Today, happiness and wellbeing are trending topics. But the history of happiness and wellbeing are less studied and less well-understood. This summer, the will host a major international conference on the history of emotional flourishing in early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Organised by ӰԺ Associate Professor Dr Karen Bauer and funded by the and the , the event takes place on Tuesday 7 and Wednesday 8 July 2026. The conference is co-convened by Dr Bauer (PI) alongside of and of . It is expected to bring together a distinguished group of international scholars.
Rethinking the history of happiness
Today, the concept of happiness is widely understood in the English-speaking world as both a positive feeling and a positive value — something to be actively pursued. Yet this association is historically contingent. The meaning and moral status of happiness have long been subjects of debate, particularly in early religious discussions of the relationship between virtue, the state of being good, and pleasure, the feeling of goodness.
Despite growing scholarly interest in the history of happiness and flourishing, there have been surprisingly few comparative investigations of emotional ideals across religious traditions. This conference addresses that gap directly, bringing together specialists in early Jewish, Christian, and Islamic thought to explore what flourishing meant before the ideal of pursuing happiness became dominant in western culture
Conference themes and scope
Participants will consider how ideals of emotional flourishing developed over time within each tradition, how they intersected and influenced one another across religious communities, and what social and moral functions they served. The conference thus offers a significant contribution to the interdisciplinary study of human happiness, flourishing, and wellbeing — illuminating a rich and understudied intellectual history.
The keynote address will be delivered by , a leading historian of the idea of happiness. Other speakers include Daniel An, Andrew Crislip, David Lambert, Erez deGolan, Eyad AbuAli, Françoise Mirguet, Julia Bray, Han Hsien Liew, Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, Katherine Hockey, Katharina Heyden, Kylie Crabbe, Nancy Khalek, and Sara Kipfer — scholars drawn from institutions across North America, Europe, West Asia, and East Asia.
About the convenors
Dr Karen Bauer (PhD, Princeton) is Associate Professor in Qur’anic Studies at ӰԺ. Her research focuses on the Qur’an and its reception history, the history of emotions, and women and gender in the Qur’an and Islamic thought. Her publications include Women, Households, and the Hereafter in the Qur’an: A Patronage of Piety (Oxford University Press, 2023, co-authored with Feras Hamza) and (Cambridge University Press, 2015). The history of emotions is the focus of her current research.
(PhD, Louvain) is Associate Professor of Ancient Hebrew and the History of Emotions at . Her research focuses on emotions and the history of the self in late antique Jewish literature. Her book An Early History of Compassion: Emotion and Imagination in Hellenistic Judaism (Cambridge University Press, 2017) is a key contribution to the field.
(PhD, Yale University) is Assistant Professor of Church History at in Seoul, South Korea. His research focuses on the social history of early Christianity in West Asia, drawing on archaeological materials and textual sources in Greek, Syriac, and Coptic. His first book, Fear of God: Practicing Emotion in Late Antique Monasticism, was published by the University of California Press in 2025.
Attending the conference
The conference takes place on 7–8 July 2026 at the Aga KhanA title granted by the Shah of Persia to the then Ismaili Imam in 1818 and inherited by each of his successors to the Imamate. Centre, 10 Handyside Street, London, N1C 4DN. The venue is fully wheelchair accessible. Tickets and further information, including the full programme, are available via the .
