I am excited and grateful(!) to be working with Dr Mara van der Lugt as well as a team of psychologists for this new project, generously funded by the John Templeton Foundation. We will be looking at a number of philosophical questions that I hope will shed some light on how we live our lives and our understanding of our existence.
Dr King-Ho Leung, Lecturer in Theology, Philosophy and the Arts
17 April 2025
Dr King-Ho Leung receives John Templeton Foundation grant for 'Existential Gratitude and Spirituality'
The Templeton grant is awarded for a collaboration between the University of St Andrews and King’s College London.
The John Templeton Foundation will fund Dr King-Ho Leung (King's) and Dr Mara van der Lugtas (University of St Andrews) and will run from Sep 2025 to May 2028.
The funded project titled 'Existential Gratitude and Spirituality’, focuses on what it means to say that we are thankful or grateful for being alive and existing in the world. 'When we say that we are grateful, we normally not only mean that we are grateful for something, but also grateful to someone or something. But does this apply to the gratitude for existence itself—what we may call ‘existential gratitude’? In traditional theistic religions, existential gratitude—the gratitude for existence—is often construed as a gratitude to God or to some divine creator who gave us our existence. But what about those who are non-theists today?' How might we understand the expression of existential gratitude among those who do not believe in a god or deity to whom they are grateful for their existence? Bringing together insights from philosophy, psychology, theology and religious studies, the project will look at how we might make sense of the gratefulness for being alive and existence.
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Lecturer in Theology, Philosophy and the Arts