Life Worth Living

What does it mean for a life to go well? What would it look like for a life to be lived well? In short, what shape could a life worth living take? What does a flourishing life look like? These questions have been central to human existence and intellectual endeavor for millennia. Indeed, this kind of questioning seems to be a universal aspect of human experience. What can we learn about ourselves from these efforts? Life Worth Living explores approaches to these questions through engagement with the textual heritage of diverse religious traditions. As part of our exploration, we will look at how selves are formed and shaped, different ways of managing pluralism within societies, and what it means to live communally. We will read works of theology, philosophy, history, and biography from ancient Mesopotamia, India, China, the Middle East, and the United States in our attempt to see how we might aspire to live lives worth living.