Evolving Faith

Michael Dowd was interviewed in April 2016 by Mark Gilbert, host of Conscious Bridge Radio Show. In this 57-minute program (slightly edited for posting on "Evolving Faith" podcast series), Dowd introduces the worldview shift underlying his "ecology is the new theology" imperative, most recently expressed in his 17-minute youtube video: "Reality's Rules: Ten Commandments to Avoid Extinction." Theme song "Holy Now" courtesy of Peter Mayer.

Rev. Dr. Roger L. Ray is the pastor of  Community Christian Church of Springfield (Missouri). He holds masters and doctoral degrees in divinity from Vanderbilt University as well as a bachelors in philosophy from Murray State University. He was a 2004 Merriell Fellow at Harvard Divinity School. Dr. Ray writes a religion and ethics column for the Springfield News-Leader. He is also the author of Christian Wisdom for Today: Three Classic Stages of Spirituality, as well as various journal and magazine columns. Dr. Rays' sermons have been published in several professional journals and popular collections, and are currently available to a growing audience by way of audio podcast and the church's youtube channel. Theme song "Holy Now" courtesy of Peter Mayer.

John Haught is a leading Roman Catholic evolutionary theologian and Senior Fellow in Science and Religion at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. His passion is systematic theology informed by science, cosmology, ecology, and evolution. He’s the author of Making Sense of Evolution; Christianity and Science: Toward a Theology of Nature; and a dozen other important books in the field. Professor Haught has inspired an entire generation of Christian leaders who fully embrace a deep-time, deeply ecological worldview. This conversation, sparked by two of Dowd's Huffington Post blog entries, "New Theists: Knowers, Not Believers" and "God: Personification ≠ Person," clarifies why more than one approach to Evolutionary Christianity is both legitimate and important. Here, John and Michael discuss naturalism, supernaturalism, and what John calls "a third way" between the two, inspired by the work of renowned 20th century theologian Paul Tillich. Theme song "Holy Now" courtesy of Peter Mayer.

Samples in this podcast are drawn from 12 of the hour-long episodes in the audioseries "Evolutionary Catholics: Conversations at the Leading Edge of Faith." Hosted by Michael Dowd, these conversations feature 12 of the most inspiring religion-and-science leaders in Roman Catholicism — all of whom embrace the scientific evidence of a cosmos and Earth billions of years old, in which life forms evolved via natural processes. The speakers are: Joan Chittister, Ilia Delio, Linda Gibler, John Haught, Ursula King, Kenneth R. Miller, Michael Morwood, Diarmuid O'Murchu, Richard Rohr, Gloria Schaab, Mary Southard, and Gail Worcelo. The entire series can be accessed at EvolutionaryCatholics.com.

Samples in this podcast are drawn from 10 of the hour-long episodes in the audioseries "Evolutionary Creation: Conversations at the Leading Edge of Faith." Hosted by Michael Dowd, these conversations feature ten of the most inspiring evangelical (or theologically conservative) thought leaders and esteemed scientists — all of whom embrace the scientific evidence of a cosmos and Earth billions of years old, in which life forms evolved via natural processes. The speakers are: Denis Lamoureux, Ian Barbour, Kenneth Miller, Bill Phillips, Karl Giberson, John Haught, Owen Gingerich, Ted Davis, John Polkinghorne, and Charles Townes. The entire series can be accessed at EvolutionaryCreation.com.

Hosted by Michael Dowd, these conversations with leading Christian theologians, clergy, and scientists were recorded during the Christian season of Advent in 2010. Ten of the 38 hour-long episodes have been excerpted here for an hour-long podcast. Speakers are: Denis Lamoureux, Joan Chittister, Bruce Sanguin, Kenneth Miller, Gail Worcelo, Ross Hostetter, Brian McLaren, Philip Clayton, Gretta Vosper, and John Shelby Spong. The entire series can be accessed at EvolutionaryChristianity.com. Subsets of the series (an Evangelical subset and a Catholic subset) will be sampled in the following two podcasts.

  Michael Morwood began making waves in Catholic circles in the late 1990s with the publication of his book, Tomorrow’s Catholic.  Catholic laity who had been struggling with ancient scriptural views of redemption found Morewood’s modern and scientifically informed perspective salvific.  Unfortunately, the Catholic hierarchy deemed that perspective heretical.  The book was banned and Father Morwood was silenced in 1998.  Soon thereafter he ended his 29 years in the priesthood. Since then, Michael Morwood has become one of the most valued expositors of a naturalistic and evolutionary form of Christianity—for Catholics and beyond. See also his 2004 book, Praying a New Story.  Theme song "Holy Now" courtesy of Peter Mayer.  

Ian Lawton is executive minister of C3Exchange: An Inclusive Spiritual Community, in Spring Lake, Michigan. Michael Dowd engaged Ian in conversation just two weeks before the scheduled removal of the 65-foot cross of this former affiliate of the Reformed Church of America. (Soon after, Ian was interviewed on Fox News about the controversy.) Independent since 1997, the congregation called Ian in 2004. Many more changes ensued, leading to the removal of the cross and a new identity in 2010. The former Christ Community Church is now C3 Exchange, and it is in the vanguard of liberal/evolutionary religious reform in America. According to his church profile, though trained at a conservative Anglican seminary in his native Australia, "Ian was always more interested in connecting with the people who don't go to church: the homeless people, the broken people, the creative people, the liberated people, the recovering people, the inquiring people, the family people, those who put their humanity before their ideology." A local news report on the cross removal quotes Ian as saying, "We honor the cross, but the cross is just one symbol of our community."  The news article explains, "Lawton gave a sermon March 21 likening using the cross as a symbol of Christ's life to using a bullet to remember Martin Luther King Jr." A community-wide meeting generated an outpouring of support for the way C3 is evolving. The C3 website offers an archive of all sermons online in audio or video format, and is accessible in podcast form as an RSS feed.  Note: If you google "Ian Lawton," the primary choices (including Wikipedia) pertain to an unrelated Ian Lawton who researches and writes books on spirituality, reincarnation, and past lives. That Ian is not our colleague Ian Lawton. Theme song "Holy Now" courtesy of Peter Mayer.

Bruce Sanguin serves Canadian Memorial United Church of Canada in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he leads his congregation in a progressive form of Christianity in their mission of "exploring the Christian tradition through an evolutionary model." Rev. Sanguin meshes his evolutionary perspective with Integral Spirituality (following Ken Wilber) and with Spiral Dynamics (following Don Beck). His three books are: Summoning the Whirlwind: Unconventional Sermons for a Relevant Christian Faith (2006);  Darwin, Divinity, and the Dance of the Cosmos: An Ecological Christianity (2007) and; The Emerging Church: A Model for Change and a Map for Renewal (2008). He is the coauthor of a curriculum, "Experiencing Ecological Christianity" (2008).    Theme song "Holy Now" courtesy of Peter Mayer.

John Shelby Spong is one of the best known and most highly regarded leaders in the movement within Christianity to evolve faith in step with modern times and humanity's collective intelligence. During his tenure as Episcopal Bishop of Newark, John Shelby Spong (known to friends as "Jack") was regarded as a fearless advocate for church reform -- a hero to some, a heretic to others. Spong, who retired from professional ministry in 2000, was the first to ordain an openly gay priest, and he called for Christians worldwide to leave behind premodern religion in favor of a liberal, progressive, ever-evolving faith. Spong's best-selling books include Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism • Why Christianity Must Change or Die • A New Christianity For a New World • The Sins of Scripture • and Jesus for the Nonreligious. He also has a personal website. Theme song "Holy Now" courtesy of Peter Mayer.