Through theoretical, conceptual, normative, and empirical inquiry conducted by a team of leading scholars from philosophy, psychology, and sociology, this project addresses questions about the nature and value of spiritual yearning and its causes and effects. It does so through the lens of the concept of “spiritual alienation,” which is the state of being estranged from the place of our spiritual fulfillment. This has perennial and modern aspects, but the focus here is on the contemporary spiritual seeker who is “spiritual but not religious,” that is, someone who is alienated from the traditional forms of religious belonging in which people have addressed their spiritual yearnings.
This project seeks to make an important contribution to our understanding of spiritual yearnings by showing how they are integrally connected with the experience of spiritual alienation, as the latter gives rise to the former. It will also explore how these yearnings can be met and thus how spiritual alienation can be overcome. In these ways, this project aims to shape future discussions of spiritual and existential issues in philosophy, psychology, sociology, and other disciplines.
Along with three big public events with renowned speakers, there will be two workshops involving the project team that will result in an edited volume, Spiritual Yearning in a Secular Age: Philosophical, Psychological, and Sociological Perspectives (intended for Oxford University Press). The project leader will also produce a ten-chapter book monograph, Spiritual Alienation and the Quest for God, and a team member will finish a project-related book monograph (The End of Desire: Meaning, Nihilism, and God) with a funded sabbatical (both intended for OUP). Additionally, the project leader will produce several public engagement pieces in major media outlets, mentor a two-year postdoc, and develop a “Quest” course (a required core course at the University of Florida) on “The Search for Meaning in a Secular Age.”
