The World Institute for Science, Religion and Culture is committed to the integration of science, religion, and culture in the service of a world in evolutionary transition. The Institute understands evolution as both a biological process and a progressive complexification of consciousnessâone that is presently transforming the foundations of religion, shifting its orientation from the personal to the hyper-personal.
In this emerging horizon, religion is no longer confined to the individual but is awakening as a planetary realityâa convergent field of mind, spirit, and matter drawing humanity into deeper communion with the Earth, with one another, and with the divine ground of all becoming. As complexity rises, so too does consciousness, and with it a new religious imagination equal to a networked, entangled, and unfinished cosmos.
Through scholarship, education, formation, and interreligious dialogue, the Institute seeks to catalyze this evolutionary unfolding. Bridging disciplines and traditionsâand weaving together evolutionary science, contemplative wisdom, technological insight, and cultural creativityâit works to form thinkers, leaders, and seekers capable of holding the whole.
Together, we labor to enkindle a new spirit of the Earth: one vital enough to meet the urgency of this moment, generative enough to sustain the long work of transformation, and luminous enough to draw us toward the future that calls us forward.
The Vision Behind WISR
At the heart of WISR's vision is a Teilhardian conviction: that matter, life, and consciousness are moving toward greater unity, complexity, and love, and that science, religion, and culture must think together if humanity is to understand and participate in this movement. Teilhard traced this trajectory through cosmogenesis, biogenesis, and noogenesisâthe successive emergence of cosmos, life, and mind, each threshold giving rise to something more than what preceded it. We now stand within the noosphere, the planetary sphere of thought, where evolution proceeds increasingly through consciousness itself, drawn toward what Teilhard called Omega: the fullness of love as the ground and goal of all things.
To live at the level of the noosphere is to recognize that evolution is not behind us but within us. It shapes not only how we think but what we believe and how we act. Yet our institutionsâespecially in the humanitiesâremain tethered to static categories and a narrowly defined concept of the human person, ill-suited to a world of dynamic change, planetary entanglement, and accelerating technological intelligence. WISR exists to address this gap. We seek to cultivate a new way of knowing for an AI age and a new ethics grounded in complexity and evolutionâforming persons not as fixed selves but as dynamic components of a world in becoming, with holistic thought as its leading edge.
Religion, in this vision, is not an isolated phenomenon but the depth dimension of evolving cosmic life. Religious language carries a complex inheritance. For some it conjures real woundsâof institution, history, and family. For others it has come to sound metaphysically tired, entangled with politics, or out of step with a scientific age. Yet its power, despite its misuses and its weariness, arises from the wisdom of those who sought to express the ineffable with awe and wonder. Every great tradition has reached, in its own idiom, toward the same horizon: the incomprehensible ground of being toward which all life strains. WISR stands in the space where these trajectories meetânot to dissolve their differences, but to discover what they illuminate together.
WISR emerges from a Christian lineage, and it is honest about that inheritance. The Christian tradition has long intuited this convergent movement: a power within creation drawing it toward something more, a deepening communion in which the divine, the cosmos, and the human are woven into a new and expanding form of personhood grounded in love. The same intuition recurs, in other idioms, across the world's wisdomâbut WISR does not pretend to stand nowhere. It speaks from a particular place toward a wider field, carrying this insight into a shared work: the formation of minds and hearts capable of the evolutionary moment now upon us.
Remain true to yourself, but move ever upward toward greater consciousness and greater love! At the summit you will find yourselves united with all those who, from every direction, have made the same ascent. For everything that rises must converge.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Who is Pierre Teilhard de Chardin?
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a 20th-century Jesuit scientist and religious thinker. Although his ideas on science and religion still leave many readers perplexed, his prophetic insights, born out of an acute scientific mind and a deeply Ignatian spirit, enabled him to approach world religions by placing religion in a cosmic evolutionary framework.
For Teilhard, religion was not simply a matter of personal concern. If the evolution of matter culminated in the expression of consciousness, then religion is the result of evolution becoming conscious of itself, attempting to give form to the free energy of the earth for greater unity.
The Teilhardian concept of Omegaâupon which our Centerâs vision and work are basedâis the revelation of God as the fullness of love, the dynamic center at the heart of all Creation.
WISR Team
Ilia Delio
Founder and executive director
Ilia Delio, OSF, PhD,
Ilia Delio is a Franciscan Sister of Washington DC and Professor at Villanova University. She is the Founder and Executive Director of the World Institute for Science, Religion and Culture, an online educational forum focused on integrative thinking and personal formation. She is the author of over twenty-five books, including The Christian Mutation: Reclaiming the Dynamic God of Jesus (Orbis, 2026), The Not Yet God: Carl Jung, Teilhard de Chardin and the Relational Whole, The Hours of the Universe which won the 2022 Gold Nautilus Book Award and The Unbearable Wholeness of Being: God, Evolution and the Power of Love (Orbis 2013) which received the 2014 Silver Nautilus Book Award.
Ilia graduated with a B.S. in Biology from DeSales University, a masterâs degree in biology from Seton Hall University, a doctorate in Pharmacology from Rutgers University-New Jersey Medical School, and a doctorate in Historical Theology from Fordham University. She is also the recipient of four Honorary degrees, as well as the Association for Catholic Colleges and Universities Monika Hellwig Award for her contributions to the Catholic Intellectual Tradition.
Her area of research is Systematic-Constructive theology with a focus on religion and evolution, following the vision of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. She continues to develop a new framework of God, self and world through the integration of science and religion, mapping the next level of human evolution in an age of artificial intelligence.
Lisa Drover
Lisa Marie Drover is a member of the Franciscan Sisters of Washington, DC. While currently serving as the Finance Officer for the Center of Christogenesis she also is the executive assistant to the Archbishop for the Military Services, USA. Prior to her current positions she worked in Development and was assistant to the President of Washington Theological Union. Lisa is also a retired nurse, having spent time in ambulatory and emergency nursing and several years in nursing administration in acute care and independent and assisted living for the elderly.
Jacob Given
Program Director
Jacob Given, Ph.D., is a scholar of philosophy, theology, and spirituality based in Reading, Pennsylvania. He holds a doctorate in theology and religious studies from Villanova University and currently teaches humanities at Alvernia University. His research explores the intersection of continental philosophy, theological metaphysics, and the lived practice of religion throughout history.
Josh Patterson
Director of Creative Content
Josh is a Creative Director and Podcaster from Baltimore who specializes in Process Theology. He has a B.A. in Digital Media and is currently finishing his Master's in Theology. Josh is the founder and host of the (Re)thinking Faith Podcast. Joshâs podcasting and writing focus on Process Theology, Radical Theology, Existentialist Philosophy, and what it means to be human. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, playing ice hockey, and spending time with his friends.
WISR Board
Cecilia Ashton
Cecilia Ashton, OCD, is a Carmelite nun and graduate student at Villanova University. A graduate of Saint Josephâs University and the University of Maryland School of Dentistry, Celia was a practicing dentist for ten years before entering the Carmelite Sisters of Baltimore in 2013. As a Discalced Carmelite, she has dedicated her life to prayer as a way towards transformation, healing, wholeness, and societal change. She is currently pursuing a Master of Theological Studies at Villanova. Her interests include Carmelite Spirituality, Teilhard de Chardin, and Contemplative Prayer. She enjoys biking, hiking, and being in nature.
I am delighted to have been asked to serve as part of the Center for Christogenesis Board along with each of you. I have long been inspired by the work and vision of the Center. I look forward to learning from each of you and to helping to spread the Centerâs important message to our world â a world that is hungering to experience the love of God in new ways.
Tara DeNuccio
Tara DeNuccio is living in exploration of the Divine invitation to experience God ever more fully in our shared humanity and unity with all of life. Early in her career as a registered nurse opened Tara to the sanctity of life and recognition of the transformative power of presence and compassionate care. Acute and terminal care for children and their families brought forward the essence of spiritual teachings and practices of her formative years. Called to care for those in need â bearing witness to suffering while offering a measure of relief from suffering.
As a mother of four, Tara has been blessed to experience the depth of mutual love shared between mother and child, to see the beauty of life carried forward and expressed anew through each of them. She is currently in practice as an Integral and Somatic Coach, with a focus on embodied presence, human development, spirituality, trauma integration and healing, and intergenerational wisdom. Impacted by teachers from a variety of fields, Tara has been drawn to the work of Ilia Delio and the Center for Christogenesis as spirituality and science converge and co-evolve, inspiring collective re-imagining of what is possible through our conscious participation in Divinityâs unfolding.
Gregory R. Hansell
Gregory R. Hansell is an executive leader and systems thinker working at the intersection of technology, operations, and evolutionary spirituality. His work approaches organizations as complex, evolving systems, integrating technological literacy, operational leadership, and process-oriented thinking shaped by long-standing engagement with complexity science, process philosophy, and the spirituality of love.
Gregory currently serves as Co-CEO and Chief Technology Officer of Alden Investment Group, where he oversees enterprise technology, general operations, and organizational infrastructure. He previously served as Executive Director of the Center for Christogenesis, where he co-led organizational transformation, digital growth, and revenue stabilization, and as Managing Director of Global Communications and IT at the Metanexus Institute. Gregory is co-editor (with William Grassie) of H+/â: Transhumanism and Its Critics (2011), an interdisciplinary volume examining the ethical, theological, and cultural implications of human enhancement and posthuman futures. His ongoing interests include the spiritual horizons of emerging technologies, the future of human becoming, and the role of institutions in participating wisely in evolutionary processes.
Gregory holds a BA in Religion and Interpretation Theory from Swarthmore College and an MA in Theology from Union Theological Seminary.
Libby Osgood
Sister Libby (Elizabeth) Osgood, CND, PhD, P. Eng. is an Associate Professor in Sustainable Design Engineering at the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI). She is a religious sister with the Congregation of Notre Dame de Montreal. Libby worked as an aerospace engineer supporting the design of two NASA satellites: FERMI and LandSat 8.
In 2010, she moved to Prince Edward Island, Canada to teach engineering design at UPEI and gained her Professional Engineering designation. While teaching, she earned her PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her research interests include: Science and Faith, Teilhard de Chardin, Engineering Education, and Design Pedagogy. She is the engineering course advisor and coordinator of the Engineering Success Centre, employing nine students who support the educational needs of engineering students. She co-edited a Book of Hours published by Orbis, which collected the writings of Teilhard de Chardin into prayers.
Hillary Raining
The Rev. Dr. Hillary Raining serves as the Rector of St. Columbaâs, Washington, DC. An accomplished scholar and writer, she holds a Master of Divinity from Yale and a Doctor of Ministry from Drew University. Her academic work explores reconciliation, liturgy, and Indigenous theology.
She is the founder of The Hive, an award-winning nonprofit and global online community dedicated to spirituality and wellness. Known for her holistic approach to ministry, Hillary is also a spiritual director, forest therapist, and yoga instructor who remains a frequent contributor to national Episcopal publications and podcasts.
Heidi Russell
Heidi Russell, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Pastoral Studies of Loyola University Chicago. She received her Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Marquette University and her M.Div./M.A. from Washington Theological Union. Her areas of research include Christian anthropology, Trinitarian theology, and a special interest in the relationship between science and theology, specifically in the fields of neuroscience and quantum physics. She is the author of Human Flourishing in a World of Trauma and Stress, Source of All Love: Trinity and Catholicity, as well as Quantum Shift: Theological and Pastoral Implications of Contemporary Developments in Science and The Heart of Rahner. She has published articles in Theological Studies, Horizons, Science and Theology, Buddhist Christian Studies and Philosophy and Theology. She has also published in National Catholic Reporter, US Catholic, and Scientific American.
WISR Partners
WISR is a global initiative formed by a network of partnerships around the world. We encourage you to explore the following partners for their offerings and events.
The American Teilhard Association, since its foundation in 1967, is committed to making the thought and vision of Teilhard more widely available. The Association seeks to bring an encompassing perspective to this great task of shaping the well-being of the Earth community at a time when so many disintegrating forces are at work. Teilhardâs vision of the sequential evolution of the universe provides a firm and inspiring basis upon which to envision a sustainable future. Find out more at teilharddechardin.org.
The British Teilhard Network promotes the work and vision of the priest-scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin â a vision of love, of fire, of convergence, of a world in evolution energised by spirit, a vision of dynamism and direction â of a universe in movement towards its ultimate consummation or completion in a âuniversal cosmic centreâ or âcentre of centresâ. They offer information, resources, reading lists, and event listings on their website at www.teilhard.org.uk.
The Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) supports a new reformationâfrom the inside. The CAC is a center for experiential education, rooted in the Gospels, encouraging the transformation of human consciousness through contemplation, and equipping people to be instruments of peaceful change in the world.
The CAC supports the world-renowned ecumenical ministry of Richard Rohr, OFM. As founder of the CAC and Academic Dean of the Living School, Fr. Richardâs teachings form the basis of the organizationâs vision and ongoing work. For more about the work and offerings of the CAC visit www.cac.org.
The Church of Conscious Harmony exists for the sole purpose of facilitating the spiritual journey for people who want to make God devotion the center of their lives while living in the ordinary world without the aid of monastery walls. As a contemplative Christian community, we encourage and support a life of daily spiritual practice, study and devotion in service to a growing awareness and experience of conscious union with the Living God.
Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault is an Episcopal priest, writer, and retreat leader. She is founding director of the Aspen Wisdom School, principal teacher for The Contemplative Society, and a core faculty member of The CAC Living School for Action and Contemplation.Cynthia travels broadly to teach and lead her unique process of transformative learning and practice at her popular Wisdom Schools. She is the author of nine books, including the most recent The Heart of Centering Prayer: Nondual Christianity in Theory and Practice. She is connected to the Wisdom Schools community at Wisdom Waypoints or you can find out more about Cynthia and her work here.
The Guild for Spiritual Guidance is a community of spiritual questioners and explorers who are committed to supporting and challenging an individualâs unique wisdom and purpose in a broader universal context.
Founded 40 years ago by cutting edge thinkers, in order to make accessible the broad spiritual teachings of depth psychology, cosmology and a wide range of sacred writings, the Guild provides a safe and hospitable place for developing the kind of listening and responding that enables the on-going process of spiritual transformation.
To learn more visit https://spiritualguidance.org/about/.
Human Energy is a nonprofit research, media, and educational organization dedicated to spreading awareness of the noosphere and addressing the techno-social dilemma in today's world. In celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Discovery of the Noosphere by the Jesuit Scientist, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Human Energy has partners with key educational institutions and leading scientists throughout to develop workshops, master classes, and lectures inspired by the breakthrough.
To learn more please visit humanenergy.io.
The Center for Process Studies (CPS) is a nonprofit think-and-action tank that conducts interdisciplinary research and education to cultivate holistic understanding for human and planetary flourishing. Founded in 1973 by John B. Cobb, Jr. and David Ray Griffin, CPS is influenced by the process-relational philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947). Accordingly, CPS programming engages three distinct, yet interrelated, areas of concern: 1) science & philosophy, 2) human experience & meaning, and 3) society & sustainability. Within and between these areas of inquiry CPS works to deepen understanding of what the world is like, what it means to be human, and how we should live.
Learn more at ctr4process.org.
