Books

This is a book with an important message for our time, written with great compassion and insight into the contemporary religious situation. We need religion, says Sheri Kling, but the old symbols and ideas of religion no longer work. Contemporary people need to be shown how to connect with them in new ways. To this end, she suggests we construct an experiential bridge to religion. Kling uses the religious philosophy of A.N. Whitehead and the spiritual psychology of C.G. Jung as our guides. She argues that Whitehead and Jung can be compellingly combined to achieve the task of religious renewal that neither system can achieve in isolation. The way forward, she indicates, is to connect the metaphysical with the ground of human experience. A Process Spirituality is as convincing as it is refreshing.

~ David Tacey, Emeritus Professor, La Trobe University, Australia; author of The Postsecular Sacred and Religion as Metaphor.

Reading through the pages of Kling’s inspiring book, I found myself digging into this remarkable treasure chest that she has opened, with valuable insights from Whitehead and Jung, dreams and religious tradition, all working together to produce something truly wonderful. Here is a work well worth reading, and then reading again!

~ C. K. Robertson, Canon to the Presiding Bishop for Ministry Beyond the Episcopal Church

In this bold book, Sheri Kling offers an integrative vision for a better future. Incorporating psychology, philosophy, religion, and more, Kling weaves together a proposal to overcome division and confusion. This book is for those who want to unite deep thinking and open living for real transformation!

~ Thomas Jay Oord, author of The Uncontrolling Love of God

Christianity is at a crossroads. Perhaps this is fitting for a religion whose central symbol is the cross. In the United States, more people than ever before report being religiously unaffiliated, especially young people. At the same time, more people are identifying as “spiritual but not religious.” Sheri Kling’s A Process Spirituality is indeed a resource for effecting the much-needed transformation of the Christian religion so that it might better address the pluralistic spiritual needs of our age. With help from Whitehead, Jung, and feminist theology, Kling brilliantly diagnoses the cosmological and psychological underpinnings of the modern worldview, clearing the way for a renewed appreciation of the embodied and imaginative dimensions of human spirituality. This is not just another theoretical framework, however; Kling also shares well-developed practical methods for the cultivation of dreams and healing encounters with the divine that, God willing, will help revitalize Christian spiritual life by welcoming the followers of Jesus into the more relational, inclusive, and human mode of existence that, it is safe to say, he originally intended.

~ Matthew T. Segall, California Institute of Integral Studies

Kling’s “process spirituality” is based on Alfred North Whitehead’s cosmology and Carl Jung’s psychology. Jung’s psychology, she holds, “is to the human psyche as Whitehead’s metaphysics is to the cosmos.” Her aim is to construct a spirituality that is “robust, liberative, and transformative, helping us overcome modern fragmentation and that will produce more joy, more love, more compassion, and more wholeness for those who embrace it.” Central to her program is the use of Whitehead and Jung in the service of dream work. Whereas she considers her project deeply Christian, she also calls it transreligious, because it is based on the “capacity for spirituality in every individual.” Kling’s Process Spirituality should become a path-breaking book.

~ David Ray Griffin, author of The Christian Gospel for Americans

…this is a remarkable book written by an erudite scholar who has not only superlative critical skills but also a clear desire to reach outside of theory into lived, bodily experience, someone who wants to effect positive change in a fragmented world. Her closing point illustrates her sincerity and conviction: “In this wounding and whole-making reality—no matter how many categories of adverse childhood experience you have survived, no matter how divisive your politics, no matter how lonely or addicted your life is, no matter how fragmented and alienated we all are—we matter, we belong, and we can be transformed” (emphasis in the original, 230).

A Process Spirituality is a carefully organized, nuanced discussion of how to overcome division within oneself and the world. Kling’s fusion of the metaphysical and the archetypal represents not only sophisticated erudition but also a praxis in which all people doing inner work might participate.

~D.J. Moores, Journal of Jungian Scholarly Studies

There are still too many people who think that leadership is deciding what other people should do and getting them to do it This book makes clear that often the leader’s task is to widen horizons and offer new possibilities. Those who read this book will understand more deeply how to lead and follow.
~ John B. Cobb, Jr., author of Jesus’ Abba

Sheri’s message is inspiring for those who are seeking their true journey and even those solidly on it. Her uplifting spirit and earnest music are scrumptious food for the soul.
~ Dale Harrison, former chair, Department of Communication & Journalism, Auburn University