Outstanding Scholars and Teachers of
New Cosmology

Your teachers are theologians, cosmologists, historians, research and earth scientists, biblical scholars, artists, psychologists, dancers, musicians, and sociologists. Collectively, they honor a variety of learning styles and understand the needs of adults who are lifelong learners.

Visiting & Core Faculty

(Click on name to read bio)

At the Sophia Center you will be nurtured by a remarkable faculty dedicated to fostering a greater understanding of the unfolding universe and its implications for the world and its ways.

Carl Anthony, PhD is currently a Ford Foundation Senior Fellow and Visiting Scholar at the Department of Geography at the University of California at Berkeley. Before joining the Ford Foundation, he was Founder and Executive Director of the Urban Habitat Program, He served as President of Earth Island Institution, an international organization for the protection of the biosphere. He co-founded and published the Race, Poverty and the Environment Journal, the only environmental justice periodical in the United States. Anthony is co founder with Margaret Paloma Pavel of the Earth House Leadership Center. He is writing a book on the Earth, the City, and the Hidden Narrative of Race.

Masankho Kamsisi Banda, MA is a multi-disciplinary performing artist, educator and peacebuilder, originally from Malawi, Central Africa. Masankho uses his talents to share his passion for his culture and to spread the message of peace and justice around the world. (UCanDanc).

Gregory Baum, PhD is Professor Emeritus at McGill University's Faculty of Religious Studies. His academic education was in Catholic theology and sociology; his publications dealt with ecumenical relations, inter-religious dialogue, and the religious quest for a just and peaceful world. During the Vatican Council (1962-1965), he was an appointed theologian at the Ecumenical Secretariat responsible for the conciliar documents on Ecumenism, Religious Liberty and the Church's Relationship to Non-Christian Religions. Among his many publications, his book Religion and Alienation has recently been released by Novalis. Back to Index

Jennifer Berezan, is an internationally acclaimed singer/songwriter/recording artist and teacher. She is a unique blend of poet, musician, and music healer. She has been performing and recording for the past 20 years, creating a wide range of styles from folk/rock to meditative healing recordings. Her work includes many collaborations and features guest artists such as Academy Award winning actress Olympia Dukakis and Pulitzer Price winner author Alice Walker. (About Berezan) Back to Index

Thomas Berry, MDiv founded the History of Religious Program at Fordham University and the Riverdale Center of religious Research. He has served as president of the American Teilhard de Chardin Association, and won a Lannan Foundation Award for The Dream of the Earth. Together with the scientist Brian Swimme, he wrote The Universe Story: A Celebration of the Unfolding of the Cosmos. (About Berry) Back to Index

Cynthia Brix, M.Div, MA. is Program Director of Satyana Institute. She was formerly the Unitarian Universalistic campus minister at the University of Colorado-Boulder, and completed her seminary training at Iliff School of Theology. A student of Eknath Easwaran’s Passage Meditation, Cynthia co-leads retreats on interfaith spirituality for religious leaders and supports women’s projects in India. Cynthia is contributing author of Divine Duality: The Power of Reconciliation Between Women and Men. Back to Index

Patricia Mathes Cane, PhD. Capacitar founder/Co-Director has 15 years experience teaching bi-lingual workshops to thousands of participants in body-mind-spirit practices in 15 state and 20 countries. As founder and Co-Director of Capacitar, an international project of empowerment and solidarity, she works nationally and international in the area of personal and societal healing and transformation. She is the author of Capacitar Manual of Body-Mind-Spirit Practices; and Trauma Healing and Transformation. Back to Index

Judy Cannato, M.Ed., M.A., CSJ-Associate, is a spiritual director on the staff of River's Edge at St. Joseph Center in Cleveland, Ohio. She is the author of Quantum Grace: Lenten Reflections on Creation and Connectedness, Quantum Grace: The Sunday Readings (Ave Maria Press), and Radical Amazement, Contemplative Lessons from Black Holes, Supemovas and Other Wonders of the Universe (Sorin Books) as well as numerous articles on the spiritual life. Judy frequently facilitates retreats that weave together images from the Universe Story and the Christian spiritual tradition. Back to Index

Michele Cassou, Author of Point Zero, Creativity Without Limits, and co-author of Paint and Passion: The Magic of Spontaneous Expression. She is known internationally for her ground breaking work in exploring the spiritual dimensions of the creative process. She has made several videos of her work and has taught workshops in the US and Europe for the last 25 years. (About Cassou) Back to Index

Kevin Cawley, CFC, PhD, GreenFaith Fellow ‘09, recently completed North America’s only comprehensive interfaith education and training program to prepare clergy and laity for religious-environmental leadership, and the certificate program in Earth Literacy from Genesis Farm. Prior to his term in congregational leadership, Kevin trained in spiritual direction at the Center for Spirituality and Justice, was President of Bishop Hendricken High School in Warwick, Rhode Island, and served for ten years as a member of the faculty and administration at Iona College in New York. A graduate of Fordham University with a doctorate in Literacy Education, he now serves as Coordinator of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation for Edmund Rice Christian Brothers North America and represents Edmund Rice International - an NGO operating in thirty countries - at the United Nations in New York and Geneva. Environmental newsletter, "Carbon Rangers". (View archive). Back to Index

John B. Cobb, Jr., PhD. is a leader in the field of process theology. He taught theology at the Claremont School of Theology and the Claremont Graduate School. He is founding co-director of the Center for Process Studies and co-founder of Mobilization for the Human Family, and author of Transforming Christianity and the World, The Earthiest Challenge of Economism, and Postmodernism and Public Policy. Back to Index

Jim Conlon, PhD, is the director of the Sophia Center at Holy Names College. He holds degrees in chemistry, theology, social science and culture and spirituality. He is a graduate of programs in urban training and community organization. Among his publications are The Sacred Impulse, Ponderings from the Precipice, Lyrics for Re-Creation, Earth Story, Sacred Story, Geo-Justice, At the Edge of Our Longing, From the Stars to the Streets and Beauty, Wonder and Belonging. (More about Conlon) Back to Index

Phil Cousineau is a best-selling author, award-winning documentary filmmaker, photographer, teacher, and sports coach. He has published over twenty books, most recently Once and Future Myths and Stoking the Creative Fires, and he has more than twenty film credits, including The Hero's Journey: The World of Joseph Campbell and The Future of the City: Reinventing the Urban World. His books include: The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work, Soul: An Anthology: Reading from Socrates to Ray Charles, the Art of Pilgrimage, Once and Future Myths, and The Way Things Are: Conversations with Huston Smith on The Spiritual Life. (More about Cousineau) Back to Index

Kathleen Deignan,CND, PhD, GreenFaith Fellow ‘08, recently completed North America’s only comprehensive interfaith education and training program to prepare clergy and laity for religious-environmental leadership. A student of Father Thomas Berry during her graduate work in the History of Christian Spirituality and Historical Theology at Fordham University, New York, Dr. Deignan is Professor of Religious Studies and founder of the Iona Spirituality Institute, which she directs at Iona College, in New Rochelle, NY. A sister of the Congregation of Notre Dame, she lives her community’s spirit of Magnificat as a composer of sacred song and as artist in residence for Schola Ministries, a project in service to the liturgical and contemplative arts, which has produced a dozen collections of her CDs, most recently Praying with Thomas Merton: An Audio Book of Hours (2009). Her books include ChristSpirit: The Theology of the American Shakers, When the Trees Say Nothing: Thomas Merton’s Writings on Nature and Thomas Merton: A Book of Hours. Kathleen sits on the boards of the International Thomas Merton Society, the Giuliani Foundation for Religion and the Arts, and GreenFaith. (More about Deignan) Back to Index

Drew Dellinger, spoken word poet, teacher, and activist—has been described by YES! magazine as an ‘important voice of the global justice movement,’ and by Joanna Macy as “a national treasure.” Dellinger is the founder of Poets for Global Justice and author of the book of poems, love letter to the milky way. Dellinger has studied cosmology with Thomas Berry since 1990, and has presented and performed across the U.S., addressing issues of cosmology, justice, ecology, and democracy. (More about Dellinger). Back to Index

Susana Diaz, MD, Clinical Psychologist, Focusing Oriented Psychotherapist, and Master in Culture and Spirituality, is co-founder and coordinator of “Los Cerezos”: The Cherry Trees Center, for Ecology, Spirituality and Holistic Health. She has been committed for more than thirty years to marginalized people of her country, working with aboriginal communities and abused women and children of Argentina. She is also Capacitar International Advisor for her country working with PTSD victims. (More about Diaz) Back to Index

Dody Donnelly, PhD,ThD, is a theologian and historian, and author of Team Works and Radical Love. She is a faculty member at the Fromm Institute of the University of San Francisco and the Graduate Theological Union. Back to Index

Larry Dossey, MD, is a physician of internal medicine, the executive editor of the peer reviewed journal, Explore, and the author of ten books on spirituality, consciousness and health, including New York Times best seller, Healing Words: The Power of Prayer and the Practice of Medicine, and the upcoming The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things. (More about Dossey) Back to Index

Stephen Dunn, C.P. is the founder and former director of the Elliott Allen Institute for Theology & Ecology and continues directing the Centre for Ecology and Spirituality.  Before starting the Institute, he was a director at the Passionists' Holy Cross Retreat Centre in Port Burwell, Ontario Canada  In the late 1970s the retreat centre began giving annual colloquia featuring Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme in its commitment to bring religion and ecology into dialogue.  The net effect of this collaboration resulted in the momentum to make the faculty of theology at the University of St. Michael's College more responsive to the ecological crisis by initiating for an integrated approach around these issues in theological studies with the introduction of a specialist certificate in ecology and theology.  Steve recently retired from his full-time professor position at St. Michael's College in spring of 2002. Back to Index

Michelle Dwyer, AA, is a teacher of Chinese healing arts and martial arts. She is well known locally, nationally and internationally for her modern teaching methods in using physical culture as a means for inner growth and transformation. She has written a book on Tai Chi Chuan and is a contributing author to martial arts magazines and anthologie. Back to Index

Jean Edwards, MA, a facilitator of the Transition Culture Movement and the Pachamama Alliance, earned her degrees at Occidental College, University of CA at Berkeley, CSU at Northridge, and the Sophia Center, at Holy Names College. She was a facilitator of Earth Literacy programs and the children's program at Genesis Farm after leaving a 25 year professional life in education, during which she developed a nature/Waldorf inspired kindergarten. In Blairstown, New Jersey she was the administrative coordinator for the Ridge & Valley Charter School which is based on the Story of the Universe and Earth Literacy principles. She created the initial structure for the emergent curriculum and facilitated the teacher training program. Her two self-published books are: Children Experiencing the Sacred, a two-week outdoor program for children 3-12 years; and Earth as Teacher, Providing a New Consciousness, a story of birthing the charter school. (More about Edwards) Back to Index

Larry Edwards, PhD, a facilitator of Transition Culture Movement and the Pachamama Alliance, earned his degree in chemical-physics from Harvard University. He taught/researched at the American University of Beirut (Lebanon), Cal State Northridge, and the California Institute of Technology before moving to the U.S. National Science Foundation. After 17 years of government service Larry finally realized the depth of today's crisis and left NSF to live and teach at Genesis Farm in Blairstown, NJ. He continues to teach there as well as at the California Institute of Integral Studies, Wisdom University (formerly the University of Creation Spirituality), and An Tairseach in Wicklow City, Ireland. (More about Edwards) Back to Index

Riane Eisler, JD PhD,is an eminent social scientist, attorney, and author best known for her bestseller The Chalice and The Blade: Our History, Our Future, now in 23 foreign editions, including most European languages and Chinese, Russian, Korean, Hebrew, Japanese, and Arabic. Her newest book, The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics – hailed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu as “a template for the better world we have been so urgently seeking,” by Peter Senge as “desperately needed,” by Gloria Steinem as “revolutionary,” and by Jane Goodall as “a call for action” – proposes a new approach to economics that gives visibility and value to the most essential human work: the work of caring for people and planet. (More about Eisler) Back to Index

Mary Ann Finch, MA is the Director of the Care Through Touch Institute, a professional school of massage and a service agency that provides Care Through Touch to thousands of poor, homeless, elderly and dying women, men and children in the Bay Area. She is the author of Care Through Touch. Back to Index

Catherine M. Firpo, PhD, holds a Doctorate in Mythological Studies with an emphasis in Depth Psychology. "As an artist, writer, and educator I work with the synthesis of visual imagery and archetypal elements woven into patterns of individual and collective psyche. My emphasis includes the magnificence and mystery of the creative process within each individual that I believe allows new perspectives and global intelligence to come forward with collective and awareness and compassion into our world."  Back to Index

Carol Lee Flinders received a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of California at Berkeley, specializing in medieval studies. She then spent fifteen years writing about natural foods, co-authoring the popular Laurel's Kitchen cookbooks and writing a weekly syndicated newspaper column. Carol's latest book is Enduring Lives: Living Portraits of Women of Faith In Action (Putnam/Archer). It profiles four contemporary women that she believes live and work in the "spiritual mother-line" of women like Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint Catherine of Genoa. (More about Flinders.) Back to Index

John Fox CPT, is a poet and certified poetry therapist. John teaches at the Sophia Center of Holy Names University. He is adjunct associate professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, California. He teaches in the Graduate School of Holistic Studies at John F. Kennedy University in Berkeley, California and the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, California. He is author of Poetic Medicine: The Healing Art of Poem-making and Finding What You Didn't Lose: Expressing Your Truth and Creativity Through Poem-Making and numerous essays. He works throughout the United States and has brought "poetic medicine" to Ireland, the United Kingdom, Israel, Kuwait, South Korea and Canada. John is the past president of the National Association for Poetry Therapy. (More about Fox ) Back to Index

Susan Plummer FreemanPhD. a psychotherapist for 17 years has worked with individuals, couples and families. her background in teaching, training and research, as well as a therapy group facilitator and consultant, is combined with a lifetime pursuit of understanding the very human and vital experience of deep change. After receiving a BS degree in Behavioral Science she went on to UC of Berkeley earning her M.S.W. in Community Organization and Social Planning. She graduated with distinction from Saybrook Institute in San Francisco, CA with a PhD. in Psychology. Back to Index

Barry Friedman, PhD, MFT is a licensed psychotherapist and historian of religion practicing in the East Bay. Barry’s doctorate is in South Asian Languages and Civilizations. He also holds a MA in Divinity and a MA in Counseling Psychology. He brings to his work over a decade of training and experience in depth psychotherapy, two decades in the field of history of religions and world mythology, and a long-term study and practice of Buddhist and Hindu mediation, prayer and Tai Chi Chuang. Back to Index

Susan Golas csjp, MA, the “founding mother” of WATERSPIRIT in 1998, continues to serve as the director. Her background includes efforts in education, peace and justice work, and church renewal. She has served in leadership positions in the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, an international, Catholic religious order committed to peace through justice. Suzanne also serves as the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace's non-governmental organization (NGO) representative at the United Nations where she concentrates on sustainable development and environmental issues, specifically water. Suzanne participated in the Earth Literacy program at Genesis Farm, Blairstown, New Jerse. Back to Index

Marya Grathwoh, OSF, MA lives at Prayer Lodge, a center serving native American women. She is passionate about changing human consciousness toward love for the planet and is writing a book that integrates her transformative experience with Crow and Northern Cheyenne peoples with insights from the 13.7 billion year story of the universe. Marya lives in a solar and wind power home, heated and cooled by a geothermal system. She is a Sister of St. Francis since 1963. (More about Grathwohl). Back to Index

Leslie Gray is a clinical psychologist who maintains a private practice in San Francisco while teaching ecopsychology and Native  American studies at various Bay Area universities. Leslie offers workshops and trainings internationally. Her innovative work blending ancient and modern healing modalities has been featured in numerous publications such as the Sierra Club Books anthology, Ecological Medicine: Healing the Earth, Healing Ourselves.  Leslie is a member of the Society of Indian Psychologists and an Associate of the Milton Erickson Institute of the Bay Area. In 1998 Leslie founded Woodfish Institute whose mission is to promote ecological education grounded in time-tested indigenous wisdom. (More about Woodfish Institute) Back to Index

John Grim, PhD, is the chair of the Religion Department at Bucknell University and specializes in Native American religions. John is the editor of the volume Indigenous Traditions and Ecology: The InterBeing of Cosmology and Community. For over ten years he has been the president of the American Teilhard Association. He is also the author of The Shaman and co-editor with Mary Evelyn Tucker of Worldviews and Ecology. (More about Grim) Back to Index

Robert Hale, OSB, Cam, PhD, teaches spirituality at the Jesuit School of Theology. He has been a monk since 1959, and former Prior of New Gamaldoli Hermitage for 12 years. He has written articles and three books in the area of spirituality including Christ and the Universe: Teilhard deChardin and the Cosmos. Back to Index

Kim Hermanson , writes and teaches on topics related to creative expression and transformative teaching and learning. She is the author of the forthcoming Getting Messy: Taking Risks and Opening the Imagination for teachers, trainers, coaches and mentors. Her first book, Sky's The Limit, earned an honorable mention at the 2006 Independent Publisher Book Awards. She also teaches at the Meridian University and Esalen Institute. (More about Hermanson) Back to Index

Barbara Holmes, PhD, is Associate Professor of Ethics and African American Religious Studies, Memphis Theological Seminary. She is author of: A Race and the Cosmos: An Invitation to View the World Differently, Private Woman in Public Spaces, Joy Unspeakable: The Contemplative Practices of the Black Church, and The Legacy of Martin Luther King, JR.-The Boundaries of Law, Politics and Religion. Back to Index

Patrick Houck has a UC Berkeley certificate in landscape architecture and is the owner of a garden design and installation business in the Bay Area. Patrick does process painting as a further aide in understanding the creative process and has been teaching workshops with Michele Cassou. Back to Index

Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz is a professor of Ethics and Theology at Drew University, NJ. She has spent the last 20 years of her life elaborating a Muejrista Theology — a liberation theology from the perspective of Latinas living in the USA. She has lectured all over the USA and in Cuba, Zimbabwe, and the Philippines on issues of justice, diversity and Latinas religious understandings and practices. Among her publications are Mujerista Theology - A Theology for the 21st Century and En la Lucha (just re-issued by Fortress press). Back to Index

Will Keepin, Ph.D. is founding President of Satyana. Originally trained in mathematical physics. His work on sustainable energy policy was influential in several countries. Subsequently trained in spiritual practices and transpersonal psychology. He is adjunct faculty member at the California Institute of Integral Studies and co-author with Molly Dwyer of their forthcoming book, Gender Reconciliation. Back to Index

Kathy Kelly, Ph.D, helped initiate Voices in the Wilderness, a campaign to end the UN/US sanctions against Iraq. For bringing medicine and toys to Iraq in open violation of the UN/US sanctions, she and other campaign members were notified of a proposed $163,000 penalty for the organization, threatened with 12 years in prison, and eventually fined $50,000, a sum which they’ve refused to pay. Kathy was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize 2000. She is the author of Iraq Under Siege. Back to Index

Ursula King, PhD, is professor and director of the Center for Comparative Studies in Religion and Gender, Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Bristol, England. She is the author of the award-winning, Spirit of Fire, Christian Mystics and Christ in All Things. (More about King). Back to Index

David Korten, PhD, is the co-founder/chair of the Positive Futures Network (YES! Magazine), citizen activist, teacher and author.  In his most recent book, The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community, David draws on evidence from sources as varied as evolutionary theory, developmental psychology, and religious teachings to make the case that a life-centered, egalitarian, sustainable way of ordering human society based on democratic principles of partnership is indeed possible. (More about Korten) Back to Index

Alexandra Kovats, csjp, PhD has been a spiritual director and retreat facilitator for over thirty years. She is adjunct instructor at the School of Theology and Ministry at Seattle University. Through her teaching and journeying with people of different ages, life-styles and culture/ethnic backgrounds she is committed to facilitate them toward a fuller and freer life. She is the author of Prayer, A Discovery of Life. (More about Kovats) Back to Index