Today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow: A case study for the psychology of joy

ABSTRACT

I articulate some of the similarities between field building in the theology of joy and the psychology of joy, using the history of the positive psychology movement as a model for advancing scholarship within an academic discipline.

KEYWORDS:

• Joy
• the positive
• positive psychology
• theology
• Seligman

Acknowledgment

This article was made possible through the support of a grant from the Templeton Religion Trust. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Templeton Religion Trust.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. It might help the reader to know some of the roles I have played in positive psychology since meeting Martin Seligman at that first conference in Washington, D.C. In 2005, Seligman invited me to join him in the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania to help develop and then direct and teach in the first degree program in positive psychology: the Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP). I currently serve as Professor of Practice and Director of Education in the Positive Psychology Center. Since the founding of the International Positive Psychology Association in 2007, I have served as its Executive Director, and I am an Advisory Board member of the International Positive Education Network. More recently, I have founded the Humanities and Human Flourishing Project, which works with a wide network of humanities scholars and empirical researchers to study well-being effects of engagement in the arts and humanities. In addition, I have written, co-written, or co-edited a number of books and articles in the field, including a pair of articles (Pawelski, 2016a, 2016b) I published in this journal on defining the ‘positive’ in positive psychology. It is from these vantage points that I offer my observations about the field of positive psychology.

2. For more information, visit www.humanitiesandhumanflourishing.org.

Additional information

Funding

This article was made possible through the support of a grant from the Templeton Religion Trust. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Templeton Religion Trust.