2021

Gratitude in Islam and Christianity

Dr. Mona Siddiqui

RECENT PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA

 

Professor Mona Siddiqui is hosting a new University of Edinburgh series called ‘Living Gratefully’ in which well-known guests discuss gratitude, relationships and public discourse. Living Gratefully Podcast, Buzzsprout

 

October 2019, Faith and Leadership, ‘Mona Siddiqui: Gratitude in Islam and Christianity’

October 2019, Ecumenical Trends, ‘Love, Power, Indebtedness: A Dispatch on Gratitude as an Interreligious Problematic’

2018 – PROGRAM HISTORY

Dr. Mona Siddiqui will lead a series of scholarly consultations that will explore the subject of gratitude in Christianity and Islam. Both faiths generally see gratitude as an imperative in our relationship to God even if the respective narratives are different. Yet recent research shows that over the last 2 centuries, there has been a steady decline of theological and philosophical interest in gratitude, plateauing in both world wars and declining thereafter. While some philosophical discussions on gratitude question whether gratitude is indeed a moral virtue like kindness or generosity, the concept has recently become a focus of psychological research. This research has found that appreciating the obvious good things in life results in appreciating life as a whole, good and bad. This has a positive effect on interpersonal relationships, which can potentially be extended to the public sphere, expanding our willingness to share this space with others whose presence we find challenging.