Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:35 — 31.1MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Youtube Music | More
In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Bob Johansen and Jeremy Kirshbaum to discuss their upcoming book, Disciplines of Hope: Generating Faith in the Future for an Anxious World. In an increasingly chaotic world, passive hope simply isn’t enough—we need actionable disciplines to navigate what’s ahead. Co-authored with Bishop Andy Doyle of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, this book marks Bob’s 16th publication over his 50-year career as a professional futurist with the Institute for the Future. Alongside Jeremy, a poet and GenAI developer at Tribe AI, they discuss how to cultivate “hope-in-action”—harnessing the best of spiritual wisdom and artificial intelligence while avoiding the pitfalls of both.
Host:
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 (CNN, NBC’s Today Show, NPR) and spoken at several universities (Columbia, Rice, Duke). He serves, or has served, on advisory councils for BioLogos, Sinai and Synapses, the Oxford Interfaith Forum, and the AAAS’s Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion.
Guests:
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.
Jeremy Kirshbaum is a forward-deployed AI engineer building agentic workflows, AI-native operations, platforms to support agents and humans alike. He’s been taking NLP and generative AI systems from blank page to production since 2019, owning vision, architecture, and prompt engineering across Fortune 500s, nonprofits, and defense organizations. Previously guided C-suite teams at Walmart, Kellogg’s, United Rentals, and others through AI strategy. He is the co-author of Disciplines of Hope (published by Berrett-Koehler) with Bob Johansen and Andy Doyle on the intersection of meaning-making, AI, and futures thinking.
Views and opinions expressed by podcast guests are their own. They do not necessarily reflect the view of AI and Faith or any of its leadership.
Meet the team:
Production: Penny Yuen
Host: Greg Cootsona
Guests: Bob Johansen and Jeremy Kirshbaum
Editing: Isabelle Braconnot
Music from #Uppbeat
License code: 1ZHLF7FMCNHU39
Listen to more episodes here.
