The editors of What Is Enlightenment? magazine recently set out on a mission: to reveal the depth and substance of the real evolution debate. In their endeavor to discover the essential elements behind the common arguments, they uncovered a vastly intricate and fascinating landscape far beyond the boundaries of the public debate between Evolutionism and Creationism. By seeking out and methodically charting the contours of what is surely the greatest philosophical, scientific, and theological challenge of our era, they are helping us to redefine the way we think about where we come from, who we are, and where we might be going.

In this interview with the eminent philosopher and theologian John Cobb, WIE founder Andrew Cohen and editor Ross Robertson discuss the core values and historical underpinnings of Process Philosophy. This pivotal and increasingly influential school of thought, first established by the great mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead, rejects the scientific impulse to reduce all of nature to its basic material components. Instead, Process Philosophy—and Process Theology, as pioneered by Cobb and others—builds upon the rationality of science, while maintaining that all of creation—God, matter, life, consciousness, and evolution itself—are intrinsic aspects of the universe, active at all times, at all levels of activity, and throughout all of ongoing creation.

“There is no God without a world, just as there is no world without God. We cannot think of a beginning of either.”–John Cobb

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