In this episode, Dr. Mark Turman, executive director of Denison Forum, talks with Dr. Byron Johnson, distinguished professor at Baylor University, about the Global Flourishing Study —a landmark research project following more than 200,000 people around the world. Together they explore how faith, relationships, and community shape human well-being, why this research matters, and what it can teach us about living lives of true flourishing. Dr. Johnson also shares his own story and the vision behind this ambitious project. This conversation highlights the vital connection between faith and research and offers a hopeful look at what it means to thrive as people created in God’s image. Topics (01:36): Introducing Dr. Byron Johnson (06:58): The role of religion in society (11:13): Challenges and opportunities in higher education (18:08): The Global Flourishing Study (30:39): Exploring the concept of the abundant life (33:32): Challenges in survey participation (35:03): Retrospective questions and early findings (36:14): The impact of early relationships on adult flourishing (38:16): Current status and future of the Global Flourishing Study (45:52): Global and local implications of the study (47:40): Faith and flourishing: Universal findings (53:39): The role of participation in faith communities (55:19): Conclusion and future directions Resources Ask Us Anything:
[email protected] How has Denison Forum impacted your faith? Global Flourishing Study Global Flourishing Study – Wave I Religion's Relationship to Happiness, Civic Engagement and Health | Pew Research Center Faith & Human Flourishing with Byron Johnson Can religion make you happy? Scientists may soon find out. Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion The Human Flourishing Program Center for Faith and the Common Good | Pepperdine University Center for Open Science Religious Freedom Institute About Dr. Byron Johnson Dr. Byron Johnson is Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences at Baylor University and is the founding director of the Institute for Studies of Religion and the Institute for Global Human Flourishing. Johnson is a faculty affiliate of the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University and is co-executive director of the Center for Faith and the Common Good as well as Visiting Distinguished Professor in the School of Public Policy at Pepperdine University. He is a senior scientist at the Gallup Organization, and in 2016, co-founded of the Religious Freedom Institute , based in Washington, DC. Johnson is a former member of the Coordinating Council for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (Presidential Appointment). He has been the principal investigator on grants from private foundations as well as the Department of Justice, Department of Labor, Department of Defense, National Institutes of Health, and the United States Institute for Peace, totaling more than $100 million. He is the author of more than 300 journal articles, monographs, and books. He is recognized as a leading authority on the scientific study of religion, the efficacy of faith-based organizations, and criminal justice. Recent publications have examined the impact of faith-based programs on offender treatment, drug addiction, recidivism reduction and prisoner reentry. These topics are the focus of his book More God, Less Crime: Why Faith Matters and How It Could (2011). Johnson’s work examines the ways in which religion impacts key behaviors like volunteerism, generosity, and purpose. These topics are covered in four books, The Angola Prison Seminary (2016), which evaluates the influence of a Bible College and inmate-led congregations on prisoners serving life sentences; The Quest for Purpose: The Collegiate Search for a Meaningful Life (2017), which examines the link between religion and finding purpose and meaning, and the subsequent link to academic integrity; The Restorative Prison: Essays on Inmate Peer Ministry and Prosocial Corrections (2021), which looks at the empirical evidence in support of the link between religion and the emerging subfield of positive criminology; and Objective Religion Volume 1,2, 3 (2023, 2024, 2025), which examine factors related to the importance and resilience of religion. His forthcoming book The Faith Factor and Social Welfare: Rethinking Evidence, Practice, and Polity (2025), examines evidence for the important role of religion and faith-based organizations in addressing social problems including drug/alcohol addiction, crime and delinquency, homelessness, offender rehabilitation, prison reform, and prisoner reentry. A Compendium of Global Flourishing Study Translations (2025), provides details on the elaborate process of translating the questionnaire from the Global Flourishing Study into 37 different languages. His forthcoming book The Death of Religion?: Nones, Others, and the Global Renaissance of Faith (2026), provides an empirical as well as historical argument countering the claim that religion in the United St
