Wholeness and Evolution with Shaleen Kendrick

In this episode of Hunger for Wholeness, Ilia Delio continues her conversation with neurotheologian Shaleen Kendrick on the practical meaning of Christogenesis, wholeness, and adaptive evolution. Shaleen reflects on what she calls “evolutionary mismatch,” the gap between our rapidly changing world and the neurobiological capacities we need to meet it with wisdom, compassion, and creativity.

Together, Ilia and Shaleen explore how spirituality can become a lived practice of integration: not simply what we believe about God, but who we are and what we do each day. Drawing on neuroscience, process theology, epigenetics, and the image of living systems, Shaleen invites us to imagine people less as machines to be optimized and more as plants to be cultivated toward wholeness.

Later in the episode, the conversation turns to Christianity in transition, the need for new systems, and the possibility of “wholeness-making” as a guiding concern for families, institutions, and the planet. Shaleen also shares the metaphor of jazz as a way to understand harmony, difference, and the creative work of becoming whole in real time.

ABOUT SHALEEN KENDRICK

Rev. Dr. Shaleen Kendrick, ThD, is an emerging neurotheologian who developed the Neuro-Relational Integration™ (NRI) model—demonstrating how conscious integration across Mind–Body–Spirit neural systems can facilitate rapid adaptive evolution in how we think, act, and relate to ourselves, others, and the challenges of our time. NRI integrates neuroscience with liberation theology to show that through daily wholeness-making practices we can expand our human capacity and create new abilities that nurture not just individual flourishing but transform the systems we live in. She serves companies, practitioners, and faith communities, translating evolutionary spirituality into embodied practice—because the world needs humans who can evolve as quickly as our challenges emerge. This is Human Evolution in Practice.