fred Aprim published his research article titled The Mandaeans: True Descendants of Ancient Babylonians and Chaldeans. In his article, Aprim noted that the Mandaeans (also commonly known as Sabeans) had always flourished in southern Mesopotamia, near the tip of the Persian Gulf, that is the historic homeland of the ancient Chaldeans. Aprim observed that this community helda special interest in the study of astronomy and mathematics just like their forefathers”. Furthermore, the religion of the Mandaeans, according to Aprim, has also preserved significant elements of ancient Chaldean religion. In fact, one of the most sacred rituals practiced by this community was that of Mandaean new-borns being given an “astrological name” or “name of the sign of the Zodiac”. Furthermore, the language spoken by the Mandaeans, commonly known as Mandaic today, also features significant similarities to Babylonian Aramaic. Significantly, the name “Mandaean” itself is derived from the ancient Babylonian term mandētu meaning “the knowers” or “the knowledgeable”.

In his article, Aprim noted that the Italian explorer Gerolamo Vecchietti who travelled to southern Mesopotamia in 1604 observed that the Mandaeans originally referred to their mother language as the “Chaldean language”. Having spent a considerable amount of time studying this native community, Vecchietti concluded that the Mandaeans were in fact the true descendants of the ancient Chaldeans. However, about a century and a half before Vecchietti arrived in southern Mesopotamia, a small community of Christians adhering to the so-called “Nestorian Church” (more accurately; the Church of the East) in the island of Cyprus were also identified as “Chaldean”. According to Aprim, this particular community only began identifying with this historic name in 1445 following their conversion from the Church of the East tradition to Catholicism. It was at the instigation of Pope Eugene IV that this community came to be designated with the name “Chaldean” so as to distinguish them from those members of their mother church who were pejoratively known as “Nestorians”.

During the period in which Aprim’s article was published, the modern-day Chaldean Catholic community witnessed a rise in nationalism due to the adoption of this historic name. The notion of a Chaldean national identity gained great momentum, particularly among clerical circles. The desire to propagate this identity was further reinforced with the introduction of the Chaldean national flag, Chaldean calendar, and the introduction of the Chaldean Babylonian New Year. Various figures, particularly those in the United States spearheaded these efforts with the desire of having the name “Chaldean” recognised in the Iraqi constitution as a separate ethnic or national group. Despite all these efforts, there existed one problem— the alleged relationship between the ancient Chaldeans and the modern-day “Chaldeans” was weak and lacked any sound historical basis. In recent years, this so-called connection has come into question and so therefore Aprim’s article has been re-visited for consideration.

However, one question begs, does Aprim’s research hold any historical basis?

The proposed relationship between the Mandaeans and the ancient Chaldeans is not a modern observation, and neither was Vecchietti the first to draw this connection. In fact, this observation was widely documented as early as the eighth-century CE and is attested in various Arabic and Syriac literary evidence. For instance, Qatāda ibn Diʾāma (Basra, ca. 736 CE), an early Islamic commentator, just like Vecchietti, also drew the connection between the Mandaeans and the ancient Chaldeans. Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī (ca. 780-850 CE) noted that the Chaldeans of his time were “worshippers of idols” and that this community was also “called Sabeans”, another name for the Mandaeans. According to the Arab historian al-Nadīm (Baghdad, ca. 990 CE), the Chaldeans were not considered to be members of the three principle Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) and so this ancient community was forced to renounce their Chaldean identity during the caliphate of el-Maʾmūn (ca. 786-833 CE) and came to adopt the nomenclature “Sabean” as a self-designation. In his Nukhbat al-dahr, al-Dimashqī (ca. 1200-1300) noted that the Chaldeans were known as “Kāldan, Kasdān, Janbān, Jarāmiqa, Kūthārūn, and Kanʿānūn; these were Nabataeans; who constructed buildings, founded cities, dug canals, planted trees... They were all Sabeans who worshipped stars and idols.” It must be stressed that, early Islamic writers (see. al-Masʿūdī) geographically positioned this Chaldean community in southern Mesopotamia, precisely in Wāsiṭ and Basra where the Mandaeans form a significant community today. It is for this reason that, Prof. Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila of the University of Edinburgh asserted that “one might tentatively identify these [Chaldeans] as the ancestors of modern Mandaeans”.

It is worth noting that, Syriac literary evidence is in complete agreeance with the Arabic. According to the Syriac-Christian tradition, the name Chaldean held too strong pagan connotations. In fact, the name was highly repudiated by early church fathers. For instance, according to the Doctrine of Mār Addai the Apostle (ca. 300-400 CE), Christians were encouraged to avoid associating with the “deluded Chaldeans” as they practiced astrolatry, that is the worship of the stars. Any form of association with the Chaldeans was viewed as a threat to the authority of the early church. These implications are echoed in Aphrahat's Demonstrations (ca. 270-350 CE) and the Teaching of the Apostles (ca. 900-1000). According to the latter:
“Whosoever resorts to magicians and soothsayers and Chaldeans, and puts confidence in fates and nativities, which they hold fast who know not God,— let him also, as a man that knows not God, be dismissed from the ministry, and not minister again”.
In his Book of Scholia, Theodore bar Kōnī, a ninth-century Nestorian monk and scholar from central Mesopotamia composed anti-heretical commentary against the Chaldeans and associated them with the Mandaeans. Similarly, in his Catalogue, Mār ʿAbdishōʿ Bar Berīkā (ca. 1250-1318) informs us that “Daniel of Resh ʿAïnā wrote poems against Marcionites, Manichees, heretics, and Chaldeans,” and “Bar Dkōsin wrote two volumes against the Chaldeans, and another against Porphyry the heretic”. According to Prof. Sebastian P. Brock of the University of Oxford, a leading scholar in Syriac Studies, noted that “indeed one can observe an active dissociation in that the term 'Chaldean' normally designates a pagan astrologer.” For George Percy Badger (1852: 178-179): Whenever the term “Chaldean” occurs in the Nestorian rituals, “it is not used to designate a Christian community, but the ancient sect, who have been called also Sabeans”.

Why were converts from the Church of the East called “Chaldeans”?

Traditionally, the spiritual leader of the Church of the East held his office in Seleucia-Ctesiphon (central Mesopotamia) and held the title “Catholicos-Patriarch of the East” or “of Seleucia-Ctesiphon”. However, this geographical location was referred to as “Babylon” by early Latin authors. Given that the biblical city of Babylon is strongly associated with the biblical Chaldeans (see. Ezekiel 12:13)— the expression “Chaldean” was wrongfully applied to the entire eastern Christian population throughout Mesopotamia. Furthermore, the liturgical language (Classical Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic) used by this Christian community was erroneously referred to as “Chaldaic” and its speakers linguistically as “Chaldean”. It is worth noting that, although the name Chaldean was exclusively used only by Latin authors since the time of Jerome— references to the Chaldeans do not appear in any of the earlier synodical canons of the Church of the East, nor do they appear in any of the ecclesiastical correspondences extant. There exists no reference to a Catholicos-Patriarch or Metropolitan Bishop “of the Chaldeans” nor a diocese called “Chaldea” in Syriac sources. This suggests that the name held little to no significance among the Christian community, particularly among those in Assyria and northern Mesopotamia.

What other historical evidence supports the Mandaean-Chaldean connection?

In addition to the Arabic and Syriac historical sources presented in this article, there also exists Hebrew and Baháʼí literary evidence that corroborates the relationship between the Mandaeans and the ancient Chaldeans. Hebrew references can be drawn from the works of Maimonides (ca. 1138-1204), a leading medieval Jewish philosopher and codifier of Jewish law. His views and writings hold a prominent place in Jewish intellectual history and thought. In his book titled Guide of the Perplexed, the terms Chaldean and Sabean (Mandaean) “are only different names successively given to the same people. In the time of the Bible, they were called Kasdim; in the age of the Talmud they were the Chaldeans, and later they received the name of the Sabeans”. In chapter 29, Maimonides goes on to explain that “it is well known that the Patriarch Abraham was brought up in the religion and the opinion of the Sabeans, that there is no divine being except the stars”. This connection was also supported by Shoghí Rabbání, the spiritual head of the Baháʼí Faith between 1921-1957. In a letter dated to 1939, Rabbání noted that “As to the religion of the Sabeans, very little is known about the origins of this religion, though we Baháʼís are certain of one thing that the founder of it has been a Divinely-sent Messenger. The country where Sabeanism became widespread and flourished was Chaldea, and Abraham is considered as having been a follower of that Faith.”

The modern-day Chaldean Catholic Church:

Today, the Chaldean Catholic Church is considered to be the largest Christian church in the Republic of Iraq and maintains full communion with the Holy See. The spiritual leader of this Eastern Catholic particular church is the “Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans” who holds his office in the city of Baghdad. The origin of this church dates the sixteenth-century schism within the Church of the East where several bishops in Assyria found themselves in conflict with their Catholicos-Patriarch. Although efforts at union with Rome are attested as early as 1445 in the island of Cyprus where a small portion of this community was for the first time referred to as “Chaldeans”, it wasn’t until 1553 that this union was formalised. Up until the nineteenth-century, this schism was highly conflictual as some parishioners of the Church of the East preferred communion with Rome. It should be noted that, the first patriarchs of this Catholic off-shoot of the Church of the East sealed the union with Rome as Patriarchs “of the Assyrians”, a title that was later changed to that “of Babylon” and “of the Chaldeans” to be in parallel with the title given to the community in Cyprus.

Although this community eventually came to adopt the nomenclature “Chaldean” as a self-designation, the Catholic Encyclopedia (1907: 559) maintains that “the name of Chaldeans is no longer correct”. In fact, according to the Vatican’s Sacred Congregation of Oriental Churches, the name Chaldean in the modern sense of the word is of “western-origin” and the community styling itself as “Chaldean Catholics” are in fact descendants of the ancient Assyrians. It was for this reason that, the famed linguist Justin Perkins in 1841 noted that “The title, Chaldeans, was given to these Papists by the Pope, on their embracing the Catholic system”. It is also worth noting that, by the early twentieth-century, this community had identified strictly as Assyrians or Assyrian-Chaldeans. According to a document dated 1917, the Chaldeans were considered to be “a Christian race who claim to be descended from the old Assyrian stock”.

The Church of the East survives today in various branches, namely the Assyrian Church of the East, the Ancient Church of the East, and the Chaldean Catholic Church. Regrettably, the latter has only in recent years opted to propagate the name “Chaldean” as an ethnic or national identity among its parishioners. This recent movement has perpetuated a great deal of confusion among its community and has threatened their rich Assyrian heritage. As demonstrated, the alleged ethnic identity with the ancient Chaldeans is in fact a recent creation and lacks any sound historical basis. In his conclusionary remarks, Aprim suggested that the appropriation of the name Chaldean consequently “denied the small community of the Mandaeans their legitimate descent”. Aprim also rightly pointed out; “the two most unfortunate victims” were the Assyrians and the Mandaeans.


Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Seeing God in the Color of Blue



Seeing God in the
Color of Blue


I was lost, but now am found
Blind, but now I see
Deaf, without hearing
Dumb, without a voice.

A binary, seeking wholeness
A functionary, unfeeling, unmoved
Unloved, yet learning love
Hopeless, when led untrue.

Stuck, but am rescued
Judged, along paths of doubt
Broken, while deeply healing
Of a past, no longer present.

My song breaks forth
Into shouting, singing
Of innumerable possibilities
Across the broken bowl.

Seamed, and stitched
And healing
Rent, my conflicts
Spent, all ills.

Now this I know, God is Love
Is Love, Is Love, Is Love.
No truth so dear,
No truth so hidden,
When Jesus told God's story
Truer than God's stories past.

R.E. Slater
August 23, 2022



First, My Complaint

Part of Process Philosophy's lack of popularity I blame directly on the process community itself. Whenever it produces "academic-level" books of scholarly value it has lately priced itself beyond the means of the common public. A public which might read more of the process community's thoughts should that knowledge be made much more affordable.

And if so, then we might see many more redactive forms of editing which might make the area of process metaphysics and ethics more understandable and relatable using the parlance of the public. This, of course, would require people like myself, who share an interest in process philosophy and theology, might then be enabled to read this information to then reset it into the vernacular terms of  the reading public in every way imaginable. Whether topical, ethical, morally, politically, ecologically. Or in children's storybooks, elementary and middle school tales of fiction or fact, and for the high school and college reader as premiers, treatises, mythological tales, sci-fi adventures, class struggles, sporting venues, etc.

Simply said, process as a lot to offer and the newer works of scholarship on process studies need to be priced not for academia but for the buying public.

Re-Constituting Narrative Can Become Redemptive

However, not all is lost. Once I had understood the substance and import of a process view of life I now see it everywhere in all the little and large pieces of story and biography, fiction and newspaper, TV and film. Why? Because process is how the world - ahem, the universe - operates. From the small to the large, from the social to the organizational. Process is everywhere about us like the air we breathe into our lungs.

Through the centuries we fail to see it because we are not looking for it. For example, I read somewhere that, as incredible as this sounds, people did not see the color blue. I know. It's hard to imagine because we now see it everywhere including its many hues and variants.

Or, that the lore of the aboriginal speaking to the connectedness of life lay everywhere around us. However, as ignorants we considered the aboriginal cultures as savaged and without value. So we isolated them, killed them, and promptly lost important truths of their cultures which would've added value to any culture, faith, or belief. I think specifically of how human civilization has broken the balances within the Earth and how it is now responding in horrendous climate changes all around the planet.

Need another example of process reality? Just look at the stars themselves which seem so far away from us in the night sky but which have provided across the universe stellar factories of life from their basic ingredients. Not only is humanity made of stardust but so is all of creation. Process says all things are relational, and that all relational things can, and will, impact all things around it. We not only like in a cycle of life, but a cycle which responds to a changing environment adapting itself to the conditions around it.

I imagine that someday, when quantum computers can become self-aware, self-organizing, and self-healing, that they will cross over the boundary of functionaries to imaginaries. That is, the will show curiosity; be able to speculate; choose actions of relational wholeness or brokenness, and exhibit every kind of conscious and spiritual function as we do presently. My hope is... for the better, and not the worse. But with indeterminate freewill also comes the ability to harm the whole as well as to heal the whole.

Behold, The Old is Becoming New

This is process philosophy and theology. But it's more than that. Much more than that. As a metaphysic it informs us of our Creator God, ourselves, nature, and the inter/intra-personal/social relationships lying everywhere around us. When I read of a Platonic-based Westernized form of Semitic Christianity (that is, the gospels of Jesus couched in Judaic-Hellenism) I realize that to read the bible of God back then is not to see the God of the bible now, today, as a more organic, living life-force which is relational, creative, healing, redemptive, loving, and generative. All present Judaic-Christian stories of God back then, as well as through the history of the church, as spoken to a God of wrath, Who judges, condemns, and sends people to hell.

Process Theology, based upon Process Philosophy, approaches the story of God differently. It speaks to a God who is Love, Life, Possibility, and Becoming. That God is not a static relationship but a responding relationship to the present conditions of an evolutionary creation. A static, one-dimensional God who is far-away (transcendent) is not the same as an evolving, many-dimensional God who is immanently near to the very heartbeat of creation. The Psalms of the bible speak to this kind of God but the Hebrew traditions of God failed to grasp the "color of blue" which the writer was ascribing to God.

Again, the narrative of process is sublimely profound and lies everywhere about us. Yet we fail to see it because we have been raised in life to see other things. Necessary things. Perhaps helpful things. But they are pieces of a much larger puzzle. A puzzle a process theology intends to recompose that we might begin to see a processual spiritual universe in even grander ways than we can now imagine. Process then is all about curiosity, creativity, speculation, and coloring outside the lines. Some of those lines keep us within the church's creeds and dogma. For myself, I used those boundaries as guides, began to erase those lines, and am now rewriting the bible as a process narrative of successes and failures in seeing the process Creatorship of our Redeeming God.

Blessings,

R.E. Slater
August 23, 2022


PS - The topical index contains a series of marked "INDEXES - Process..." To save time, use these indexes, google search, the search bar here, and the topics listed to rummage through what I feel are the more helpful studies of process philosophy and theology. The books below are but a few of many more process titles and authorships. If they are listed here on this website they are the ones which should be read as I relate my post-evangelical Jesus faith to the world of Arminianism, Open & Relational (Process) Theology, and to Process Theology itself. This journey has taken ten years to get to this point. Hopefully, what is shared within will help many readers to a quicker vision of the God of the bible than of the God who was hidden from my view in important, non-limiting ways than how I had first learned of my faith in Jesus.

- re slater


PSS - I began my readings at the source. Whitehead, John Cobb, etc. Andrew Davis is the latest generation of authors. Hence, Whiteheadian thought may drift from its source or expand brilliantly as it is into its fourth generation of process thinkers. Hence, I will share my readings across both the early realms of process thinking as well as the new realms as I can. The lists below might be grouped as circa 2010-2016 (Studies in Whitehead) and 2019-the present (Davis)
 

* * * * * *


TITLES BY ANDREW M. DAVIS


$8.49

How I Found God in Everyone and Everywhere captures for a general audience the spiritual shift away from a God “up there” and “out there” and towards an immanent divine right here. It’s built around the personal journeys of a close-knit group of prominent contributors. Their spiritual visions of immanence, sometimes called “panentheism,” are serving as a path of spiritual return for a growing number of seekers today. Contributors include Deepak Chopra, Richard Rohr, Rupert Sheldrake, Matthew Fox, and Cynthia Bourgeault.

$38.00

Mind, Value, and Cosmos: On the Relational Nature of Ultimacy is an investigation into the nature of ultimacy and explanation, particularly as it relates to the status of, and relationship among Mind, Value, and the Cosmos. It draws its stimulus from longstanding “axianoetic” convictions as to the ultimate status of Mind and Value in the western tradition of philosophical theology, and chiefly from the influential modern proposals of A.N. Whitehead, Keith Ward, and John Leslie. What emerges is a relational theory of ultimacy wherein Mind and Value, Possibility and Actuality, God and the World are revealed as “ultimate” only in virtue of their relationality. The ultimacy of relationality—what Whitehead calls “mutual immanence”—uniquely illuminates enduring mysteries surrounding: any and all existence, necessary divine existence, the nature of the possible, and the world as actual. As such, it casts fresh light upon the whence and why of God, the World, and their ultimate presuppositions.

Propositions in the Making: Experiments in a Whiteheadian Laboratory (Contemporary Whitehead Studies) Nov 13, 2019
by Roland Faber, Michael Halewood, Andrew M. Davis, James Burton, Brianne Donaldson, Diego Gil, Susanne Valerie Granzer, Matthew Goulish, Erin Manning, Brian Massumi, Andrew Murphie, Timothy Murphy, AJ Nocek
$90.48

How do we make ourselves a Whiteheadian proposition? This question exposes the multivalent connections between postmodern thought and Whitehead’s philosophy, with particular attention to his understanding of propositions.

Edited by Roland Faber, Michael Halewood, and Andrew M. Davis, Propositions in the Making articulates the newest reaches of Whiteheadian propositions for a postmodern world. It does so by activating interdisciplinary lures of feeling, living, and co-creating the world anew. Rather than a “logical assertion,” Whitehead described a proposition as a “lure for feeling” for a collectivity to come. It cannot be reduced to the verbal content of logical justifications, but rather the feeling content of aesthetic valuations. In creatively expressing these propositions in wide relevance to existential, ethical, educational, theological, aesthetic, technological, and societal concerns, the contributors to this volume enact nothing short of “a Whiteheadian Laboratory.”

Process Cosmology: New Integrations in Science and Philosophy (Palgrave Perspectives on Process Philosophy) Dec 13, 2021
by Andrew M. Davis, Maria-Teresa Teixeira, Wm. Andrew Schwartz
$100.87

This book newly articulates the international and interdisciplinary reach of Whitehead’s organic process cosmology for a variety of topics across science and philosophy, and in dialogue with a variety historical and contemporary voices. Integrating Whitehead’s thought with the insights of Bergson, James, Pierce, Merleau-Ponty, Descola, Fuchs, Hofmann, Grof and many others, contributors from around the world reveal the relevance of process philosophy to physics, cosmology, astrobiology, ecology, metaphysics, aesthetics, psychedelics, and religion. A global collection, this book expresses multivocal possibilities for the development of process cosmology after Whitehead.

Nature in Process: Organic Proposals in Philosophy, Society, and Religion Feb 28, 2022
by Andrew M. Davis, Maria-Teresa Teixeira, Wm. Andrew Schwartz
Paperback
$24.00
More Buying Choices
$23.80 (10 Used & New offers)





by Roland Faber, Andrew M Davis
Hardcover - $62.00
More Buying Choices - $50.86 (10 Used & New offers)
Paperback - $34.92
More Buying Choices - $26.69 (19 Used & New offers)






* * * * * *


TITLES IN CONTEMPORARY WHITEHEAD STUDIES



Butler on Whitehead: On the Occasion (Contemporary Whitehead Studies) (March 22, 2012)
Kindle - $91.20
Hardcover - $103.40

This volume is based on the first set of formal conversations which brings together the dynamic philosophies of two eminent thinkers: Judith Butler and Alfred North Whitehead. Each has drawn from a wide palette of disciplines to develop distinctive theories of becoming, of syntactical violence, and creative opportunities of limitation. In bringing together internationally renowned interpreters of Butler and Whitehead from a variety of fields and disciplines—philosophy, rhetoric, gender and queer studies, religion, literary and political theory—the editors hope to set a standard for the relevance of interdisciplinary philosophical discourse today. This volume offers a unique contribution to and for the humanities in the struggles of politics, economy, ecology, and the arts, by reaching beyond their closed circles toward understandings that may serve as the basis for the activation of humanity today. Considered together, Butler and Whitehead delineate a whole new cadre of approaches to long-standing problems as well as never-before asked questions in the humanities.


Foundations of Relational Realism: A Topological Approach to Quantum Mechanics and the Philosophy of Nature (Contemporary Whitehead Studies) (June 20, 2013)
by Michael Epperson (Author) , Elias Zafiris (Author)
Kindle - $42.00
Hardcover - $117.74
Paperback - $56.75

If there is a central conceptual framework that has reliably borne the weight of modern physics as it ascends into the 21st century, it is the framework of quantum mechanics. Because of its enduring stability in experimental application, physics has today reached heights that not only inspire wonder, but arguably exceed the limits of intuitive vision, if not intuitive comprehension. For many physicists and philosophers, however, the currently fashionable tendency toward exotic interpretation of the theoretical formalism is recognized not as a mark of ascent for the tower of physics, but rather an indicator of sway--one that must be dampened rather than encouraged if practical progress is to continue.

In this unique two-part volume, designed to be comprehensible to both specialists and non-specialists, the authors chart out a pathway forward by identifying the central deficiency in most interpretations of quantum mechanics, and indeed, in modern philosophy more generally: That in the conventional, metrical depiction of extension, inherited from the Enlightenment, objects are characterized as fundamental to relations--i.e., such that relations presuppose objects but objects do not presuppose relations. The authors, by contrast, argue that in quantum mechanics physical extensiveness fundamentally entails not only relations of objects, but also relations of relations. In this way, quantum mechanics exemplifies a concept of extensive connection that it is fundamentally topological rather than metrical, and thus requires a logico-mathematical framework grounded in category theory rather than set theory.

By this thesis, the fundamental quanta of quantum physics are properly defined as units of logico-physical relation rather than merely units of physical relata as is the current convention. Objects are always understood as relata, and likewise relations are always understood objectively. Objects and relations are thus coherently defined as mutually implicative. The conventional notion of a history as 'a story about fundamental objects' is thereby reversed, such that the classical 'objects' become the story by which we understand physical systems that are fundamentally histories of quantum events.

These are just a few of the novel critical claims explored in this volume--claims whose exemplification in quantum mechanics will, the authors argue, serve more broadly as foundational principles for the philosophy of nature as it evolves through the 21st century and beyond.

The Divine Manifold (Contemporary Whitehead Studies) (July 30, 2014)
by Roland Faber (Author)
Kindle - $151.11
Hardcover - $141.64

The Divine Manifold is a postmodern enquiry in intersecting themes of the concept and reality of multiplicity in a chaosmos that does not refuse a dimension of theopoetics, but rather defines it in terms of divine polyphilia, the love of multiplicity. In an intricate play on Dante’s Divine Comedy, this book engages questions of religion and philosophy through the aporetic dynamics of love and power, locating its discussions in the midst of, and in between the spheres of a genuine philosophy of multiplicity. This philosophy originates from the poststructuralist approach of Gilles Deleuze and the process philosophical inspirations of Alfred N. Whitehead. As their chaosmos invites questions of ultimate reality, religious pluralism and multireligious engagement, a theopoetics of love will find paradoxical dissociations and harmonizations with postmodern sensitivities of language, power, knowledge and embodiment. At the intersection of poststructuralism’s and process theology’s insights in the liberating necessity of multiplicity for a postmodern cosmology, the book realizes its central claim. If there is a divine dimension of the chaosmos, it will not be found in any identification with mundane forces or supernatural powers, but on the contrary in the absolute difference of polyphilic love from creativity. Yet, the concurrent indifference of love and power—its mystical undecidability in terms of any conceptualization—will lead into existential questions of the insistence on multiplicity in a world of infinite becoming as inescapable background for its importance and creativeness, formulating an ecological and ethical impulse for a mystagogy of becoming intermezzo.
Kindle - $91.75
Hardcover - $96.58

Despite there being deep lines of convergence between the philosophies of Alfred North Whitehead, C. S. Peirce, William James, John Dewey, and other classical American philosophers, it remains an open question whether Whitehead is a pragmatist, and conversation between pragmatists and Whitehead scholars have been limited. Indeed, it is difficult to find an anthology of classical American philosophy that includes Whitehead’s writings. These camps began separately, and so they remain. This volume questions the wisdom of that separation, exploring their connections, both historical and in application. The essays in this volume embody original and creative work by leading scholars that not only furthers the understanding of American philosophy, but seeks to advance it by working at the intersection of experience and reality to incite novel and creative thought. This exploration is long overdue. Specific questions that are addressed are: Is Whitehead a pragmatist? What contrasts and affinities exist between American pragmatism and Whitehead’s thought? What new questions, strategies, and critiques emerge by juxtaposing their distinct perspectives?

Kindle - $85.78
Hardcover - $78.28

Metaphysics—or the grand narratives about reality that shape a community—has historically been identified as one of the primary oppressive factors in violence against animals, the environment, and other subordinated populations. Yet, this rejection of metaphysics has allowed inadequate worldviews to be smuggled back into secular rights-based systems, and into politics, language, arts, economics, media, and science under the guise of value-free and narrowly human-centric facts that relegate many populations to the margins and exclude them from consideration as active members of the planetary community. Those concerned with systemic violence against creatures and other oppressed populations must overcome this allergy to metaphysics in order to illuminate latent assumptions at work in their own worldviews, and to seek out dynamic, many-sided, and relational narratives about reality that are more adequate to a universe of responsive and creative world-shaping creatures. This text examines two such worldviews—Whitehead’s process-relational thought in the west and the nonviolent Indian tradition of Jainism—alongside theorists such as Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Judith Butler, Donna Haraway, Karen Barad, that offer a new perspective on metaphysics as well as the creaturely kin and planetary fellows with whom we co-shape our future.

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The present volume endeavors to make a contribution to contemporary Whitehead studies by clarifying his axiological process metaphysics, including his theory of values, concept of aesthetic experience, and doctrine of beauty, along with his philosophy of art, literature and poetry. Moreover, it establishes an east-west dialogue focusing on how Alfred North Whitehead’s process aesthetics can be clarified by the traditional Japanese Buddhist sense of evanescent beauty. As this east-west dialogue unfolds it is shown that there are many striking points of convergence between Whitehead’s process aesthetics and the traditional Japanese sense of beauty. However, the work especially focuses on two of Whitehead’s aesthetic categories, including the penumbral beauty of darkness and the tragic beauty of perishability, while further demonstrating parallels with the two Japanese aesthetic categories of yûgen and aware. It is clarified how both Whitehead and the Japanese tradition have articulated a poetics of evanescence that celebrates the transience of aesthetic experience and the ephemerality of beauty. Finally it is argued that both Whitehead and Japanese tradition develop an aesthetics of beauty as perishability culminating in a religio-aesthetic vision of tragic beauty and its reconciliation in the supreme ecstasy of peace or nirvana.

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As with any rich philosophical tradition in a period of intensive growth, process philosophy may seem confusing to the uninitiated, or even to the initiated. There is simply so much going on that one may, so to speak, lose the forest for the trees. The purpose of this book is to organize and arrange selected examples of contemporary work in process philosophy, with opening commentaries by leading Whiteheadian scholars, to give the reader a taste of the global vision of process currently expressed within this field of philosophy.

This book is split into two parts: the first discussing the historical roots of and future perspectives for basic concepts of process thinking, and the second presenting original contemporary work in extending and re-interpreting the basic metaphysical structure of process.

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This book examines how the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead, a speculative philosopher from the first half of the twentieth century, converses and entangles itself with continental philosophers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries around the question of a sustainable civilization in the present. Chapters are focused around economic and environmental sustainability, questions of how technology and systems relate to this sustainability, relationships between human and nonhuman entities, relationships among humans, and how larger philosophical questions lead one to think differently about what the terms sustainable and civilization mean. The book aims to uncover and explore ways in which the combination of these philosophies might provide the “dislocations” within thought that lead to novel ways of being and acting in the world.

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How do we make ourselves a Whiteheadian proposition? This question exposes the multivalent connections between postmodern thought and Whitehead’s philosophy, with particular attention to his understanding of propositions.

Edited by Roland Faber, Michael Halewood, and Andrew M. Davis, Propositions in the Making articulates the newest reaches of Whiteheadian propositions for a postmodern world. It does so by activating interdisciplinary lures of feeling, living, and co-creating the world anew. Rather than a “logical assertion,” Whitehead described a proposition as a “lure for feeling” for a collectivity to come. It cannot be reduced to the verbal content of logical justifications, but rather the feeling content of aesthetic valuations. In creatively expressing these propositions in wide relevance to existential, ethical, educational, theological, aesthetic, technological, and societal concerns, the contributors to this volume enact nothing short of “a Whiteheadian Laboratory.”

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In Whitehead's Radically Temporalist Metaphysics: Recovering the Seriousness of Time, George Allan argues that Whitehead’s introduction of God into his process metaphysics renders his metaphysics incoherent. This notion of God, who is the reason for both stability and progressive change in the world and who is both the infinite source of novel possibilities and the everlasting repository for the finite values, inserts into a reality that is supposedly composed solely of finite entities an entity both infinite and everlasting. By eliminating this notion of God, Allan draws on the temporalist foundation of Whitehead’s views to recover a metaphysics that takes time seriously. By turning to Whitehead’s later writings, Allan shows how this interpretation is developed into an expanded version of the radically temporalist hypothesis, emphasizing the power of finite entities, individually and collectively, to create, sustain, and enhance the dynamic world of which we are a creative part.

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Mind, Value, and Cosmos: On the Relational Nature of Ultimacy is an investigation into the nature of ultimacy and explanation, particularly as it relates to the status of, and relationship among Mind, Value, and the Cosmos. It draws its stimulus from longstanding “axianoetic” convictions as to the ultimate status of Mind and Value in the western tradition of philosophical theology, and chiefly from the influential modern proposals of A.N. Whitehead, Keith Ward, and John Leslie. What emerges is a relational theory of ultimacy wherein Mind and Value, Possibility and Actuality, God and the World are revealed as “ultimate” only in virtue of their relationality. The ultimacy of relationality—what Whitehead calls “mutual immanence”—uniquely illuminates enduring mysteries surrounding: any and all existence, necessary divine existence, the nature of the possible, and the world as actual. As such, it casts fresh light upon the whence and why of God, the World, and their ultimate presuppositions.

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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. Further, Eastman leverages a century of advances in quantum physics and the Relational Realism interpretation pioneered by Michael Epperson and Elias Zafiris and augmented by the independent research of Ruth Kastner and Hans Primas to resolve long-standing issues in understanding quantum physics. Adding to this, Eastman makes use of advances in information and complex systems, semiotics, and process philosophy to show how multiple levels of context, combined with relations—including potential relations—both local and local-global, can provide a grounding for causation, emergence, and physical law. Finally, the Logoi framework goes 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, which is urgently needed in these times of human and environmental crises.

What Is Process Thought?: Seven Answers to Seven Questions Paperback – January 28, 2021
by Jay McDaniel (Author)

Science and everyday experience increasingly demonstrate that ours is a dynamic, interconnected, relational universe. It was the great insight of Alfred North Whitehead that we need a philosophy to match this understanding. That he succeeded in this is hampered by the complexity of his ideas and the words he used to describe it. In What Is Process Thought, Jay McDaniel easily overcomes this difficulty. Using metaphor, imagery, and examples from everyday life, McDaniel brings the “aha” experience of understanding to readers, whether process thought is new to them or already familiar. Old-order thinking has brought us to the precarity of geopolitical crises and climate change. If we are to survive, we must make the shift from substance-mechanistic thinking to process-relational thinking. This little book is a gateway to that great and necessary shift.