September 14, 2013 – Archives/Pod Casts Hour 1 – Hour 2 – Hour 3
Hour 1: (Prerecord) Dr. Kurt Johnson and David Robert Ord
Renowned evolutionary biologist, Dr. Kurt Johnson, and Editorial Director at Namaste Publishing David Robert Ord join Amerika Now during the first hour to talk about their revolutionary book, The Coming Interspiritual Age.
Since the beginnings of formal religions, prophets and mystics have been predicting the spiritual transformation of mankind, a transformation that will usher in an age of peace and harmony. Yet we must be cautious in buying into these predictions.
Kurt Johnson, a monastic for more than a decade who later became an evolutionary biologist, and David Robert Ord, a Presbyterian minister, bring both a spiritual and scientific perspective to their vision of a new spiritual age. Inspiration for their book was sparked by the teachings and writings of Catholic Brother Wayne Teasdale. Johnson was a close associate of Teasdale, who coined the words “interspirituality” and “interspiritual age” in 1999 in his now class book, The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World’s Religions.
After setting down basic principles, The Coming Interspiritual Age takes the reader on a panoramic journey through human history, showing that discoveries and innovations have always co-existed with destructive forces. Authors Johnson and Ord point out that our progress from the cave to space travel over a relatively short time is no small accomplishment, but that despite this stunning achievement, humans have been sloshing through a quagmire of base emotions and I-me driven motives. That will change, they argue, because conditions today are setting the stage for radical progress in the spiritual domain.
Johnson and Ord believe we are on the threshold of a new interspiritual age, brought about by a confluence of world events, cultural changes, the technological revolution, and eight paradigm shifts that include “undoing the bonds of loyalty to clan, nation, religion, and skin color, along with abstaining from violence to solve problems, coupled with the dream of moving toward holistic, heartistic, trans-traditional, transcultural, and transnational perspectives.”
Contributing to the likelihood of this new age is that fact that science is loosening its long-standing commitment to rigid materialism and reductionism in favor of “an all-inclusive quantum reality in which everything is made of the same thing.” These changes are moving human consciousness toward a we-oneness universal state and away from the I-me consciousness that has hampered our spiritual growth.
Tune in to find out if Oneness will mean the end of diversity, and if and when the interspiritual age will occur.
Dr. Kurt Johnson is well known internationally as a scientist, comparative religionist, social activist and former monastic. With a Ph.D. in evolution, ecology, systematics, and comparative biology, plus extensive training in comparative religion and philosophy, he was associated professionally for 20 years with the American Museum of Natural History and also the One Spirit Interfaith Seminary in New York City. Ordained in three spiritual traditions, he is widely regarded as the closest associate of Brother Wayne Teasdale, the founder of the modern “interspiritual movement,” and works also with the international Contemplative Alliance and Father Thomas Keating, founder of the Centering Prayer Movement. In science, Dr. Johnson has published over 200 professional articles and seven books on evolution and ecology. His popular book Nabokov’s Blues: The Scientific Odyssey of a Literary Genius (co-authored with New York Times journalist Steve Coates) was a “ten best” book in science in 2000 at Booklist, Library Journal, the Washington Post and HMS Beagle and “Editor’s Choice for 1999” at The Seattle Times. Johnson and Teasdale co-founded the international Interspiritual Dialogue Association in 2002, which presented at the 2004 Parliament of the World’s Religions and then expanded to become the virtual Interspiritual Multiplex web resource.
David Robert Ord is a former Presbyterian (USA) minister and Graduate of San Francisco Theological Seminary. Coauthor with Dr Robert B. Coote of The Bible’s First History—From Eden to the Court of David with the Yahwist, In the Beginning—Creation and the Priestly History, and Is the Bible True? Understanding the Bible Today, he is also author of the Namaste Publishing book Your Forgotten Self: Mirrored in Jesus the Christ. He is currently Editorial Director for Namaste Publishing.
For more information, please visit www.thecominginterspiritualage.com.
Hours 2 and 3: Rebroadcasts
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