#6: What is Human Flourishing and How Do We Achieve It?

Understanding what we are answers many other questions, including the nature and means of flourishing as a human being. In this episode, J.P. and Stan describe human flourishing and endeavour to reclaim the idea of flourishing as an aim beyond pleasure or mere happiness.

In this podcast we discuss:

• What it means to be made in the “Image of God”
• What types of capacities and powers we share, to a limited degree, with God
• Why only the Judeo-Christian worldview sees individuals as intrinsically valuable
• Implications of our intrinsic value for biomedical ethics and for judging other culture’s values
• Why being a human being is more than just being a certain type of biological species
• The essential capacities that make us all human
• The relationship between our essential capacities, maturity, flourishing, spiritual disciplines, excellent living, and becoming more like Christ
• Why we will always be growing in the expression of our capacities, even in the afterlife
• How understand our nature helps us understand the true meaning and purpose of life
• Our culture’s wrong definition of flourishing, leading to many of our social ills and addictions
• The role of a faith community in our journey toward full flourishing
• How finding ways to express our unique gifts relates to finding true happiness
• Identifying people who are ”good at life” and can be examples for us to follow
• The three people who have most shaped JP and Stan in understanding how to flourish
• The redemptive role pain and suffering can play in our flourishing
• The important distinction between Christian heroes and Christian “celebrities”
• JP and Stan’s personal obstacles and joys in being formed into the Image of God.

Resources mentioned during our conversation:

• Example of Western outrage over the Tiananmen Square massacre
• Stan’s article on what it is to be human and therefore to flourishing (and his recent interview on this topic)
• One of JP’s writings on what it is to be human and therefore to flourish: with Garrett J. DeWeese, Philosophy Made Slightly Less Difficult: A Beginner’s Guide to Life’s Big Questions, Chapter Two – “Substances, Essences and Natures”
• The three people most influential in Stan’s life
• P. Moreland, Finding Quiet: My Story of Overcoming Anxiety and the Practices that Brought Peace
• Stan’s College Faith Podcast interview with Roger Hershey