Conversations in Process

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.

The winds of the spirit are like real wind, says Tamisha Tyler. They blow through art, music, poetry, justice, resistance, hope, sadness, and laughter. They cannot be contained in creeds, but they can be channeled by mentors, a young Jew from Nazareth, for example, in whose footsteps Tamisha Tyler seeks to walk. Or a science fiction novelist, Octavia Butler, by whose writings she is influenced. The winds point us toward a place where divinity meets humanity, where spirit meets flesh, stretching us so that our horizons include all the living ancestors: hills and rivers, trees and stars. Sometimes we ourselves become conduits for the wind, not when we speak from mere calculation, but when we speak poetically. In this podcast Tamisha Tyler, a poet and emerging theologian, shares her journey with the wind as a woman of color, faith, and courage.

Patricia Adams Farmer is one of the most influential writers for popular audiences in the international process community. Known for the way she integrates storytelling and poetry with wisdom from Whitehead and other process writers, she is the author of five books and numerous essays inspired by process theology and philosophy. A featured writer on Open Horizons and co-writer of a blog called Process Musings in Spirituality and Practice, she holds an undergraduate degree in music and three Masters degrees in theology, philosophy, and education. She lives with her husband, Ron Farmer, a New Testament scholar, in Millersberg, Missouri, where she serves as a pastor for a small Disciples of Christ church. In this interview she tells the story of her turning to process theology and how its notions of beauty, including soul beauty and moral beauty, inspire her.

As process theology evolves in the twenty-first century, one of its most important chapters is being written by Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, Dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles. In this podcast, he shares the story of his own turning to process theology with its unique understanding of God as a loving presence in the world; discusses the reception of God within his own Jewish community; discusses the importance of appreciation, indeed ‘holy envy,’ for the beauty of other faiths; and makes clear that the generous vision of process theology is, in its way, a generous vision for the world at large.

Robert C. (Bob) Mesle is one of the most influential and talented interpreters of process theology and philosophy in the world. His Process-Relational Philosophy: An Introduction to Alfred North Whitehead and Process Theology: A Basic Introduction have been translated into many languages, helping people around the world learn about the process outlook on life in its philosophical and religious dimensions. In this podcast you meet the author, getting to know how he came to be interested in process philosophy and theology and why it matters to him. You see why key ideas, such as beauty, creative transformation, an open future, and relational power, are especially important to his understanding. And you come to understand how Mesle himself, while deeply sympathetic to the process understanding of God, is not himself persuaded. The podcast stands on its own, and can also be an excellent companion to individuals and groups reading his books.