New PhD in Process Studies...
July 8, 2009
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
It is my great pleasure to be able to inform you that on the initiative of three of the Co-Directors of the Center for Process Studies — Monica Coleman, Philip Clayton and myself — and with great support from the President, Dean, and Faculty of Claremont School of Theology, the responsible accreditation agencies have granted Claremont School of Theology approval to install a new Ph.D. program in Religion with a concentration in Process Studies.
The purpose of the new Ph.D. program in Process Studies is to train future leaders in process-relational approaches to the study of ecology, culture, and religion today; to address key areas of debate that arise at the intersection of religion, culture, and nature; and to provide academic leaders, religious leaders, and leaders in society with the tools necessary for understanding interconnections between ecology, culture, and religion in this postmodern and pluralistic world. Students will be trained in emerging theoretical perspectives that help to reconceive and overcome fundamental dichotomies and binaries in contemporary culture. Students will learn to formulate truly pluralistic and differentiated worldviews and be able to contribute to transformational change by using techniques from postmodern/poststructuralist scholarship, techniques that are appropriate to our contemporary society.
The new Ph.D. program in Process Studies will draw on and seek to integrate a whole range of contemporary studies in culture and religion, including their theological, philosophical, cultural, environmental, and interreligious dimensions. The diverse fields of interaction will include philosophies in Western and non-Western traditions, theologies and philosophies of religion in diverse traditions, comparative religious studies, process studies and process theology, gender studies, feminist theory and feminist theologies, cultural studies (critical theories and liberation theologies), ecological studies (philosophies, theologies, and spiritualities), and the various fields of religion and science.
Indeed, this is an important step in the relationship between Claremont School of Theology and the Center for Process Studies, in Claremont School of Theology’s commitment to the process community, and for the Center for Process Studies new and exciting role right in the center of a Ph. D. program. This decision encourages us to imagine a bright future for all programs and projects of the Claremont process community, her service to the worldwide process community and the realization of her aim—the Common Good.
With warm regards,
Roland Faber,
Co-Director, Center for Process Studies