News Archive
Kindness Is "a Powerful and Subversive Thing"
Reverent and self-deprecating —but always eclectic—Harvard Divinity School's Multireligious Commencement Service might well have been the loftiest, and yet the least pompous, celebration on the University's calendar.
A Commencement Prayer
The chaplain chosen to offer the opening prayer during Harvard's 2016 Commencement Morning Exercises was HDS faculty member Cheryl Giles. Giles, Francis Greenwood Peabody Senior Lecturer on Pastoral Care and Counseling, delivered the graduation prayer...
2016 HDS Commencement Storify
On Wednesday, May 25, and Thursday, May 26, HDS and Harvard University celebrated Commencement. At HDS, 130 degrees were awarded to graduating students. Proud family members and friends, staff, alumni, and the students themselves, shared pictures, videos...
The Power of Kindness
Professor of the Comparative and Historical Study of Religion Kimberley C. Patton was the faculty speaker during the Multireligious Commencement Service on May 25, 2016. Below are her remarks: Dean Hempton, members of the faculty, honored guests, alumni...
Video: 2016 Diploma Awarding Ceremony
Congratulations to the class of 2016, who received their diplomas during the HDS Diploma Awarding Ceremony on May 26, 2016. Erez Golan, MTS ’16, was selected by his peers to deliver the student address. Read the full text of Golan's remarks. Listen iTunes...
The Divinity Reward
Erez Golan, MTS '16, was selected by his student colleagues as the class speaker for HDS Commencement 2016. The following remarks were delivered by Golan at the Diploma Awarding Ceremony on May 26. When I completed my undergraduate degree in Israel, we...
Humans of HDS: Finding Meaning After Unexpected Loss
HDS associate director for development communications Paul Massari writes about the love and support he received from the HDS community after the tragic death of his mother.
Video: Multireligious Commencement Service for the Class of 2016
Graduating HDS students, their families, faculty, and staff participated in the 2016 Multireligious Commencement Service on May 25, 2016. Kimberley C. Patton, Professor of the Comparative and Historical Study of Religion, gave the faculty address. Listen...
Teachings From the TV Preacher
Former Pentecostal televangelist Carlton Pearson visited Harvard recently to announce his donation to the Andover-Harvard Theological Library of his personal archives, which include thousands of hours of raw and produced footage to give researchers...
HDS's Clooney on Islam, the Gospel, and World Conquest
In response to a recent interview with Pope Francis, HDS professor and CSWR director Francis X. Clooney, S.J., examines the pontiff's rather novel view of “Europe” in relation to Christendom, and his analysis of fearful responses to Islam.
Talking About Faith in Public
What keeps believers from talking about faith in public? HDS Senior Lecturer Diane Moore, director of the Religious Literacy Project, offers insight.
HDS Course Creates ‘Presence in Absence’
Laura Nasrallah, Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at HDS, has long been interested in the ways the ancient letters of the Apostle Paul provide evidence of the interaction between Jews and Gentiles in the ancient world. One of the pressing...
Year in Review: HDS in 2015-16
The 2015-16 academic year provided many memorable moments at HDS. As we head toward Commencement, we take a look back at some of the events that made this academic year so meaningful and special. [[{"fid":642811,"view_mode":"default","type":"media"...
Humans of HDS: Finding Inspiration
HDS doctoral candidate Cori Tucker-Price talks about the support she's received from her parents and teachers and how she plans to use the skills she's acquired at HDS to give back to others.
A Monk With One Foot in the World
Tajay Bongsa has seen conflict firsthand. He experienced it growing up in an indigenous community in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh, he saw its consequences in Sri Lanka, and he heard it from the victims he visited in former war zones there...
A Personal Spring Break Journey
When MDiv candidate Gaby Chavez visited Mexico on a student-organized study trek, she took a brief moment to send her mother the picture she had just taken with former Mexican president Felipe Calderon. Then she tried not to cry. Chavez received a lengthy...
Humans of HDS: Potpourri Identity
Mushfiqur Rahman Chowdhury is studying religion, ethics, and politics at HDS. He has a passion for peacebuilding, and last summer he worked as a counselor for Seeds of Peace, helping Jewish and Muslim youth engage in interfaith dialogue, healing, and...
Centuries to Celebrate: Harvard Divinity Turns 200
Two hundred years. Even in an institution as venerable as Harvard University, that's a long time. Harvard Divinity School, the nation's first nonsectarian theological school, will celebrate its bicentennial during the 2016–17 academic year with events and...
After Rejecting Hate Crimes Bill, Utah Honors LGBT Activist
Last week, the Salt Lake City Council unanimously voted to rename a street in honor of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the state of California.
Video: Colored Television: American Religion Gone Global
Marla Frederick, Professor of African and African American Studies and of Religion, discusses her recent publication, Colored Television: American Religion Gone Global. Listen iTunes SoundCloud
Humans of HDS: Faith and Religious Identity
HDS student Sana Saeed grew up in England and has lived in the United States, Pakistan, and Japan, where she centered her research on peacebuilding and religious freedom. Sana is passionate about community organizing and working with youth.
Video: The Challenges of Being POC in Largely White Sanghas
Activists, sangha leaders, community members, and students the challenges of being a person of color in largely white sanghas during the Buddhism and Race Conference organized by Harvard Buddhist Community at Harvard Divinity School. Listen iTunes...
Video: How to Adapt Practices to Address the Racial Aspects of Suffering
Panelists at the Buddhism and Race Conference address how to adapt practices to address the racial aspects of suffering.
Music at the End of Life
Jennifer Hollis, MDiv '03, never intended to earn herself the peculiar title "Midwife of Death." After reading an article about music-thanatology before her senior year at Connecticut College, however, the prospect of learning how to prescriptively play...
Video: Buddhism and Race Conference Welcome Panel
The second Buddhism and Race Conference brought together activists, sangha leaders, community members, and students to learn from one another and share justice-oriented teachings and training.
Jill Abramson on the 'Calling' of Journalism
"Journalism is a public service, a calling," said Jill Abramson, AB '76, journalist and former executive editor of The New York Times, during the keynote address at the annual HDS Dean's Leadership Forum. It was the unfolding of the Watergate scandal on...
Fiction Writing and the Religious Imagination
On Wednesday, April 20, at 5:15 pm, in the CSWR Common Room, Joseph Roccasalvo, author and graduate school mentor, will offer his lecture "Fiction Writing & the Religious Imagination, or How to Write a Spiritual Thriller."
Video: 2016 Stendahl Symposium: Conversations Across Religious Boundaries
In this year’s Stendahl Symposium, four Harvard Divinity School students present their papers centered around the broad topic of “conversations across religious boundaries.” Listen iTunes SoundCloud
Pope Francis, Trump, and Religion’s Role in American Politics
While visiting Harvard Divinity School, Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne planned to speak about how Pope Francis and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump are changing religion's role in American politics. But on the morning of his talk...
Video: Humanitarianism, Religion, and Peace Practice
Marc Gopin and Elizabeth H. Prodromou discuss humanitarianism, religion, and the practice of peace. Listen iTunes SoundCloud
