Religious and Non-Religious Perspectives on Happiness and Wellbeing

This book explores the theme of happiness and well-being from religious, spiritual, philosophical, psychological, humanistic, and health perspectives. Taking a non-binary approach, it considers how happiness in particular has been understood and appropriated in religious and non-religious strands of thought. The chapters offer incisive insight from a variety of perspectives, including humanism, atheism and major religions such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism. Together they demonstrate that although worldviews might vary substantially, there are concurrences across religious and non-religious perspectives on happiness that provide a common ground for further cross-cultural and interreligious exploration. What the book makes clear is that happiness is not a static or monolithic category. It is an ongoing process of being and becoming, striving and seeking, living ethically and meaningfully, as well as arriving at a tranquil state of being. This multifaceted volume makes a fresh contribution to the contemporary study of happiness and is valuable reading for scholars and students from religious studies and theology, including those interested in interreligious dialogue and the psychology of religion, as well as positive psychology.

Sharada Sugirtharajah is Honorary Senior Research Fellow, Department of Theology and Religion, University of Birmingham, England.

Introduction-Sharada Sugirtharajah; 1 Humanism and the pursuit of happiness-Andrew Copson; 2 Happiness and Wellbeing in Positive Psychology: An Evaluation and Examination with a Focus on the Virtues of Gratitude and Hope-Liz Gulliford; 3 Why I am happy to feel sad-Linda Gask; 4 Happiness and Health-Paula McGee; 5 Happiness and Judaism-Simon Dein; 6 Happiness and Well-being in Christianity-David McLoughlin; 7 Happiness and Well-being in Muslim Scripture-Amir Dastmalchian; 8 Buddhism and human flourishing - key ideas and motifs-Peter Harvey; 9 Happiness and Well-being from a Daoist Perspective-Yanxia Zhao; 10 Understanding Happiness: A Hindu Perspective-Sharada Sugirtharajah; 11 Religiosity and Happiness: Much Ado About Nothing-Ryan T. Cragun and David Speed; Conclusion-Sharada Sugirtharajah