Study of Religion at Hatfield: Process Studies

By Maggie Froelich, Theology Librarian

mfroelich@willamette.edu

 

Process thought is a diverse field of philosophy and theology that emphasizes the dynamic nature of reality. Compared to other strands of Western metaphysics, process holds that “the dynamic nature of being should be the primary focus of any comprehensive philosophical account of reality and our place within it” (Johanna Seibt, “Process Philosophy,” SEP). According to process, things can and should be described with respect to becoming, change, and relationality, not simply with reference to “states” or static being.

Center for Process Studies logo

Process theology, which stems from the process philosophical work of Alfred North Whitehead, was developed in part by John B. Cobb, Jr., Claremont School of Theology emeritus professor. The Center for Process Studies (CPS), founded in 1975 by Cobb and fellow CST professor David Ray Griffin, is a faculty institute that promotes both scholarship and community dialogue in process studies. Over the years, the Center has amassed the world’s largest collection of books, articles, theses, and unpublished papers on or relevant to process philosophy and theology, and the published books from that collection are now housed at Hatfield.

The strength of the CPS collection is its diversity. Process thought has implications for, and is informed by, physics, ecology, psychology, history, theology, religious studies, and many other fields. The three books below offer a taste of some of the interesting, thought-provoking, and sometimes iconoclastic materials you can find in the collection.

You can find the CPS collection on the first floor of the Mark O. Hatfield Library. To access the Process Center’s unpublished materials, take a look at their digitized papers here, or contact info@ctr4process.org.

 

The Fragility of Things by William E. Connolly 

 

This book on political and social theory turns its attention to biology, geology, and climate science to discuss the finely tuned systems that make up our world and are ignored or devalued by neoliberal political and economic policy. Connolly ultimately promotes a marriage of ethics, spirituality, and democratic activism as a remedy to modern crises of ecology and society.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The End of Modern Medicine by Laurence Foss

(Also available as an ebook)

Despite its provocative title, this book doesn’t propose that we all stop trusting in scientific approaches to biomedicine. Rather, Foss urges laypeople and medical professionals alike to rethink our modern notions of the separation between empirical science and “softer” or less falsifiable aspects of human life, like culture, psychology, and cognition. Although the book was published in 2003, before the recent emphases on “mindfulness” and “self-care” in American culture, it carries the message that undergirds that movement: our well-being is not only a function of dispassionate physical and chemical processes, but is a holistic result of our bodies, minds, communities, environments, and cultures interacting.

 

 

 

 

Mindful Universe by Henry P. Stapp (second ed.)

We’ve all heard that observation changes the thing that’s observed (and the observer!), but for most of us this adage is usually more at home in the field of anthropology than of physics. Quantum mechanics, however, challenge that preconception. Stapp examines the twentieth-century shift from Newtonian to quantum physics to explain events far outside of the usual scales of human life and interaction. In two chapters new to the second edition, he explores how quantum principles can contribute to discussions of the placebo effect in medicine and to philosophical inquiries about free will. 


Study of Religion at Hatfield: Introducing the Claremont Collection

By Maggie Froelich, Theology Librarian mfroelich@willamette.edu

The affiliation between Willamette University and the Claremont School of Theology continues to move forward, with many CST students, faculty, and staff now located here in Salem.CST at Willamette Logo

The uniting of our two institutions means a sharing of resources, and that’s true in the library, too. Two major benefits to the WU community are a greatly expanded collection of books related to religion, philosophy, ethics, and ministry; and a dedicated Theology Librarian.

The Librarian on Lake Gennesaret, AKA the Sea of Galilee

The Librarian on Lake Gennesaret, AKA the Sea of Galilee

First, let me introduce myself. This summer I joined the library’s Public Services team as the Theology Librarian. I have a PhD in New Testament and Christian Origins, earned at CST. In my academic research I like to read our earliest Christian sources through historical Greco-Roman perspectives. My dissertation analyzed the Gospel of Mark as a response to war and defeat, and lately I’ve been getting really into the ways that the earliest Greek and Roman adherents to Jesus worship might have understood their new devotions. My latest article, “Sacrificed Meat in Corinth and Jesus Worship as a Cult among Cults,” is forthcoming from the Journal of Early Christian History

As a member of the library’s Public Services Division, I officially serve as the liaison librarian to the CST community and will soon begin serving the Religious Studies department, as well. No matter what department you’re in, if you’re interested in ancient Mediterranean history, classical literature, European and Near Eastern polytheism, the Bible, ancient Greek language, any aspect of religious studies, or Netflix’sThe Witcher, I want to talk to you.

But what about the books? As part of CST’s move to Salem, 50,000 volumes from the CST library collection came up here to Hatfield. That collection includes reference works, works by current and past CST faculty, works in Korean, and the collection of the Center for Process Studies, a Claremont faculty institute dedicated to process philosophy and theology. The CST library was southern California’s premier theology library, and the most important books from its collection are now at Willamette, where students, scholars, and ministers can research academic and professional topics in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and more. You can find the Claremont collection on the first floor of the Hatfield library.

I’ll continue to post here in coming months, highlighting some of the distinctive and interesting features of the Claremont collection, and a great place to start is the reference section. Here are some of the unique reference materials now available to the entire Willamette community:

  • The 20-volume Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts contains entries and photographs for important artists, architecture, paintings, sculpture, calligraphy, and styles from all over the Buddhist world.
  • Two editions of the Babylonian Talmud, an 18-volume English translation and a 41-volume Hebrew edition, are invaluable additions to our Jewish studies materials.
  • The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Law discusses topics from the early development of Torah to American Supreme Court cases, providing students a foothold in both biblical jurisprudence and issues of religion and state throughout history and across the globe.
  • The second edition of the Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism spans the history of apocalyptic movements from the Hellenistic period to the modern day, covering apocalypticism in Judaism and Christianity, art, and pop culture.