“O’er the hilltops is the word of God” – Abraham Joshua Heschel’s prototypical self-defining memory and its relationship to his vision of the good life

•Applies narrative identity analysis to prototypical self-defining memory of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.•An example of a psychobiographical case study connecting to conceptions of the Good Life.•Explores where spiritual dimensions of human experience fit in the field of personality. Abraham Heschel (1907–1972) was a Jewish theologian and rabbi who grew up in Poland, received a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Berlin, and fled from the Nazis to the United States prior to World War II. Heschel was widely respected for his books about human beings’ engaged relationship with God and later for his civil rights and anti-war activism. His most enduring message was that religion's truth lies not in purging of sin or worshipping divine perfection, but in recognition of God’s intimate and felt presence in human lives.This articleillustrates how Heschel’s narrative identity and perspective on the “good life” can be traced through a specific evocative self-defining memory from his life, a “prototypical scene.” A psychobiographical analysis demonstrates how this memory meets all five criteria of the prototypical scene. The analysis draws on Heschel’s books, poetry, and essays, multiple secondary sources, and interviews with his biographer, Edward Kaplan and his daughter, Susannah Heschel. It also contrasts Heschel vision of a “God-centered” life with contemporary psychological perspectives on what constitutes a “good life.” It concludes by highlighting how narrative memory analysis can provide depth and dimension to personality psychology.