Interview with Dr. Bob Johansen on His New Book
Date: Tuesday, November 3
Time: 8-9am Pacific Time
A conversation with Dr. Bob Johansen about his new book
Disciplines of Hope: Generating Faith in the Future for an Anxious World.
AI and Faith Executive Director Greg Cootsona will interview Bob about this captivating book and how it can help people face an uncertain future with faith rather than dread.
The goal in writing the book is to accept the gifts of faith traditions and GenAI, but to reject the harm. In the increasingly chaotic future, we will need new disciplines of hope-in-action, not just passive hope that you have or don’t have. This book draws on global faith traditions, but it is not a religious book. It shows how to use GenAI as a medium for meaning-making, but it is not a technology book. This book shows you how to generate your own discipline of hope and grow faith in the future for others.
This is Bob’s 16th book, drawing on his 50-year career as a professional futurist with Institute for the Future. He wrote this book with Andy Doyle, Bishop of the Texas Diocese of the Episcopal Church, and Jeremy Kirshbaum, a poet and GenAI developer from Tribe AI. They have supported AI and Faith since almost the beginning. They will also draw out how the book’s approach connects to AI and Faith’s work at the intersection of the world’s wisdom traditions and AI. We hope that Andy and Jeremy will be able to join Bob for this conversation.
Meet the Speakers:
Greg Cootsona is the Executive Director for AI and Faith. He is also a lecturer in Comparative Religion and Humanities at California State University, Chico, and co-founder of Science for the Church, a nonprofit bringing science and technology to Christian congregations. An ordained Presbyterian minister, he serves as Pastor of Discipleship and Care at Bidwell Presbyterian Church. Greg has authored multiple books including Science and Religions in America (2023) and Negotiating Science and Religion in America (2020), both receiving major book nominations. He has directed $4.6 million in grants from organizations including the John Templeton Foundation, focusing on emerging adult ministries and science-theology integration. With a Ph.D. in systematic and philosophical theology emphasizing theology and science, Greg has appeared on major media outlets and spoken at several universities. He serves, or has served, on advisory councils for BioLogos, Sinai and Synapses, the Oxford Interfaith Forum, and AAAS’s Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion.
Bob Johansen is a distinguished fellow with the Institute for the Future in Silicon Valley. For more almost 50 years, Bob has worked as a professional futurist to help organizations around the world prepare for and shape the future, including large corporations, universities and nonprofits. The author or co-author of thirteen books, including the best-selling Get There Early: Sensing the Future to Compete in the Present, and most recently Office Shock: Creating Better Futures for Work and Living. Bob’s books are used widely in corporations, universities, nonprofits, and at the Army War College. Bob holds a B.S. from the University of Illinois and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University—as well as an M.Div. degree that focused on world religions.
