Public Health and Human Flourishing

Abstract

Abstract This chapter focuses on the impact that religious involvement has on public health and human flourishing, i.e., the achievement of complete well-being. The goal of public health efforts is on optimizing the health and well-being of both the individual and the community. Described here are six domains of human flourishing (happiness/life satisfaction, meaning/purpose, virtue/character, close social relationships, mental/physical health, financial/material stability) and four postulated major pathways that lead to this flourishing (family, education, work/employment, religious community). Also examined are challenges that threaten each of these flourishing domains and the pathways that lead to them. This is followed by a review of how religious involvement might impact these challenges, based on the research documented in this Handbook. Recommendations for future research are made, emphasizing the importance of longitudinal studies and randomized controlled trials that may help to explain how religion contributes to human flourishing on the individual and community levels.