Kaira's Coming Book
The Grand Adventure: Bearing the Imago
A New Vision of God, Humanity,
and the Universe
The Grand Adventure: Bearing the Imago offers a new vision of God, the universe, and humanity, centered in the radical participation of God in humanity and humanity in God. Anchored in the imago dei as the core reality of the human person, and the imago’s faculty of imagination to capture the divine potentials that flow toward us, we discover new inspiration and renewed freedom and power to co-create, with God and with others, a future that honors life and offers hope.
Grounded in the dynamic cosmologies of evolutionary theorist Ken Wilber and process philosopher Alfred North Whitehead, and the seminal christologies of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and John B. Cobb, Jr., we build a compelling model of the universe and the human person within it. Within this new model enfolding the complementary movements of kenosis and theosis – emptying and deification – we meet a Jesus of Nazareth who is human in every way the same as all human persons, who so completely claimed and lived the imago as to release the power of the Christ as the future of all, advancing a transformative path in the world and inaugurating a new direction for human development.
Bridging Christian Tradition and
the Wisdom of the Ages
The Grand Adventure takes this new paradigm into the Christian tradition, to discover how this imago dei may shed new light on key elements of its defining story, and on the mystical expressions of its followers down the ages. The unitive experience discovered there will lead us into conversation with the ancient spiritual traditions of the East, and will bring the wisdom and experience of East and West together to create a praxis that will ground and nurture a hopeful imagination, a desire for engagement, and the work to build the world heralded by spiritual giants through the ages.
Finally, we look to the horizon, to an eschatology – as aim and end – that embraces the challenge and the promise of the imago to creatively advance into ever new and fuller expressions of God. Entertaining the images of both heaven and reincarnation from within the cosmology of imago, we arrive in the embrace of an always open future for the adventure of being and becoming within God.
What people are saying . . .
"If you are looking for a way forward in faith; if you are eager for re-presentation of the heart of Christianity, look no further than the abundant wisdom gathered together in Kaira Adam's exceptional book The Grand Adventure. Integrating cosmology, developmental psychology, consciousness studies and spiritual practices, Adam weaves together a harmonious master tapestry of truths. It's not just theoretical either. This is her lived journey and Adam's voice is a compelling invitation to discover more about yourself and the spiritual journey. You won't regret listening deeply to this new voice arising from the vast prairie of presence. "
Rev. Dr. Peter Traben Haas
Contemplative thought leader and pastor
Author of the popular series, Centering Prayers
“Kaira Adam is a new voice for students of Spirit to engage. Kaira is after nothing less than the revivifying of the language of faith, long seen spent of its power. She will not set a limit to the means and the language in which God speaks. Taking her bearings from the descriptions of reality as temporal – evolving and becoming – as portrayed by Ken Wilber, and decades earlier by Alfred North Whitehead, she offers expansive examinations of the timeful realities studied by science and the arts. And for the resolution of the tension among religions – in what they say of and do in the name of God – tensions that must surely stand in the way of true peace in the world, she points us toward that which holds us all together: the nondual God of reality. Even as such an announcement raises questions in this age defined by secularism, Adam will choose the way of religion. A revivified religion. Christianity? The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind of the Spirit, of a Creator God who is to be trusted. Kaira Adam knows the story of religion in America. One may hope the future of religion in this land will know her story too.”
Paul R. Sponheim, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, Luther Theological Seminary, St. Paul, MN
Author of Faith and Process, The Pulse of Creation, and 7 other books
“This book is adventurous in its reach to span complex thinkers like Wilber and Whitehead, multi-religious traditions, and traditions within traditions, with the goal of helping us puzzle out who we are as imago Dei. It is also, as the title suggests, an adventure for us, her readers, mirroring the actual life adventure that we travel each and every day. The author successfully achieves her adventurous goals with an enticing prose that makes challenging ideas easier to understand. She also gives readers a role in the process as she asks us questions throughout so that we are alert and responsive to the book's adventure and to our life's adventure. The reader does not have to agree with every one of the author's claims in order to benefit greatly from joining her on this journey. In fact, her conversational style encourages her readers to be true to themselves and make decisions accordingly. What could be better at a time like this when we need to find our voices, take a stand, and claim our light in the midst of the darkness of suffering and division? Her readers will be grateful for the challenge and will celebrate gaining a new stance on life as creative, restorative, and hopeful.”
Danielle Nussberger, Ph.D.
Associate Professor in Theology, Marquette University
Associate Director, Faber Center for Ignatian Spirituality, Marquette University
"A malaise of angst and cynicism is often the mood in a quickly changing world where spiritual engagement is shifting and religious participation declining. But what if we could shift into a new paradigm of adventure instead? One that offers not only an influential role for the Christian tradition but also a hopeful view for the future of the human community. The world needs a new, hopeful, and participatory cosmology. Through her extensive journey as a pastor’s daughter, into Eastern spirituality, back to Christianity through a diversity of expression, and deep study of the Christian tradition’s contemplative lineage Kaira Adam has done just that. By synthesizing the best of modern theology, integral theory, and the contemplative tradition Kaira has offered us a participatory, hopeful, and inspired cosmology that leads us deep into the adventure of being and becoming the image of God. "
Adam Luedtke, Ph.D.
Curator, The Contemplative Cathedral
Pastor of Contemplate Lincoln President,
Contemplative Community Creators Network
"When our souls and communities have become weary and threatened by deepening divisions, we are introduced to Kaira Adam, whose chosen name professes a dynamic vision that the divine Ground of All Being is being hemmed into our very humanity. The Grand Adventure speaks to our craving to reinvigorate hope for our complex and faltering world. Enticed by the vigor of a herald bearing good news, spiritual seekers of all ages and traditions will be quickly befriended and invited to explore the intersections where ancient sacred wisdom enters into dialogue with new emerging cosmologies. What we encounter there is an outpouring of robust and vital language for wholeness, oneness, and our inherent potential for co-creativity - all foundational for healing and reconciliation. It is consoling then, to be accompanied in this adventure by Kaira, whose well-traveled and tested soul paired with her life-long monastic formation and theological acumen, make her uniquely equipped to serve as a beacon for the rigors in our spiritual path-making towards hope."
Lisa Directo-Davis
Program Director, John Main Center for Christian
Contemplation, Georgetown University
Catholic Chaplain for Contemplative Practice
"At the heart of good writing is curiosity matched by the wisdom and discipline to explore where it leads. In this new book, Kaira Adam demonstrates the bounty of her commitment as a lifelong student of Christian tradition to see it anew. And as a lifelong learner herself, she writes in a way that actively engages readers in bridging her work and their own experience, inviting readers to an exciting encounter."
Victor Klimoski, Ph.D
Former Director of Lifelong Learning, St. John’s School of Theology
Co-author with Barbara Sutton,
Creating A Healthy Ministerial Workplace
Author of several books of poetry
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