Description
Religious Studies, Theology, and Human Flourishing explores the implications of religious studies and theology for well-being, illuminating connections between theory, pedagogy, and practice with nuance and depth. Contributors to the volume, part of The Humanities and Human Flourishing series, construct and critique various conceptualizations of well-being and different approaches to its cultivation, both inside and outside of the classroom. From north India to the buckle of the American Bible Belt, the volume provides a variety of perspectives on approaches to the cultivation of well-being, including formations of the ideal life and the perfect death in antiquity and modernity in the Muslim world; constructions of existential meaning, purpose, and goodness in pastoral theology, care, and counseling; and skepticism surrounding understandings of religion and spirituality in positive psychology, among others.
Table of Contents
Series Editor ForewordIntroduction: Aporias and Affordances: An Introduction to the Study of Religion, Theology, and Human Flourishing - Justin McDanielPart I: Aporias: Defining and Debating Religious Studies, Theology, and Positive PsychologyChapter 1: Sometimes Pessimism Is Good for the Soul: Human Flourishing and a Plea for Complexity - Pamela Cooper-WhiteChapter 2: Augustine of Hippo's Eudaemonic Counsel - Ellen CharryChapter 3: Discerning the Good Life: Theology and the Humanities - Matthew CroasmunPart II: Affordances: New Ways of Teaching and Learning Religious Studies and Theology after the Eudaimonic TurnChapter 4: Sanmati, the Art of 'Generous Disposition': Flourishing Amidst Religious Difference - Leela PrasadChapter 5: Suffering, Joy, and Wonder: Turning toward the Fullness of Life - Mary Clark MoschellaChapter 6: Teaching Islamic Sources of the Self - Noah SalomonChapter 7: From the Head to the Heart: Rethinking Approaches to Teaching Buddhism at a Regional State University in the Bible Belt - Jeffrey SamuelsChapter 8: Can 'Spiritual Fitness' be Bad for You?: Lessons from a Military Experiment - Steven WeitzmanChapter 9: Lab Courses for the Humanities: Monastic Living and Existential Despair - Justin McDanielIndex
