It was, Miroslav Volf declared, an uplifting culmination. As the Divinity School professor and Center for Faith & Culture director welcomed 200 people to a sold-out capstone conference at YDS earlier this summer, there was much to reflect on and celebrate.
Since launching in 2015 with a $4.2 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation(link is external), the Center’s study of joy and the good life has cultivated promising new ground for theological inquiry. The project has reached hundreds of scholars, spawned courses and research projects at dozens of institutions, and produced videos that have attracted more than 330,000 views, among other accomplishments.
None of which should be especially surprising given the richness and magnitude of the subject, described by Volf as the “great question of our time”: What does it mean to experience human flourishing and fullness?