Publications
On 'Deep Accountability'
Gary Gunderson & James Cochrane
This short book offers seven clarifying lenses on what it means to be deeply accountable for the life of complex human ecosystems. It deals with the human capacities that allow us to act in and transform the world we inhabit, the radical nature of joy in the face of despair, the judgement of Nemesis on hubris and privilege, the ‘value of everything’ contra price as definitive, the idea of involution beyond evolution, the concept of ‘meshworks’ in our entanglement with others, and, lastly, the ‘theatre of the soul’ as the unity of the physical, the psychological, the political and the spiritual. Taken together, going beyond more limited forms of accountability in our institutional, organizational or social activities, these lenses ground the notion of deep accountability as key to human flourishing and well-being.
On Religion & Health
Pathways for a Turbulent Future
This Handbook invites you into a field of thought and practice only partially explored, still very much open. Three things set it apart. First, it focuses on communal, public, population and planetary health - not, like many others, on the clinical impact of religion or spirituality on individual, personal health. Second, it raises questions about normative ideas/approaches presently dominating research, writing, and practice around "religion and health" - not least, the conjunction of these two concepts. Third, while discussing existing literature and ideas, its primary interest is in new pathways vital for human health in a turbulent world in need of healing, introducing concepts or frameworks that transcend standard discourses and open up new ways of thinking, seeing and acting.
Most recent
Leading Causes of Life
Five Fundamentals to Change the Way You Live Your Life
Gary Gunderson, with Larry Pray
The original book that set out the five causes in their earliest formulation.
"Once our imagination turns from death it becomes aparent that death isn't the only thing going on out there. The Leading Causes of Life focuses in on five powerful concepts: Connection, Coherence, Agency, Blessing, and Hope."
Religion & the Health of the Public
Shifting the Paradigm
Gary Gunderson & James Cochrane
Proposes a critical theory of religion in public health. Tracing some key moments in its history, it argues for a programmatic reorientation of the two fields of practice and inquiry through a more effective alignment of widely present religious health assets with public health services and facilities, including the role of bound-ary leadership in systems and institu-tions, and the significance of the leading causes of life approach.
Essential
Speak Life
Crafting Mercy in a Hard-Hearted Time
Gary Gunderson
Beyond merely sharing smart approaches to what is now called population health and addressing mission-focused, charitable and faith-based healthcare organizations, Gunderson thinks that the movement's real fuel is the conviction that together they can build communities in which every person counts, where no one is left out, and no one suffers needlessly because of institutionalized unfairness. "Speak Life" will give thoughtful readers plentiful opportunities to explore their own hopes for abundant life, for themselves and for those with whom they share life in community.
The Human Spirit
Groundwork
Doug McGaughey & James Cochrane
"The human spirit is universal, not the privi-leged possession of the clever or geniuses of our world. It is the ground for any and all justice and virtue. Our very freedom depends upon it. This book provides the groundwork for understand-ing why, establishing a foundational perspective on the human spirit, and responding to potential misunderstand-ings from the side of other disciplines and viewpoints. It also shows how this grounding perspective on the human spirit can inform any particular tradition and institution, including those of science and religious faith."
See2See Road Trip
Soundings
"See2See Road Trip" was motivated by frustrations at how little anyone really learns from conference presentations or papers about the hard, demanding work people do on the ground. In projects, programs, groups, and movements, taken on because those on the ground love their communities enough to want to change the patterns of poor health or human conditions that hurt and harm those in their midst. What the authors saw and heard, where they went, and what they learned travelling across the US South is what this book is about.
Thriving Together
A Springboard for Equitable Recovery & Resilience
IN 2020, more than 100 people and organizations diverted their daily work to help craft Thriving Together: A Springboard for Equitable Recovery and Resilience in Communities Across America. The Springboard is designed to help open a new chapter in America’s quest for well-being and justice — to propel a movement that will match the high stakes of this legacy moment. The guiding framework used in this Springboard does not tell us what to do or how to act. It simply organizes the things that all people and places need in order to thrive.
Generative Leadership
Releasing Life in a Turbulent World
Every single aspect of every corner of every human institution and network is in radical and dynamic change. Yet too many leaders we have are not only failing us but are a danger to humanity, focused on self-seeking ways and powers that seem to be able to ride the waves of change while staying aloft on their privileges. The fruit of 18 months of intense, lively collaboration by 23 people from 7 countries on 5 continents, this Bare-foot Guide is not about heroic leadership but, quite the opposite, about leadership that works generatively with life.