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THE REVEREND MICHAEL DOWD is a former pastor, veteran sustainability activist, and big history / big integrity evangelist. An outspoken religious naturalist, he is the author of the bestselling bridge-building book, Thank God for Evolution: How the Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform Your Life and Our World (Viking 2008 / Plume 2009), which was endorsed by 6 Nobel Prize-winning scientists and other science luminaries, including noted skeptics, and by religious leaders across the spectrum.
Michael and his wife, Connie Barlow, an acclaimed science writer and gifted evolutionary educator, permanently travel North America and have addressed more than 1,500 religious and non-religious groups since 2002 — ranging from Unitarian Universalists and secular high school, college, and university students, to Catholic, Protestant, and Evangelical Christian churches, to New Thought, New Age, and Integral groups. They show how the science-based history of everything and everyone can be interpreted in ways that inspire people to cooperate across political and religious differences in service of a just and thriving future for all.
In December 2010 Rev. Dowd hosted the acclaimed conversation series, "The Advent of Evolutionary Christianity", and in June 2011 he and Connie launched a 5-week online course titled, "Evolutionize Your Life".
Celebrated by liberals and conservatives alike and uniquely gifted at building bridges between believers and non-believers, Michael shares "The Great Story" — humanity's common creation story — in ways that uplift and expand heart, mind, and soul. His passion is showing how a sacred view of death, human nature, and the trajectory of big history can inspire and empower each of us to live with greater integrity, joy, and zest for life.
Michael and Connie are co-creators of the leading Religious Naturalism / Epic of Evolution educational website: TheGreatStory.org and they blog at EvolutionaryTimes.org. Michael also blogs at EvolutionaryChristianity.com/blog and ThankGodforEvolution.com.
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"ONE-ON-ONE WITH MICHAEL DOWD" The documentary centers on an interview with Dowd that was conducted by the television team just before an event. Interspersed are fragments of Dowd during his actual presentation, along with excerpts of video made years ago (an obviously younger Dowd!) that are available on the Evolutionary Christianity DVD sold on this website. You can freely access online the entire, hour-long digital program Michael used as the content for that evening, with his voice overlayed, by clicking here Evolutionize Your Life".
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LEFT: Dowd at Agape Spiritual Center, Los Angeles 2009 Access VIDEO of entire program. Praise for Michael's 2008 book from NOBEL LAUREATES
full list of endorsements
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Thank God for Evolution
Endorsed by 6 NOBEL LAUREATES and other science luminaries, including noted skeptics, and by religious leaders across the spectrum
Visit the Thank God for Evolution website for
"An Evangelical Pentecostal Naturalist?!", invited post in Emergent Village Voice, 31 January 2012. "Why Understanding Our Instincts Is Vital for Living in Integrity and Unleashing Our Greatness", Dowd interviewed by Craig Hamilton for The Way of the Evolutionary Man audio series, June 2011. AUDIO. "Thank God for the New Atheists", in Skeptic Magazine Vol 16 No.2, 2011. "Thank God for the New Atheists", in Australasian Science Magazine December 2010. "Biblical Christianity Is Bankrupt", online essay published 16 August 2010; 9 pages in PDF. "Thank God for the New Atheists!" sermon delivered by Dowd at Mayflower UCC, Cathedral of Hope, and St. Paul's Episcopal in Oklahoma City, OK (Aug 1-8, 2010); 5 pages in PDF.
1:15 hr AUDIO of Michael speaking about these concepts with Craig Hamilton, as part of the "Awakening to the Impulse to Evolve" series on the website: EvolutionarySpirituality.com.
"Thomas: My Great Red Oak" chapter contributed by Dowd to The Thomas Berry Tribute of Ecozoic Reader, 2009. 2 pages in PDF.
"4 Reasons Why Nothing Matters More Than What We Think About Evolution" - 2008 This is a blogpost that is now available in PDF on this website. "Evolutionary Evangelism" - 2005 This is a contributed entry for the Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, edited by Bron Taylor, Dept. Religion, University of Florida, Gainesville. "My Road To Damascus" - 2003 (5 pages) First published in the Spring 2003 issue of EarthLight: The Magazine of Spiritual Ecology, this essay explores Michael's personal journey from a worldview that did not accept evolution to one that completely embraces it, without diminishing his faith. in PDF. "A Great Story Perspective on the UCC Statement of Faith" - 1990 (8 pages) An interpretation of the United Church of Christ Statement of Faith, in light of the epic of evolution, biblical revelation, tradition, and personal life experience. It was originally Michael's ordination paper. Full text "Ecozoic Activism" EarthLight, 2001 - (2 pages) The inner work that will guide environmental activism toward, what Thomas Berry calls, the Ecozoic Era (co-written with Connie Barlow). Full text in PDF "The New Cosmology: Understanding the Gaia Hypothesis" - 1998 (2 pages) published in the June/July issue of Simply Living; available online in PDF "Earth or 'the earth': What's in a Name?" - 1991 (2 pages) Have you ever heard anyone refer to our celestial neighbors as "the mars", "the jupiter", or "the venus,"? Of course not. Why, then, refer to the physical ground of our being as "the earth"? This short essay suggests that how we refer to our home planet is far more than a matter of semantics. It is ultimately a question of honor, which, as Thomas Berry argues, may be the most important issue before us as we enter the twenty-first century. Full text
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