The Virtue of Gratitude in Theological and Psychological Perspective
Christopher Jones, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Moral Theology, Barry University
The virtue of gratitude promotes mental health and corrects harmful psychological dispositions such as despair and anxiety. This paper argues that an account of gratitude that integrates insights from Christian theology and contemporary psychology achieves two things. First, it helps to clarify the nature of gratitude as a moral disposition connected with psychological, social, and spiritual wellbeing. Second, it provides a set of practices that can cultivate gratitude, curb despair and anxiety, and thereby enhance mental health and human flourishing.
Christian theologians have long recognized the importance of gratitude in the moral and spiritual life. St. Thomas Aquinas holds that gratitude is a virtue of justice with respect to religion, which leads one to worship and give thanks to God. Karl Barth contends that gratitude is the proper human response to God’s grace that shapes the dispositions of love and joy. Ingratitude, then, is not only a spiritual problem—for it fosters hatred rather than love of God, self, and neighbor—it is also a factor in mental health, as it leads to negative dispositions like despondency. Taken together, Aquinas and Barth show how cultivating gratitude supports psychological, social, and spiritual wellbeing.
Contemporary psychologists likewise affirm that gratitude enhances mental health. Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough argue that gratitude is an affective trait and a habitual moral disposition that shapes behavior and psychological functioning in positive ways. In their view, gratitude: (a) attunes one to the gifts of benefactors, which makes one feel loved and cared for; (b) inclines one to promote the wellbeing of others; (c) awakens and deepens spirituality; and (d) reduces anxiety and stress. As such, gratitude contributes to—rather than just correlates with—mental health by fostering psychological, social, and spiritual wellbeing. Positive psychologists describe those who attain high levels of these various kinds of wellbeing as “flourishing,” moderate levels as “languishing,” and deficient levels as “struggling.”
Conjoining these perspectives yields a set of practices that cultivate gratitude and human flourishing. The Christian tradition holds that gratitude is developed by adopting habits of prayer (which orients one to God) and service (which supports others). For example, meditative prayer reflects on God’s goodness, affective prayer offers thanksgiving for God’s blessings, and contemplative prayer enjoys God’s love. These spiritual practices shape gratitude for the good things in one’s life, and encourage concrete acts of service that enhance the wellbeing of others. Contemporary psychology likewise shows how practices like prayer and service nurture gratitude and the various kinds of wellbeing associated with human flourishing. For example, some studies show that certain kinds of religious belief and practice are a predictor and promoter of mental health, and others show that exemplars of service exhibit virtues like gratitude to a greater degree than most people. There are, then, deep connections between theological and psychological conceptions of gratitude. Integrating these conceptions can, therefore, help to develop gratitude and support mental health.
The virtue of gratitude promotes mental health and corrects harmful psychological dispositions such as despair and anxiety. This paper argues that an account of gratitude that integrates insights from Christian theology and contemporary psychology achieves two things. First, it helps to clarify the nature of gratitude as a moral disposition connected with psychological, social, and spiritual wellbeing. Second, it provides a set of practices that can cultivate gratitude, curb despair and anxiety, and thereby enhance mental health and human flourishing.
Christian theologians have long recognized the importance of gratitude in the moral and spiritual life. St. Thomas Aquinas holds that gratitude is a virtue of justice with respect to religion, which leads one to worship and give thanks to God. Karl Barth contends that gratitude is the proper human response to God’s grace that shapes the dispositions of love and joy. Ingratitude, then, is not only a spiritual problem—for it fosters hatred rather than love of God, self, and neighbor—it is also a factor in mental health, as it leads to negative dispositions like despondency. Taken together, Aquinas and Barth show how cultivating gratitude supports psychological, social, and spiritual wellbeing.
Contemporary psychologists likewise affirm that gratitude enhances mental health. Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough argue that gratitude is an affective trait and a habitual moral disposition that shapes behavior and psychological functioning in positive ways. In their view, gratitude: (a) attunes one to the gifts of benefactors, which makes one feel loved and cared for; (b) inclines one to promote the wellbeing of others; (c) awakens and deepens spirituality; and (d) reduces anxiety and stress. As such, gratitude contributes to—rather than just correlates with—mental health by fostering psychological, social, and spiritual wellbeing. Positive psychologists describe those who attain high levels of these various kinds of wellbeing as “flourishing,” moderate levels as “languishing,” and deficient levels as “struggling.”
Conjoining these perspectives yields a set of practices that cultivate gratitude and human flourishing. The Christian tradition holds that gratitude is developed by adopting habits of prayer (which orients one to God) and service (which supports others). For example, meditative prayer reflects on God’s goodness, affective prayer offers thanksgiving for God’s blessings, and contemplative prayer enjoys God’s love. These spiritual practices shape gratitude for the good things in one’s life, and encourage concrete acts of service that enhance the wellbeing of others. Contemporary psychology likewise shows how practices like prayer and service nurture gratitude and the various kinds of wellbeing associated with human flourishing. For example, some studies show that certain kinds of religious belief and practice are a predictor and promoter of mental health, and others show that exemplars of service exhibit virtues like gratitude to a greater degree than most people. There are, then, deep connections between theological and psychological conceptions of gratitude. Integrating these conceptions can, therefore, help to develop gratitude and support mental health.