News Archive
Harvey Cox Seconds Pope Francis on Capitalist Critique
Professor Harvey Cox recently met Pope Francis in Rome and gave him a copy of his latest book, The Market as God.
Religion, Ecology and Our Planetary Future
Professor Frank Clooney, director of the Center for the Study of World Religions, writes about the recent conference "Religion, Ecology, and Our Planetary Future," which was attended by hundreds of people.
Examining the 'Continuous Interaction' Between Science and Religion
At the beginning of the fall 2016 semester, Dean David Hempton sent an email letting the HDS community know that Ahmed Ragab had been promoted to the Richard T. Watson Associate Professor of Science and Religion. To those who know him, this announcement...
Video: The Sharps’ War—A Panel Discussion
Filmmaker Artemis Joukowsky, HDS professor Kevin Madigan, Amber Moulton of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, and Sana Mustafa, an activist and Syrian refugee discuss Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War and place the Sharps’ efforts in a larger...
For One Professor and Her Students, Learning From Each Other
This semester at Harvard Divinity School, Cheryl Giles is teaching “Spiritual Care and Counseling”—a title that could easily be applied to her entire professional life. Over the years, Giles has worked as a college chaplain, a clinical psychologist...
Video: People, Plants, and Purity
WSRP Research Associate Rosalyn LaPier delivered the talk, “People, Plants, and Purity: Blackfeet Women of the O’kan.”
Video: Our Divine Double
Charles Stang, HDS Professor of Early Christian Thought, discusses his recent publication, Our Divine Double. Gregory Shaw (Stonehill College) and Benjamin Dunning (Fordham University) serve as respondents. Listen on SoundCloud
Harvard's Religious Past
Stephen Shoemaker, a lecturer on the study of religion, said it is common for his students to be surprised by the significance of religion in the evolution of Harvard, and he believes part of his mission is to raise that awareness.
A Unique Sneak Peek of New LDS Temple
HDS students took advantage of a rare opportunity on October 15 when they, along with several alums, partners, and friends, piled into two cars and headed down to Hartford, Connecticut, for the unique experience to tour a temple of the Church of Jesus...
A Family History of Wartime Heroism
A new PBS documentary, “ Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War,” tells the story of anti-Nazi heroes Martha and Waitstill Sharp. On Tuesday, the film will be screened at 4 pm in the Sperry Room, Andover Hall. A post-screening panel, at 5:45 pm, will include...
Imaginary Worlds and the Sorting Hat
Alums Vanessa Zoltan and Casper ter Kuile of the podcast Harry Potter and The Sacred Text weigh in on the enduring appeal of J.K. Rowling's Sorting Hat on the Imaginary Worlds podcast.
Video: Dharma and the Academy? A Hindu Academic's View
Arvind Sharma, Birks Professor of Comparative Religion at McGill University, discusses the recent tensions between the academic and faith communities.
The Fog of Peace
Political anthropologist Jennifer Schirmer, a visiting scholar at the Religions and the Practice of Peace Initiative at Harvard Divinity School, spent 14 years working on peace negotiations in Colombia. She offers insight following the country's rejected...
What's Said in the Dark Will Be Heard in the Light
Stephanie Paullsell is the Susan Shallcross Swartz Professor of the Practice of Christian Studies. On October 14, she spoke at the Morning Prayers service in Holden Chapel in Harvard Yard. Below are her remarks. ♦♦♦ The first time an adult man grabbed a...
'It Can Be Done'
Karen Tse had a vision. As a second-year student at HDS in the late 1990s, she imagined founding an organization that would end the use of torture by law enforcement around the world. She even made her dream the topic of her master of divinity thesis...
Video: Religion, Ecology, and Our Planetary Future
“Religion, Ecology, and Our Planetary Future” advances the work of understanding and transforming the discourse of religions and ecology for the twenty-first century. The conference marks the twentieth anniversary of the Religions of the World and Ecology...
Video: Changing the World from the Inside Out: Multifaith Perspectives on the Inner-Life and Social Justice
In what ways does piety and the contemplative life encourage or discourage social change activism? A diverse panel of religious leaders explore how different religious traditions balance inner spiritual development with the mandate to work for economic...
Chaplaincy Without Borders
The NFL has chaplains. Most universities do, too. The military, U.S. Congress, and hospitals across the country have access to chaplaincy resources, but not social change leaders. Not typically anyway. But over the last several years, three Harvard...
Video: Ending Torture: An Alum's Journey from HDS to IBJ
Join Karen Tse for this special bicentennial colloquium on “leading from within,” human rights as ministry, and how to leverage the HDS experience to effect global change. Listen on SoundCloud
Benjamin Payton, HDS Alumnus and Transformative Leader of Tuskegee University, Dies at 83
Benjamin F. Payton, BD '58, a civil rights advocate who was instrumental in transforming the historically black Tuskegee Institute in Alabama into the more broadly encompassing Tuskegee University over nearly three decades as its president, died on Sept...
Politics and Pope Francis' Gender Comments
One of the problems about being pope, said HDS professor Francis Clooney, director of the Center for the Study of World Religions, is the immensely diverse set of political situations with which a pontiff’s words carry weight.
Video: Women as Catalysts for Local and Global Spiritually-Engaged Movements for Sustainable Peace
Part of the Religions and the Practice of Peace Colloquium Dinner Series, this event was held on October 6, 2016, and featured 2011 Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee, Liberian peace activist, trained social worker, and women’s rights advocate. Listen on...
Becoming Our Aspirational Selves
HDS ministry innovation fellow Angie Thurston, MDiv '16, writes about finding purpose in community as she works to map a landscape of life-giving organizations that are emerging even as religious affiliation declines.
Video: Money, Corporations, and Democracy: Moral and Religious Perspectives
What are the moral questions that underlie issues of money in politics, corporate power, and wealth in democracy? What resources do we find in our various religious traditions to help us approach these questions with thoughtful consideration, moral...
Engaging ‘the Messy World of Politics’
This summer, thanks to several generous gifts in support of Dean David N. Hempton’s campaign initiatives, HDS continued its ongoing effort to provide students with financial support so that they can serve communities locally and abroad through...
Nieman Fellow Delves Into Difficulties of Reporting on Religion
Washington Post religion journalist and current Nieman fellow Michelle Boorstein described the difficulties journalists who report on religion face, addressing an audience at the Center for the Study of World Religions.
On Race and Remembrance
Dean David N. Hempton delivered the following remarks in front of the HDS community on the evening of September 28, in Andover Chapel. ♦♦♦ We are all shocked and deeply saddened by the recent shootings of Black men in Charlotte and Tulsa and California...
Women as Catalysts for Peace
Leymah Gbowee won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for her efforts that led to ending the Liberian civil war. On Thursday, October 6, she will come to HDS to discuss her experiences and insights into peacebuilding as part of the Religions and the Practice of...
When I Needed a Neighbor, Were You There?
HDS professor Francis X. Clooney, S.J., on the parable of Lazarus at the rich man's house.
The Mormon Homosexual: Caring and Curing from the 1970s to the Present
WSRP Research Associate Taylor Petrey delivers his talk, “The Mormon Homosexual: Caring and Curing from the 1970s to the Present.”
