Conversations in Process – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode of Conversations in Process, Jay interviews renowned podcaster and process theologian Tripp Fuller, digging into the more personal side of his faith and theology. Tripp is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Theology & Science at the University of Edinburgh. He received his PhD in Philosophy, Religion, and Theology at Claremont Graduate University. For over 13 years Tripp has been doing the Homebrewed Christianity podcast where he interviews different scholars about their work. In 2020 he published Divine Self-Investment: An Open and Relational Constructive Christology.

In this conversation, Jay asks Tripp to trace his theological development from his formative years, asking what influenced his perspectives and how he grappled with issues such as the authority of sacred texts. Jay then asks of music, and what religious or spiritual role this played and continues to play in Tripp’s life—a topic which led to a number of insights about religious pluralism, the function of symbolism, and the logic of the one. In closing, Tripp talks about how he shares his faith with his children in light of their various phases of life, and the importance of the religious virtue of friendship which he sees as core to the message and life of Jesus.

LINKS:

• Tripp’s website
• Homebrewed Christianity
• Theology Beer Camp: The God Pods Strike Back
• Divine Self-Investment: An Open and Relational Constructive Christology
• Conversations in Process
• The Cobb Institute
• Open Horizons

In this episode of Conversations in Process, Jay sits down with Sufi scholar and musician Ali Hussain to discuss potential points of contact between Islamic mystical theology and process thought. Ali Hussain has a Ph.D. in Islamic Studies from the University of Michigan, Department of Middle East Studies. His research focuses on the image of Jesus AS in the writings of Muslim polymath Muhyiddin Ibn Al-Arabi and later Muslim scholars. His other research interests include Islam and Sufism in America, art and creativity in Islam and the creative engagement that Sufi mystics have with Arabic through the mediation of the Quran. He has published a number of books and articles, including “The Art of Ibn Arabi,” “The Metaphysics of Creativity: From the Qur'an into Ibn al-'Arabi,” “Ibn Al-Arabi and Joseph Campbell: The Metaphysics of Creativity and Mythology of Contemporary Art,” and most recently “A Nostalgic Remembrance: Sufism and the Breath of Creativity.”

In this conversation, Jay and Ali explore the similarities and contrasts between the Sufism of Ibn ‘Arabi and Whitehead’s cosmological and theological perspectives. They discuss issues of immanence and transcendence, negative theology, the problem of evil, and much more. Ali shares the intellectual roots of Islamic mysticism, which draws in part from the same Platonic traditions in which Whitehead himself finds inspiration. Jay discusses common process perspectives on the vulnerability of God and the openness of the future, which Ali thinks can fit into a Sufi perspective as well when considered in relation to particular Divine Names. In closing, they discuss the centrality of beauty in both Sufi traditions and Whitehead’s philosophy, connecting the ideas of harmony and intensity with Divine Mercy and an open future. 

• The Adhwaq Center for Spirituality, Culture and the Arts
• A Nostalgic Remembrance: Sufism and the Breath of Creativity
• Ali on Instagram
• Conversations in Process
• The Cobb Institute
• Open Horizons

In a time of skepticism concerning religious belief, let's talk about God and Love. Is it true that there really is a loving God, but that God does not know the future in advance? Is it true that God cannot control what happens in the world, but that God can indeed lure or guide the world into well-being if the world responds? Is it true that God shares in the experiences of each and all, as a fellow sufferer who understands? Is it true that God is Love: not human love, but rather a cosmic love within us and beyond us, everywhere at once, flowing from a personal being, beyond specific location, who listens to us, hears our prayers, and cares for us and all creatures, all of the time? Thomas Oord answers "yes" to all of these questions. The author of many books on God and love, and a talented photographer as well, he is a key leader in the "open and relational theology" movement. We spend an hour with him talking about his life, his work, his ideas, and his hopes for the future.

Are you drawn to the beauty of music and the call to social justice, neither to the exclusion of the other? You're not alone. Rebecca Parker weaves them together into a single life, a single aspiration, with help from the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. She draws upon his idea that "the many become one" in the depths of each experience, and that God is the poet of the world and fellow sufferer who understands. She is a teacher, a pastor, a former seminary president, an author, a poet, and a cellist. Hers is a mature process theology available to all who love art and all who love justice―and to the many who feel that, deep down, these are the same love, both human and divine.

What do you know about paganism? The Harvard Pluralism Project lists Paganism as one of the seventeen prominent religious pathways in America. And yet Paganism is one of the least understood of today's spiritual paths. Like Native American and indigenous traditions, it is an earth-centered and earth-sensitive tradition with multiple expressions, open to many ways of understanding the Divine and seeing the earth itself as sacred. In this conversation, Kathleen Reeves talks about ideas, communities, and rituals that shape her journey into paganism, as well as her special connection with trees. Living near Claremont, California, she’s a member of the Board of the Cobb Institute, the leader of their work in spiritual integration and the arts, as well as an interfaith minister, process philosopher, and Druid priestess.

Charles Eisenstein knows that something more is possible. As you listen to him you might think: “He articulates a lot of what process philosophers like Whitehead believe, but he says it even better.” Eisenstein takes us into a world of inter-becoming, mutual immanence, and sensitivity to the intrinsic value of all life, inviting us to live with reverence and care for one another and the whole of life. He offers a metaphysics for ecological civilization, and does so with grace and clarity, humor and honesty, passion and insight. One of his most important books is “The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible.” He takes us into that world.

Let’s say you go to seminary in the mid-80s; that your sense of spirituality has always been connected with nature, especially water; that you love music and the arts; that you are theologically engaged, although you don’t quite believe in the “gotcha” God who is always judging you. You were away from the church and from religion for 35 years, but these days are different. You sense that a love of nature, a concern for justice, and a love of God can be part of a single whole. People tell you that “you think like a process theologian.” You begin to learn more and more about process theology, and how that might feed your soul and nourish a local Christian congregation, both theologically and liturgically. If your journey is anything like this, or even if it’s not, you’ll find Jeanyne Slettom’s story engaging and inspiring. She is a pioneer in the Process and Faith movement and editor of Process Century Press.

The smells of freshly baked food, the beauty of a dark but starlit sky, the ways in which we leave no room within ourselves for others: these are among the themes explored by Reverend Beth Hayward (United Church of Canada), Reverend Leslie King (Presbyterian), and Reverend Teri Daily (Episcopal) in this Christmas meditation. Process theology is, or can be, exploratory and conversational. It need not be argumentative or dogmatic, and it need not seek "final answers" to life's questions. It can be an act of seeking wisdom together, for the sake of living wisely and compassionately in a troubled but beautiful world. Listen in and join them, creating your own Christmas meditation.

Process and the hip-hop community come together in the philosopher-musician Jon Gill, whose life story is a confluence of the two. The four elements of hip-hop – graffiti painting, break dancing, DJing, and rapping – are seen for what they are: an invitation to a different kind of community where all voices are included, especially the marginalized. To this Jon Gill adds the four main values of Zulu Nation: peace, love, unity, and having fun. For him, these insights deeply resonate with a process way of understanding and living, namely, the creation of communities that are just, sustainable, inclusive, diverse, good for the earth, and, not least of all, fun. In process as in hip-hop, the goal is not to transcend human needs for enjoyment, but to create space for their fulfillment, with no one left behind.

Dr. Sheri Kling is the world's leading expert on Jung and Whitehead. Jung tells us that the conscious ego is like a cork floating on a deep ocean – a collective unconscious – filled with energies and treasures that can help guide us, if only we take heed and listen. Whitehead tells us that something like human experience pervades the depths of reality, and that every occasion of experience is beckoned by a Divine call to realize its fullest potential. Process theologians thus agree with Jung, adding that, amid the fragmentation we face today, both personal and social, there is a whole-making spirit at work in the world, as near to us as our breathing and our dreaming. Dr. Kling brings Jung and Whitehead together, showing that, if we listen not only to our ideas about life, but to the resonant images that come to us from the depths of our individual dreams and collective experience, there is indeed hope for us and all.