David Ray Griffin

David Ray Griffin was a professor of philosophy of religion and theology, at the Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, California, from 1973 until April 2004, and is a co-director of the Center for Process Studies. He is one of the foremost contemporary exponents of process theology, founded on the process philosophies of Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne. Griffin is a longtime resident of Santa Barbara, California.

Related Topics:
Religion - Theology - Claremont School of Theology - Claremont, California - 1973 - 2004 - Process theology - Process philosophies - Alfred North Whitehead - Charles Hartshorne - Santa Barbara, California

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Born in 1939, Griffin grew up in a small town in Oregon, were he was an active participant in his Disciples of Christ church. After deciding to become a minister, Griffin entered Northwest Christian College, but became disenchanted with the conservative-fundamentalist theology that was taught there. While getting his master?s degree in counseling from the University of Oregon, Griffin attended a lecture series delivered by Paul Tillich at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. At this time, Griffin made his decision to focus on philosophical theology. He eventually attended the Claremont Graduate University, where Griffin received his Ph.D. in 1970.

Related Topics:
Oregon - Disciples of Christ - Northwest Christian College - University of Oregon - Paul Tillich - Graduate Theological Union - Berkeley, California - Claremont Graduate University

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As a student in Claremont, Griffin was initially interested in Eastern religions, particularly Vedanta. However, he started to become a process theologian while attending John B. Cobb?s seminar on Whitehead?s philosophy. According to Griffin, process theology, as presented by Cobb, ?provided a way between the old supernaturalism, according to which God miraculously interrupted the normal causal processes now and then, and a view according to which God is something like a cosmic hydraulic jack, exerting the same pressure always and everywhere (which described rather aptly the position to which I had come)" (Primordial Truth and Postmodern Theology, p. 3). While applying Whitehead?s thought to the traditional theological subjects of christology and theodicy, Griffin found that process theology also provided a sound basis for addressing contemporary social and ecological issues.

Related Topics:
Vedanta - John B. Cobb - Christology - Theodicy

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After teaching theology and Eastern religions at the University of Dayton, Griffin came to appreciate the distinctively postmodern aspects of Whitehead?s thought. In particular, Griffin found Whitehead?s nonsensationist epistemology and panexperientialist ontology immensely helpful in addressing the major problems of modern philosophy, including the problems of mind-body interaction, the interaction between free and determined things, the emergence of experience from nonexperiencing matter, and the emergence of time in the evolutionary process. In 1973, Griffin returned to Claremont to establish, with Cobb, the Center for Process Studies.

Related Topics:
University of Dayton - Postmodern - Epistemology - Ontology

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

While on research leave in 1980-81 at Cambridge University and Berkeley, the contrast between modernity and postmodernity became central to his work. Many of Griffin?s writings are devoted to developing postmodern proposals for overcoming the conflicts between religion and modern science. Griffin came to believe that much of the tension between religion and science was not only the result of reactionary supernaturalism, but also the mechanistic worldview associated with the rise of modern science in the seventeenth century. In 1983, Griffin started the Center for a Postmodern World in Santa Barbara, and became editor of the SUNY Series in Constructive Postmodern Philosophy between 1987 and 2004.

Related Topics:
Cambridge University - SUNY

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Since his retirement he dramatically changed his focus, researching and writing the book, ' (2004) and ', books in which he argues there is compelling evidence members of the United States government were complicit in the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Related Topics:
2004 - United States - September 11, 2001 attacks

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In The New Pearl Harbor, Griffin summarizes the work of other researchers who assert controlling elements of the US government were directly behind the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center in New York City. He uses his training in logic to analyze the validity of their arguments. In the introduction, he makes it clear he has not verified the truth of all the premises of the researchers he cites and that he therefore cannot assess the soundness of all their arguments. He also clearly states the overall thesis of his argument: there should be a well funded and thorough-going investigation of all the questions raised.

Related Topics:
Terrorist - Pentagon - World Trade Center - New York City - Logic - Validity - Truth - Soundness

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In an interview with Nick Welsh, Thinking Unthinkable Thoughts: Theologian Charges White House Complicity in 9/11 Attack http://independent.com/news/news906.htm, Griffin analyzes charges that the US government sent airplanes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, and these airplanes were only a cover for explosives that the US government had planted within the World Trade Center towers.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Griffin cites and analyzes the claims of others who believe the collapse of the WTC towers was a controlled demolition. He cites researchers who claim Flight 77 did not hit the Pentagon, outside Washington, D.C..

Related Topics:
Controlled demolition - Flight 77 - The Pentagon - Washington, D.C.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He cites researchers who imply the US government kidnapped and murdered the passengers on flight 77, considered by these researchers as missing and unaccounted for.

Related Topics:
Kidnapped - Murdered

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The second edition of The New Pearl Harbor contains additional material on the Saudi Arabian hijackers, Sibel Edmonds, his analysis of the official 9/11 Commission set up by the US government, and his belief that the US Government deliberately changed its standard rules for analyzing military intelligence in order to allow the nineteen hijackers to kill over three thousand Americans.

Related Topics:
Saudi Arabian - Hijackers - Sibel Edmonds - 9/11 Commission - Military intelligence

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Howard Zinn, the author of A People's History of the United States, calls The New Pearl Harbor "the most persuasive argument I have seen for further investigation on the Bush administration's relationship to that historic and troubling event."

Related Topics:
Howard Zinn - A People's History of the United States - Bush administration

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Critics of Griffin's thesis say that many of the claims in the book are refutable, and that there are leaps of logic.http://www.publiceye.org/conspire/Post911/dubious_claims.html Griffin has rejected these criticisms http://www.publiceye.org/conspire/Post911/Griffin1.html and debated his critics http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/05/26/150221.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In a review published in the Nation magazine, Robert Baer dismissed the gist of Griffin's tome as one in a long line of conspiracy theories about national tragedies, but noted that the Bush administration had created a climate of secrecy and mistrust that helped generate such explanations. ("Dangerous Liaisons," September 27, 2004)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~