Continuing our Holy Ground series past Easter and into our Earth Day observance on April 23rd, we will hear from John Cobb, a sage of the environmental movement who is among the most important philosophers and theologians of the 20th and 21st centuries.
John B. Cobb, Jr. is an American theologian, philosopher, and environmentalist known for his work across multiple disciplines and sectors of society, integrating insights from these many different areas of study, including theology, ecology, economics, biology, and social ethics. He taught theology at the Claremont School of Theology from 1958 to 1990. In 2014, Cobb was elected to the prestigious Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Author of more than 50 books, his ever-important book from 1971, Is It Too Late? A Theology of Ecology, argued for the relevance of religious thought in approaching the then “ecological crisis.” Later, his work For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Toward Community, Environment, and a Sustainable Future, co-authored with Herman Daly, won the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order, which criticized global economic practice and advocated for sustainable, ecology-based economics. He writes, “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.”
In retirement John Cobb lives at Pilgrim Place in Claremont, California. In 1973, with David Griffin, he established the Center for Process Studies. Throughout his career he has contributed to Whitehead scholarship and promoted numerous process programs and organizations. In recent years he has given special attention to supporting work toward the goal of becoming an ecological civilization. Toward this end he led the effort to found the Institute for Ecological Civilization in 2015, the Cobb Institute in 2019, and the Living Earth Movement in 2022.