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Religion and human flourishing

Religion and human flourishing
Religion and human flourishing
Can religion promote human flourishing? Existing research says yes. However, this work has largely been done within ‘WEIRD’ and Christian contexts. Might the reasons why or the answer be different elsewhere? Here, we outline how religion can contribute to flourishing among individuals and cultures using a cross-cultural approach. In five sections, we cover how religion and culture shape meaning in life, character/virtue, positive emotion, social relationships, and physical/mental health. We emphasize how little these relationships have been studied around the world and why the relationship between religion and flourishing, especially, would be aided by a cross-cultural look. We close with future directions in the study of religion and flourishing, with special attention to how and why this relationship may vary across cultural and religious groups.
1743-9760
43-58
Wormley, Alexandra S.
ef5b2a8f-d7e9-423d-8d0b-f71aaa591735
Vornlocher, Carley
f6a22ab1-afa7-4c84-a527-141125fb6928
Aglozo, Eric Y.
26d9eac4-661b-4593-9e89-127f8d57c999
Jayawickreme, Eranda
6eb90d60-3d55-409c-9513-a00983154aa8
Johnson, Kathryn A.
8a378a72-0ad2-4593-90f2-68aa40d75c7b
Moon, Jordan W.
552fac5b-2f9e-48c3-9546-a0844409098b
Cappellen, Patty Van
e45f94bd-3211-49e2-b5f1-8ae802026a34
Verma, Apoorva
56a8db71-7234-4eca-b03f-00fb6af34656
Cohen, Adam B.
7d7e1ded-a9f6-4bc5-8e72-11adc647b220
Wormley, Alexandra S.
ef5b2a8f-d7e9-423d-8d0b-f71aaa591735
Vornlocher, Carley
f6a22ab1-afa7-4c84-a527-141125fb6928
Aglozo, Eric Y.
26d9eac4-661b-4593-9e89-127f8d57c999
Jayawickreme, Eranda
6eb90d60-3d55-409c-9513-a00983154aa8
Johnson, Kathryn A.
8a378a72-0ad2-4593-90f2-68aa40d75c7b
Moon, Jordan W.
552fac5b-2f9e-48c3-9546-a0844409098b
Cappellen, Patty Van
e45f94bd-3211-49e2-b5f1-8ae802026a34
Verma, Apoorva
56a8db71-7234-4eca-b03f-00fb6af34656
Cohen, Adam B.
7d7e1ded-a9f6-4bc5-8e72-11adc647b220

Wormley, Alexandra S., Vornlocher, Carley, Aglozo, Eric Y., Jayawickreme, Eranda, Johnson, Kathryn A., Moon, Jordan W., Cappellen, Patty Van, Verma, Apoorva and Cohen, Adam B. (2023) Religion and human flourishing. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 20 (1), 43-58. (doi:10.1080/17439760.2023.2297208).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Can religion promote human flourishing? Existing research says yes. However, this work has largely been done within ‘WEIRD’ and Christian contexts. Might the reasons why or the answer be different elsewhere? Here, we outline how religion can contribute to flourishing among individuals and cultures using a cross-cultural approach. In five sections, we cover how religion and culture shape meaning in life, character/virtue, positive emotion, social relationships, and physical/mental health. We emphasize how little these relationships have been studied around the world and why the relationship between religion and flourishing, especially, would be aided by a cross-cultural look. We close with future directions in the study of religion and flourishing, with special attention to how and why this relationship may vary across cultural and religious groups.

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Published date: 24 December 2023

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 505873
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/505873
ISSN: 1743-9760
PURE UUID: 29ac9430-3cd9-486b-b0b4-a77ad1f30d62
ORCID for Jordan W. Moon: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-5102-3585

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Date deposited: 21 Oct 2025 17:06
Last modified: 25 Oct 2025 02:23

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Contributors

Author: Alexandra S. Wormley
Author: Carley Vornlocher
Author: Eric Y. Aglozo
Author: Eranda Jayawickreme
Author: Kathryn A. Johnson
Author: Jordan W. Moon ORCID iD
Author: Patty Van Cappellen
Author: Apoorva Verma
Author: Adam B. Cohen

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