Jesus and Well Being ─ A Spiritual and Psychological Good News Story

The author begins and ends with the challenging question that many ask today: How do our lives make sense in light of the life of Jesus?

Drawing on Jesus's gospel parables and sayings and Paul's letters, each chapter invites readers to explore the virtues of wisdom, love, justice, courage, temperance and transcendence. Jesus's 1st century life deserves our continuing study as we develop a truly mindful spirituality for 21st century well being.

Professor McGovern's distinguished teaching and scholarly life work is clearly evident as he artistically weaves together so many threads to enable the reader to create their own spiritual tapestries. This book will inspire readers with lifelong traditional commitments as well as those who may currently identify as "spiritual but not religious." Thought provoking ideas. Pragmatic applications. A good story. Transformative.

A gifted teacher and thought-provoking writer, Tom McGovern illuminates the connections between Jesus and well being, inviting diverse audiences to discover deeper understandings of their lives and a mindful spirituality.

He was a founding faculty member and arts and sciences director at Arizona State University West where he developed interdisciplinary liberal arts programs for multigenerational and multicultural students. After a career as a scholar-teacher and administrator at Fordham University, Southern Illinois University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and ASU, he teaches now at the University of Southern Maine's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

A fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and the American Psychological Association, his recognitions include: Professor of the Year in Arizona by the CASE / Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, VCU Distinguished Teaching Award, ASU Outstanding Service Award, Riese Melton Award for Cross-Cultural Relations, and Fordham's Jouin Award in Theology. The American Psychological Association named him a G. Stanley Hall Lecturer at their centennial convention.

Author of "Memory's Stories: Interdisciplinary Readings of Multicultural Life Narratives" and "Faculty Virtues and Character Strengths: Reflective Exercises for Sustained Renewal", he has published on counseling psychology, undergraduate education, professional and personal development, and the virtues and character strengths. He reviews books on liberal arts topics for "America" and for "PsycCRITIQUES".

Tom has been graced by lifelong friendships, an academic life rich with faculty colleagues and student accomplishments, and by his wife and best friend of 53 years, Pat, their three children, and his newest independent studies scholar, granddaughter Margaret.