News Archive
Video: The Problem Soul and Life Without Appeal
Dr. Anthony B. Pinn, Agnes Cullen Arnold Professor of Humanities and Professor of Religion at Rice University, delivered the annual named William James Lecture. Listen
Encouraging Authentic Religious Literacy
Diane Moore, director of the Religious Literacy Project, discusses the ways religion can be taught to encourage religious literacy.
Humans of HDS: From Feminist Punk Rock to Islam
HDS student Heather Rick talks about her unlikely road to HDS, the role of writers in today's political climate, and how she found inspiration in Muslim punk rock.
Responding to Hate With Solidarity
On the evening of February 27, two swastikas and the phrase “race office” were carved into the front doors of the Fourth Universalist Society in New York. On Friday, March 10, that church community hosted an Interfaith Solidarity event in response to the...
Video: Religion-Specific or Trans-Religious?
In CSWR's Annual Comparative Theology Lecture, Robert C. Neville, Professor of Philosophy, Religion, and Theology at the Boston University School of Theology, discusses the nature of comparative theology and the different approaches one could take: being...
Millennials, Spirituality, and New Venues
Ministry Innovation Fellow Casper ter Kuile shares his honest opinion on the changing shape of American religion and how millennials are creating new forms of spiritual community.
W.E.B. Du Bois and ‘The Problem Soul’
There’s an important but underappreciated dimension in The Souls of Black Folk, one of the most well-known books by W.E.B. Du Bois. Anthony Pinn, MDiv ’89, calls it “the problem soul.” Pinn, the Agnes Cullen Arnold Professor of Humanities and Professor of...
Video: Religion and the Sphere of Care and Cooperation
This discussion considers social scientific research shedding light on religion’s role in advancing cooperation within groups, as well as its complex role in competition and cooperation among groups. Speakers Omar Sultan Haque, MD, PhD, MTS, Program in...
Buddhism and Race Conference at HDS
The Harvard Buddhist community at Harvard Divinity School is hosting its third annual Buddhism and Race Conference, March 3-5.
Video: Doris Salcedo's Circles of Sorrow
Edwidge Danticat brings her unparalleled gifts as a writer in touch with political violence and migration to respond to The Materiality of Mourning, Harvard Art Museum’s exhibition of the works of Colombian-born sculptor Doris Salcedo. Danticat’s lecture...
Humans of HDS: Becoming a Monk
HDS student Bhante Kusala talks about growing up in Sri Lanka, coping with pain and suffering, and the inspiration he finds as a hospital chaplain.
Cornel West on the Unpopular James Baldwin
Professor Cornel West discusses James Baldwin’s unpopularity, and his nagging truth-telling habit that alienated him, in later years, from the white liberal media professional who first popularized his work, as well as from the radical black nationalists.
Video: The Pragmatics of Embodied Solidarity in Theopolitical Space
Larycia Hawkins, Abd el-Kader Visiting Faculty Fellow at University of Virginia, discussed the meaning of solidarity in the context of political and theological spaces during the 2017 Greeley Lecture for Peace and Social Justice.
Grounded in Tradition
On a Thursday in early January, the Rev. Jeremy Battle, MDiv ’13, had all the concerns of any other Baptist pastor: planning music for Sunday's service, juggling various appointments, and responding to urgent news within the community. (In this case, a...
Video: The Making of A Modern Female Chan Teacher
WSRP Research Associate Changshen Shi (Ching-ning Wang) delivers the talk, "The Making of A Modern Female Chan Teacher: Gender, Religion, and Modernity."
Confronting the New Face of Terror
Steven Simon’s warning in the January 4, 2000, edition of the New York Times was like cold water in the face of Americans still bleary-eyed from partying like it was 1999. Simon, fresh from a counterterrorism assignment in the Clinton White House, and his...
The New Gods: Reforging Harvard Divinity School
As HDS enters its bicentennial year, there is an increasing representation of world religions at the School, which has fostered new communities and directions for alumni.
Video: Texts, Knowledge, and Practice: The Meaning of Scholarship in Muslim Africa
Texts, Knowledge, and Practice: The Meaning of Scholarship in Muslim Africa aims to rethink how such an evolution in the study of Islamic scholarship in Africa today occurred. Listen
HDS Scholar to Discuss Religious Tolerance at Hingham Presentation
Diane Moore, director of the Religious Literacy Project at HDS, will speak Feb. 16 at a Hingham monastery about combating religious discrimination and hate speech.
Soul on the Line
The son of a conservative Christian family, and a devout Christian himself, Sheehan Scarborough, MDiv '14, spent much of his early life struggling to reconcile his sexuality and “very conservative” religious upbringing.
A Second Career in Service
Liz Walker was one of the most famous and successful TV news personalities in Boston. She spent more than two decades as a reporter, as well as being the first African American news anchor on WBZ-TV. So, when she stepped down from the anchor desk, many of...
Trump, the Johnson Amendment, and Faith Leaders
During the National Prayer Breakfast on February 2, President Donald Trump discussed removing the Johnson Amendment. The amendment restricts political speech by tax-exempt churches. HDS Associate Dean for Ministry Studies Dudley Rose discussed how Trump’s...
Video: An American Conscience: The Reinhold Niebuhr Story
Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Martin Doblmeier, Cornel West, Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy, Harvard Divinity School, and project director Andrew Finstuen discuss Doblmeier's documentary on Reinhold Niebuhr, An American Conscience: The...
Healing, Bridge-building, and Empowerment to Address Gun Violence
A group of Boston community leaders recently addressed a large audience at Harvard Divinity School’s Religions and the Practice of Peace (RPP) Colloquium, in an event focused on the inspirational work being done in the city’s African American communities...
Audio: Thinking Sex at Harvard
Harvard Divinity School professors have long taught ethics in the Yard. Beginning early in the 1880s, as HDS pioneered the analysis of "social problems" using the case method, Francis Peabody taught an undergraduate course on urban ills. Students called...
Fraught Moment for Religious Freedom
Those who cherish the nation’s tradition of religious freedom should be alarmed by President Trump’s executive order temporarily banning immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries and all refugees, two Harvard Divinity School faculty members warned.
The Wisdom of God’s Kingdom in a Time of Discord
The election, inauguration, and first days of President Donald Trump have deepened divisions between the nation’s political parties and its people. Many, afraid and angry, wonder how to respond in the years ahead. We could all do worse than revisit Jesus’...
Kane to Lead Search for First Muslim Chaplain
In a letter last weekend to the Harvard community supporting international students and faculty, President Drew Faust unveiled a plan to appoint the first full-time University-wide Muslim chaplain. Under the plan, which was the result of months of...
Video: The State of Religious Freedom
For over 20 years, January 16th has been recognized annually in the United States as Religious Freedom Day. Diane Moore and Dudley Rose discuss religious freedom as a principle based not on shared ancestry, culture, or faith but on a shared commitment to...
Humans of HDS: How We Gather
HDS alums and current ministry innovation fellows Angie Thurston and Casper ter Kuile examine how non-religious communities come together to find meaningful experiences and belonging.
