Section 6: TRACK 11

Track 11: Can Mormonism Contribute to Ecological Civilization?

Mormonism may be the most successful new religion of the past two centuries. Today it is a significant part of the global religious scene. Many Mormons want to participate in the creative response to current crises, and some find help in Whitehead in this regard. This track will discuss the resources of this community.

Other Tracks in this Section

• Track 1: A New WAY for a New Day
• Track 2: Christian Process Theology
• Track 3: Islam and Whitehead in Dialogue
• Track 4: Reclaiming Love for Paradise Here and Now
• Track 5: Reading the Bible for the Sake of the World
• Track 6: Reimagining and Mobilizing Religious Traditions in Response to the Eco-Crisis
• Track 7: The Jewish Contribution to Ecological Civilization
• Track 8: The Role of Whitehead in Indigenizing Christianity
• Track 9: Thomism and Whitehead: Partners or Opponents?
• Track 10: Islamic Response to the Global Ecological Crisis

James McLachlan

Professor of Philosophy and Religion, Western Carolina University

James McLachlan is Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Western Carolina University. His Ph.D is from the Centre for the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto. He has been a visiting scholar at the Center for Process Studies. He is past co-chair of the Mormon Studies Group at the American Academy of Religion, Past- President of the Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology. He is currently a member of the board of the Institute for American Religious and Philosophical Thought, and organizer of the Personalist Seminars. His publications include articles in 20th century Continental thought, especially Levinas, Sartre and Berdyaev. He also publishes on American and European Personalism, Process Theology, Romanticism and idealism, and Mormon Theology. His most recent “Satan: Romantic Hero or Just Another Asshole” in The Devil: Philosophical Implications, Routledge 2015. (I just liked the title) He has also served as a Mormon Bishop.

Dan Wotherspoon

Host, Mormon Matters Podcast

Dan Wotherspoon has a Ph.D. in Religion from Claremont Graduate University (1996), where he wrote his dissertation in conversation with process thought and those elements of Mormon thought that could be better mined for a robust environmental spirituality and ethic. He is currently the host of the popular Mormon Matters podcast, a weekly show featuring panel discussions on LDS topics, including many that directly relate to themes in this conference. He served from 2001 to 2008 as editor of Sunstone magazine and as executive director of the Sunstone Education Foundation. He is also a past director of communications for the Foundation for Religious Diplomacy. He is the author of more than thirty essays and editorials, and is the editor of the volume, The Challenge of Honesty: Essays for Latter-day Saints by Frances Lee Menlove (Signature Books, 2013). He is currently working on two books for publication in 2015–2016.

mormonmatters.org