Episode Details

For this episode, we step back to explore some of the current thinking and research on the subject of human flourishing with our guest Brendan W. Case who is Associate Director of Research at the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University's Institute for Quantitative Social Science. Brendan brings a unique perspective to this topic as a Doctor in Theology and our conversation ranged broadly to include such topics as the advantages and pleasures of being a generalist, the crisis of loneliness in the lives of young people and seniors, and the difference between flourishing and happiness. Stick around to the end to get advice from an Ivy League researcher on how to pursue flourishing in your own life as a young person!

Brendan W. Case, Th.D., serves as Associate Director for Research at the Human Flourishing Program, working both to develop integrative research strategies that draw together explorations of human flourishing from across the social sciences and humanities, and to disseminate the Program's work through external partnerships and public events. Dr. Case is the author of The Accountable Animal: Justice, Justification, and Judgment (T&T Clark, 2021), and co-author (with William Glass) of Least of the Apostles: Paul and His Legacies in Earliest Christianity (forthcoming from Pickwick Press). His work has also appeared in journals such as Modern Theology, Studies in Christian Ethics, Franciscan Studies, and Pro Ecclesia, and he is also a regular contributor to The Church Life Journal, among other popular outlets. His works in-progress include a long-term project to develop a theological account of love that brings fundamental Christian convictions into conversation with classic debates in moral philosophy and contemporary debates in the social and behavioral sciences. Before coming to Harvard, he completed his Th.D. at Duke Divinity School, and served as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion.

Links:

The Human Flourishing Program: https://hfh.fas.harvard.edu/