 John B. Cobb , Jr . ( born February 9 , 1925 ) is an American theologian , philosopher , and environmentalist . Gary Dorrien has described Cobb as one of the two most important North American theologians of the twentieth century ( the other being Rosemary Radford Ruether ) . Cobb is often regarded as the preeminent scholar in the field of process philosophy and process theology — the school of thought associated with the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead . Cobb is the author of more than fifty books . In 2014 , Cobb was elected to the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences . 
