News Archive
Renewal of Building Reflects Evolution of Divinity School
When the renewed Swartz Hall finally reopened its doors this semester, it welcomed members of the HDS and Harvard communities separated since the start of the pandemic to a renewed building, one that reflects a changed (and changing) Divinity School.
Reflecting on ‘The Climate of Sacred Land Protection’
In our second discussion as part of the 10-week fall series, “ Weather Reports: The Climate of Now ,” held September 27, environmentalist, author, and HDS Writer-in-Residence Terry Tempest Williams spoke with Bernadette Demienteff, an Indigenous activist...
Pastor Bodrick Formally Installed at Twelfth Baptist
Reverend Willie Bodrick II, MDiv '14, was installed as Senior Pastor at Roxbury’s Twelfth Baptist Church, making him the second-youngest pastor in the church’s 181-year history, and its youngest in the last 145 years.
2021 Convocation: Schools Visible and Invisible
Delivering this year's Convocation address, entitled "Schools Visible and Invisible," was Mark Jordan, Richard Reinhold Niebuhr Research Professor of Divinity at HDS. The ceremony included a welcome from Dean David N. Hempton, music by Christopher...
HDS Dean Hempton to Deliver Prestigious Gifford Lectures
Over the course of its 133-year history, the prestigious Gifford Lectures delivered annually in Scotland have developed deep ties to Harvard University whose faculty—including Professors Diana Eck, William James, and Steven Pinker—have broken new ground...
Mark Jordan on the Future of Christian Theology and Queer Religious Thinking
From Christian theology to European philosophy, Thomas Aquinas to Michel Foucault, Harvard Divinity School Professor Mark Jordan has explored a range of figures and topics in and around the Christian tradition and has put them in conversation with urgent...
Reflecting on ‘A Burning Testament to Climate Collapse’
This fall at Harvard Divinity School, environmentalist, author, and HDS Writer-in-Residence Terry Tempest Williams is leading a series of online conversations concerning our response to climate chaos, asking the questions: How might we recast this a time...
Boston Vaccine Day Held In Roxbury
The Rev. Erica Williams, MRPL '22, spoke about the importance of getting vaccinated against COVID-19 at Boston Vaccine Day held in Roxbury, Massachusetts.
New Adidas-Wearing Pastor Has a Goal for Salt Lake City Unitarians: Get a Kick out of Life
Salt Lake City’s First Unitarian Church is turning to the Rev. Ian White Maher, MDiv ’04, a contemplative Harvard Divinity School-educated minister and educator to help chart its future.
The Uproar Over the 'Ultimate American Bible'
“Putting the Bible or placing American history within the Bible, or suggesting the U.S. is a source of revelation, is seen by many evangelicals as a kind of heresy,” said HDS Professor Catherine Brekus.
Where Were You When It Happened?
"My conversation about Islam with my boss on the first day of work had been hijacked by the terrorist attacks, and it would forever change the trajectory of my life," says Khalil Abdur-Rashid, Muslim Chaplain at Harvard University and Lecturer on Muslim...
20 Years after 9/11, Remembering the Legacy of Fr. Mychal Judge
"So, as we approach the 20th anniversary, we hold in our hearts the memories of all those whose lives were lost, whose innocence was taken or whose existence was forever changed at 7:59 a.m. when American Airlines Flight 11, bound for Los Angeles, lifted...
From 9/11 to COVID-19: Lessons Learned on Religion and Politics
"Religion is conceived very narrowly with exclusive attention to ideas or doctrines, even though we have established that most of the political conflicts related to religion do not pertain to beliefs but belongings," writes Jocelyne Cesari, T. J. Dermot...
Needing 'A Spark of Kindness'
HDS Dean David N. Hempton delivered the following remarks at Morning Prayers in Harvard's Memorial Church on September 7, 2021. ♦♦♦
Could the U.S. Government Take Nonviolence Seriously?
“Baked into the international system and into diplomacy, especially in the West, is a great deal of simplistic and often biased thinking about religion,” said Susan Hayward, associate director of the religious literacy and the professions initiative at...
Community Spirit
During the University's Convocation for the Class of 2024 and 2025 on Tuesday, the Rev. Matthew Ichihashi Potts, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals at HDS and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church, asked everybody to be “thankful that we are here, that...
Welcoming the Lost, Lonely and Forgotten
"May we always make neighbors of strangers. May we learn to love them as we love ourselves. And may we forever welcome the lost and the lonely and the forgotten as our own into this, our church home," said Matthew Ichihashi Potts, Plummer Professor of...
All Diversities but One: Why American Universities Put Religion Aside
"For the way in which an educational institution thinks about religious groups and their distinctive worldviews touches upon the deeper issue of the nature and goals of education in general and upon the mission of individual educational institutions in...
Facebook Has a New Prayer Feature. But Is It Made for Jews?
"This is abstracting the relationships that are built through prayer. It’s abstracting just the petitionary from all these other kinds of Christian prayers, which just makes it a less rich experience as part of a community and a less rich prayer life,"...
Toward a 'Religiously Literate' World
HDS is launching its first new master’s degree program in more than 50 years, the master of religion and public life. Coupled with a similarly named certificate program—the anchors of the of the Religion and Public Life initiative—HDS has embarked upon a...
HDS’s 2021 Summer Reading List
The final weeks of summer are upon us. Students and faculty will soon return to campus after more than a year away. Orientation starts in two weeks. The fall semester begins on September 1. Nevertheless, there are still more than a few days left to enjoy...
Spotlight on the William Monroe Trotter Collaborative for Social Justice
HDS Visiting Professor Cornell William Brooks leads the Harvard Kennedy School’s William Monroe Trotter Collaborative for Social Justice, which he calls a think-and-do tank for Harvard students committed to social justice advocacy and rigorous applied...
Resurrection in the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament
Professor Jon D. Levenson argues that contrary to a very widespread misconception, the ancient rabbis were keenly committed to the belief that at the end of time, God would restore the deserving dead to life.
Teddy Hickman-Maynard Joins HDS as Associate Dean for Ministry Studies
Teddy Hickman-Maynard has been named associate dean for ministry studies at Harvard Divinity School, starting August 2. In this role, Hickman-Maynard will oversee the School’s master of divinity program. “I am delighted that Teddy Hickman-Maynard will...
Francis Fiorenza on His Esteemed Teaching Career, the Pluralization of Theology, and Studying with the 'Stars of the Stars'
Harvard Divinity School celebrates and honors the distinguished career of Professor Francis Schüssler Fiorenza, who, in July 2021, retired from full-time teaching at HDS and now serves as the Charles Chauncey Stillman Research Professor of Roman Catholic...
Should Chaplains Be Involved in Psychedelic Experiences? Are 'Trips' Inherently Religious?
Harvard University’s Center for the Study of World Religions held a discussion titled “What is Psychedelic Chaplaincy?”, the purpose of which was to explore the role that spiritual caregivers might play among those seeking and undergoing psychedelic...
Humans of HDS: Pursuing Deeper Questions
Sarah Sturm, MTS ’20, works as the program coordinator for partnerships at Telos, a nonprofit that builds communities of American peacemakers and equips them to help reconcile global conflicts.
Divinity Dialogues: President Emerita Drew Faust in Conversation with Dean Hempton
This week, we conclude our Divinity Dialogues Gomes Award podcast series with a reflective conversation between Dean Hempton and our 2021 Gomes Friend of the School honoree, Drew Gilpin Faust. Faust holds several titles, including President Emerita of...
'Month of Unity' Aims to Help El Pasoans Heal from 2019 Walmart Mass Shooting
“The healing garden is about curing, not just remembering. It’s about restoration, it’s about hope of transformation, coming out of this,” said HDS Professor Davíd Carrasco. "It's also saying to the people who have tried to put a boot in the face of...
Divinity Dialogues: Robin Coste Lewis on Epic Poetry and the Sacredness of Female Deities
"The notion of a stranger, for me—the way I was raised and the way that I studied—is that the stranger just might hold the key to your liberation" Continuing Divinity Dialogues—a special edition podcast series from Harvard Divinity School that puts...
