The Sacred Depths of Religious Naturalism w/Ursula Goodenough

For many years now, there has been a scientific and spiritual revolution underway that is transforming both landscapes. This conceptual transformation celebrates the great scientific discoveries of our time and sees within the very fabric of nature itself all the foundational elements for the sacred. Our understanding of the natural world can evoke within us a sense of profound reverence and connection, a spiritual depth that is at the heart of the human experience. And this posture and worldview believes that the beautiful, wondrous, and scientific understandings of the natural world are essential foundations for our pursuit of personal wholeness, social coherence, and planetary sustainability. It is a captivating philosophical vision that aims to inspire us all to a new mode of being and a full embrace of the entirety of reality.

Ursula Goodenough holds an M.A. in Zoology from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University. As one of the founders of the philosophy of Religious Naturalism, Ursula has served as president of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science and is currently the president of the Religious Naturalist Association. Ursula is a Professor Emerita of Biology at Washington University, and the author of The Sacred Depths of Nature first published in 1998 and newly released this year, 2023.