Martin E. P. Seligman’s pioneering work on learned helplessness, emerging from experiments with Steven F. Maier in the late 1960s and synthesized in Helplessness (1975), showed that when people (and animals) repeatedly experience uncontrollable adversity, they may learn to stop trying, impairing motivation, learning, and emotional health. Building on this, the reformulated learned helplessness theory (Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978) and the concept of explanatory style (Peterson & Seligman, 1984; Seligman, 1990) revealed that the way we explain setbacks, whether pessimistically as permanent, pervasive, and personal, or optimistically as temporary, specific, and changeable, profoundly shapes resilience, hope, and wellbeing. From a Christian perspective, this science resonates with Scripture’s call to renewed thinking and active hope. Believers are urged to be transformed by the renewing of the mind (Romans 12:2), to guard the heart and thoughts (Proverbs 4:23), and to trust that trials need not define identity or destiny because life and flourishing are God’s intention (John 10:10). Such passages echo the empirical finding that interpretations matter and can be trained toward hope without denying suffering. The value of Seligman’s work for personal wellbeing lies in empowering individuals to reclaim agency through learned optimism, reducing depression and fostering perseverance, while its societal benefit is seen in healthier schools, workplaces, and communities that cultivate responsibility, compassion, and constructive action, an integration of scientific insight and faith-informed wisdom that affirms human dignity, accountability, and the possibility of renewal.