Back to the Future: Volf’s Eschatological Vision of Flourishing for a Psychology of Thriving

Abstract

In this article, we aim to explain how Miroslav Volf’s theology of flourishing provides a new vision for psychologists. As the Henry B. Wright Professor and Founder and Director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, Volf is recognized as one of the most influential living theologians. His recent work offers a theology of human flourishing based in an eschatological vision of God’s homecoming, the unification of the Creator with His created. For Volf, the end provides a telos, a purpose, and direction, for current human life. He asserts that although proleptic, flourishing occurs simultaneously within the two eschatological “already” and “not yet” realities through the inbreaking of the Holy Spirit in the context of love. The true life is a life led well, going well, and feeling as God intends and is characterized by love, peace, and joy. In this article, we summarize Volf’s theology of the homecoming of God and human flourishing and bridge the disciplines of theology and psychology, by discussing how the psychology of thriving toward the telos of the Reciprocating Self provides a heuristic for psychologists. The heuristic offers psychologists a guide for research and clinical work that is aligned with Volf’s eschatological vision.