In this episode of I Thought You'd Like to Know, Dr. Robert Nicastro of Villanova University interviews Fr. Joe Bracken on his book Reciprocal Causality in an Event-Filled World (Dec 14, 2022)

Given the current sense of helplessness in dealing with environmental change and other urgent issues, a new world view is needed that emphasizes the unique contribution that individual citizens can make to the common good as opposed to their individual needs and desires. In a recent encyclical on the environment, Pope Francis set forth reasons from Scripture and Church teaching for this shift in perspective, but he did not provide a philosophically based foundation for this change of heart. To fill that gap, Joseph Bracken examines key writings of process-oriented philosophers like Henri Bergson and Alfred North Whitehead along with systems-oriented thinkers like Ludwig von Bertalanffy and Ervin Laszlo to create a systems-oriented understanding of the God-world relation.

https://www.amazon.com/Reciprocal-Causality-Event-Filled-Joseph-Bracken/dp/1978709781

About the Interviewer

Robert Nicastro’s research interests straddle many disciplines, namely, evolutionary theology, quantum physics, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and the philosophical trends of post- and trans-humanism. Given the new science of relational holism, his work specifically explores the notion of divine emergence through the progressive integration of consciousness. Robert taught for two years as an adjunct lecturer at Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania. He presently lectures at the Center for Christogenesis, run by Ilia Delio, O.S.F., Ph.D., which is an online organization that seeks to deepen Teilhard de Chardin’s unique integration of science and spirituality to realize new possibilities of religion and evolving life for the twenty-first century.