John B. Cobb, Jr.

John Boswell Cobb Jr. (9 February 1925 – 26 December 2024) was an American theologian, philosopher and environmentalist. He is often regarded as the preeminent scholar in the field of process philosophy and process theology, the school of thought associated with the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. Cobb is the author of more than fifty books.Process and Faith, "John B. Cobb Jr." http://processandfaith.org/misc/john-b-cobb-jr In 2014, Cobb was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

A unifying theme of Cobb's work was his emphasis on ecological interdependence—the idea that every part of the ecosystem is reliant on all the other parts. Cobb argued that humanity's most urgent task is to preserve the world on which it lives and depends,John B. Cobb, "Intellectual Autobiography", ''Religious Studies Review'' 19 (1993): 10. an idea which his primary influence, Whitehead, described as "world-loyalty".

Cobb is well known for his transdisciplinary approach, integrating insights from many different areas of study and bringing different specialized disciplines into fruitful communication. Because of his broad-minded interest and approach, Cobb has been influential in a wide range of disciplines, including theology, ecology, economics, biology, and social ethics.

In 1971, he wrote the first single-author book in environmental ethics, ''Is It Too Late? A Theology of Ecology'', which argued for the relevance of religious thought in approaching the ecological crisis. In 1989, he co-authored the book ''For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Toward Community, Environment, and a Sustainable Future'', which critiqued global economics and advocated for a sustainable, ecology-based economics. He wrote extensively on religious pluralism and interfaith dialogue, particularly between Buddhism and Christianity, as well as the need to reconcile religion and science.

Cobb was the co-founder and co-director of the Center for Process Studies in Claremont, California. The Center for Process Studies remains the leading Whitehead-related institute, and has witnessed the launch of more than thirty related centers at academic institutions throughout the world, including twenty-three centers in China.Institute for the Postmodern Development of China, "Collaborative Centers," "China embraces Alfred North Whitehead," last modified 10 December 2008, Douglas Todd, ''The Vancouver Sun'', retrieved 5 December 2013, http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2008/12/10/china-embraces-alfred-north-whitehead/ .

Biography

John Cobb was born in Kobe, Japan, on 9 February 1925, to parents who were Methodist missionaries.David Ray Griffin, "John B. Cobb Jr.: A Theological Biography," in ''Theology and the University: Essays in Honor of John B. Cobb Jr.'', ed. David Ray Griffin and Joseph C. Hough Jr. (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991), 225. Until age 15, he lived primarily in Kobe and Hiroshima and received most of his early education in the multi-ethnic Canadian Academy in Kobe, to which he attributed the beginnings of his pluralistic outlook.

In 1940, Cobb moved to Georgia, US, to finish high school. He found himself both bewildered and disgusted by the pervasive racism in the region, particularly the demonization of the Japanese. Seeing how the same events could be presented in such different ways based on the country in which he was living, Cobb became ever-more counter-cultural and critical of the dominant views in churches, media, universities, and government.

After his graduation from high school, Cobb attended Emory College in Oxford, Georgia, before joining the US Army in 1943. He was chosen for the Japanese language program, which was filled mainly with Jewish and Catholic intellectuals who helped make him aware of the narrow, parochial nature of his Georgia Protestantism.

Cobb served in the occupation of Japan, then returned to the United States and left the army soon afterward. He then entered an interdepartmental program at the University of Chicago in 1947. There, he set out to test his faith by learning the modern world's objections to Christianity:David Ray Griffin, "John B. Cobb Jr.: A Theological Biography," in ''Theology and the University: Essays in Honor of John B. Cobb Jr.'', ed. David Ray Griffin and Joseph C. Hough Jr. (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991), 227.

I was determined to expose my faith to the worst the world could offer. Within six months of such exposure my faith was shattered ... God, who had been my constant companion and Lord up to that point, simply evaporated, and my prayers bounced back from the ceiling unheard.

Hoping to reconstruct a Christian faith more compatible with scientific and historical knowledge, Cobb entered the University of Chicago Divinity School.David Ray Griffin, "John B. Cobb Jr.: A Theological Biography," in ''Theology and the University: Essays in Honor of John B. Cobb Jr.'', ed. David Ray Griffin and Joseph C. Hough Jr. (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991), 228. He was successful in restoring his personal faith primarily with the help of Richard McKeon, Daniel Day Williams, and Charles Hartshorne. McKeon introduced Cobb to philosophical relativism, while Hartshorne and Williams taught him Whiteheadian process philosophy and process theology. Alfred North Whitehead's thought became the central theme of Cobb's own work.

After receiving his PhD degree from the University of Chicago under the supervision of the Divinity School's Dean Bernard Loomer in 1952, he spent three years teaching at Young Harris College in north Georgia, while also serving as part-time pastor to a six-church circuit and establishing a seventh congregation in the area. Ernest Cadman Colwell, formerly president of the University of Chicago, brought Cobb to Emory University in Georgia to teach in the new graduate institute for liberal arts. In 1958, Cobb followed Colwell to Claremont, California,David Ray Griffin, "John B. Cobb Jr.: A Theological Biography", in ''Theology and the University: Essays in Honor of John B. Cobb Jr.'', ed. David Ray Griffin and Joseph C. Hough Jr. (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991), 229. where he was named Ingraham Professor of Theology at Claremont School of Theology and Avery Professor of Religion at Claremont Graduate University. He established the ''Process Studies'' journal with in 1971 and co-founded the Center for Process Studies with David Ray Griffin in 1973, making Claremont the center of Whiteheadian process thought. Twenty-five years later, together with Herman Greene, he organized the International Process Network. This organization holds biennial conferences, the tenth of which took place in Claremont in 2015.

During his career, Cobb has also served as visiting professor at Harvard Divinity School, University of Chicago Divinity School, Vanderbilt Divinity School, Iliff School of Theology, Rikkyo University in Japan, and the University of Mainz in Germany. He has received six honorary doctorates.

Cobb died on 26 December 2024, at the age of 99.

Transdisciplinary work

Although Cobb is most often described as a theologian, the overarching tendency of his thought has been toward the integration of many different areas of knowledge, employing Alfred North Whitehead's transdisciplinary philosophical framework as his guiding insight.Gary Dorrien, "The Lure and Necessity of Process Theology," ''CrossCurrents'' 58 (2008): 333. As a result, Cobb has done work in a broad range of fields.

Philosophy of education

Cobb consistently opposed the splitting of education and knowledge into discrete and insulated disciplines and departments.Delwin Brown, "The Location of the Theologian: John Cobb's Career as Critique," ''Religious Studies Review'' 19 (1993): 12. He believed that the university model encourages excessive abstraction because each specialized area of study defines its own frame of reference and then tends to ignore the others, discouraging interdisciplinary dialogue and inhibiting a broad understanding of the world.

To combat these problems, Cobb argues that discrete "disciplines" in general—and theology in particular—need to re-emerge from their mutual academic isolation. Theology should once again be tied to ethical questions and practical, everyday concerns, as well as a theoretical understanding of the world. In service to this vision, Cobb consistently sought to integrate knowledge from biology, physics, economics, and other disciplines into his theological and philosophical work.

Constructive postmodern philosophy

Cobb was convinced that Alfred North Whitehead was right in viewing both nature and human beings as more than just purposeless machines.Charles Birch and John B. Cobb Jr., ''The Liberation of Life'' (Denton: Environmental Ethics Books, 1990), 5-6. Rather than seeing nature as purely mechanical and human consciousness as a strange exception which must be explained away, Whiteheadian naturalism went in the opposite direction by arguing that subjective experience of the world should inform a view of the rest of nature as more than just mechanical. In short, nature should be seen as having a subjective and purposive aspect that deserves attention.

Speaking to this need of moving beyond classically "modern" ideas, in the 1960s Cobb was the first to label Whiteheadian thought as "postmodern". Later, when deconstructionists began to describe their thought as "postmodern", Whiteheadians changed their own label to "''constructive'' postmodernism".John B. Cobb Jr. "Constructive Postmodernism", ''Religion Online'',

Like its deconstructionist counterpart, constructive postmodernism arose partly in response to dissatisfaction with Cartesian mind–matter dualism, which viewed matter as an inert machine and the human mind as wholly different in nature. While modern science has uncovered voluminous evidence against this idea, Cobb argues that dualistic assumptions continue to persist:

On the whole, dualism was accepted by the general culture. To this day it shapes the structure of the university, with its division between the sciences and the humanities. Most people, whether they articulate it or not, view the world given to them in sight and touch as material, while they consider themselves to transcend that purely material status.

While deconstructionists have concluded that we must abandon any further attempts to create a comprehensive vision of the world, Cobb and other constructive postmodernists believe that metaphysics and comprehensive world-models are possible and still needed. In particular, they have argued for a new Whiteheadian metaphysics based on events rather than substances. In this formulation, it is incorrect to say that a person or thing ("substance") has a fundamental identity that remains constant, and that any changes to the person or thing are secondary to what it is. Instead, each moment in a person's life ("event") is seen as a new actuality, thus asserting that continual change and transformation are fundamental, while static identities are far less important. This view more easily reconciles itself with certain findings of modern science, such as evolution and wave–particle duality.

Environmental ethics

Ecological themes have been pervasive in Cobb's work since 1969, when he turned his attention to the ecological crisis. He became convinced that environmental issues constituted humanity's most pressing problem. Cobb writes:

During the seventies my sense of the theological vocation changed. I did not lose interest in developing the Christian tradition so as to render it intelligible, convincing, and illuminating in a changing context. But I did reject the compartmentalization of my discipline of 'constructive theology,' especially in its separation from ethics, and more generally in its isolation from other academic disciplines ... I was persuaded that no problem could be more critical than that of a decent survival of a humanity that threatened to destroy itself by exhausting and polluting its natural context.

Cobb went on to write the first single-author book in environmental ethics, ''Is It Too Late? A Theology of Ecology'', in 1971. In the book, he argued for an ecological worldview that acknowledges the continuity between human beings and other living things, as well as their mutual dependence

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