Gratitude to God, Planning Phase: Psychological, Philosophical, and Theological Investigations

While considerable progress has been made in creating new spiritual information on the science and practice of gratitude, the scientific study of gratitude to God (GTG) has been virtually ignored. A few scattered studies on gratitude in the context of religion or spirituality have been published, but research on religious gratitude is opportunistic and accidental rather than systematic and intentional. This planning grant will make possible a comprehensive background study of theological, philosophical, and psychological foundations of gratitude to God. Work in Phase 1 will include recruiting members of the core advisory team, organizing and holding a strategic planning meeting, preparing a systematic review (white paper) of the concept of gratitude to God as it has been conceptualized in psychological sciences and in relevant theological and philosophical writings, conducting initial experimental research on GTG, and developing RFPs that will fund empirical and nonempirical projects on the nature of gratitude to God in Phase 2. The overall goal of both phases, taken together, is to support, catalyze, and disseminate innovative ideas in the study of gratitude to God in psychology, theology, and philosophy and in so doing, address a significant omission in the existing science of gratitude, almost all of it heretofore exclusively focused on interpersonal expressions.