News Archive
Video: Crossfit as Church?!
Growing numbers of people are finding meaningful community in places outside of church. Learn how the CEO of CrossFit, Greg Glassman, thinks of his work as church, perhaps even religion.
Video: Christians in South Indian Villages, 1959–2009
John B. Carman, Parkman Professor of Divinity and Professor of Comparative Religion Emeritus at HDS, discusses Christians in South Indian Villages, 1959–2009: Decline and Revival in Telangana, a book he co-authored.
CrossFit as Church? Examining How We Gather
Instead of worshiping in old wooden church pews, Millennials are jumping on top of wooden boxes until exhaustion at CrossFit affiliates, and it's not just to replace a trip to church with a workout. Millennials make up a significant portion of the...
Strong Tradition, New Directions for HTR
For more than 100 years, Harvard Theological Review has been a leading source for compelling original research from established scholars in the fields of religion and theology. Now, the Review has a new managing editor, and the journal’s editors are...
Who Are the Dead and What Do They Want?
Halloween has become synonymous with costumes and candy, but what lies beyond the ghoulish face paint and Tootsie Roll wrappers? Kimberley Patton, Professor of the Comparative and Historical Study of Religion at Harvard Divinity School, has long studied...
Video: American Afterlives
Kathleen S. Cummings (University of Notre Dame) discusses U.S. nation-saints and the Second Vatican Council during the 2015–16 Dudleian Lecture. Respondents to the lecture are Ann Braude (Harvard Divinity School) and James T. Kloppenberg (Harvard...
Professor Clooney on 'Nostra Aetate' at 50
Father Frank Clooney, director of HDS's Center for the Study of World Religions, writes about the 50th anniversary of the document that reshaped the relationship between Catholics and Jews.
HDS Scholars Revisit Pope's Widely Discussed Encyclical
Earlier this summer, Pope Francis released his second Papal Encyclical, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home. The encyclical focuses on the relationship between humans and the earth, and it has been understood by many as a powerful commentary on...
Seeing Corita Kent at Harvard
HDS professor and CSWR director Francis X. Clooney S.J. writes about the Corita Kent exhibition and how the former nun helped a generation see the world anew.
Harvey Cox Reflects on '60s Activism with Friend Corita Kent
Ann Braude speaks with Harvey Cox on his friendship and collaborations with the late famed artist and activist Corita Kent, who was also known as Sister Mary Corita.
Millerites and the End of the World
The world didn't end in 1843. Professor David Holland explains the end-of-times prediction from a Pittsfield, Massachusetts-born preacher that grew into a following known as the Millerites, and how it led to the launching of a new movement that came to be...
A Taste of the Past
If you happen to be a bewitched male, you may have just missed your chance at a cure. The Semitic Museum at Harvard recently hosted an evening of Ancient Mesopotamian cuisine, following a program on Ancient Mesopotamian music. Drawing from a range of...
Former HDS Professor James W. Fowler Dies
The preeminent theologian and author taught at HDS from 1969 to 1975.
In Attending HDS, Weighing Risk vs Reward
The Rev. Liz Walker's transformative journey from television news reporter to pastor began with an inauspicious start. "My first day at Harvard Divinity School was September 11, 2001," said the former anchor at WBZ-TV in Boston. "I was coming out of the...
Video: Reparations for Native American Languages?
Richard A. Grounds, PhD, explores the appropriate responses for social justice and the case for reparations for Native American languages. Grounds delivered the Dana McLean Greeley Lecture for Peace and Social Justice at the Center for the Study of World...
Divinity School Trash Audit Is Harvard's Best Ever
This past Earth Day, Harvard Divinity School's Green Team audited nearly all of the previous day's refuse, including recycling, compost, and trash. Auditors found the lowest fraction of recyclables in the trash of any waste audit ever performed at Harvard...
Video: Marianne Williamson: On Consciousness, Spirituality, and Politics in America
Internationally acclaimed spiritual leader, Marianne Williamson, shares her insight on the creation of a beloved community through the use of political and ethical externalization. Read " Marianne Williamson Brings Spirituality to Politics" Listen iTunes...
An 11-year Vigil to Redefine Church
CSWR director and Parkman Professor of Divinity Francis X. Clooney, S.J., discusses the recent court ruling against those holding vigil in a closed Scituate, Massachusetts church.
Reparations for Native American Languages?
Richard Grounds, executive director of the Euchee/Yuchi Language Project, who will deliver the Dana McLean Greeley Lecture for Peace and Social Justice at the Center for the Study of World Religions, discusses the current danger of extinction for many...
Marianne Williamson Brings Spirituality to Politics
For Marianne Williamson, politics is not only personal, it is spiritual. The best-selling author of such self-help books as A Return to Love and The Healing of America not only believes in this connection, she stresses that ignoring—or, worse, severing—it...
Poetry, Conflict, and Context
Eliza Griswold has traveled the world researching conflicts. Over the summer, The New York Times Magazine published her article " Is This the End of Christianity in the Middle East?" For her first book, The Tenth Parallel, she spent years traveling in...
Video: Divinity Dialogues: Rev. Liz Walker, MDiv '05
The Rev. Liz Walker, MDiv '05, speaks on the theme of "risk" at the first installment of this year's distinguished alumni speaker series, Divinity Dialogues. Besides serving as a minister and pastor at Roxbury Presbyterian Church, Walker is also a...
The Spirituality of Africa
One of Jacob Olupona's earliest memories in Massachusetts is of nearly freezing in his apartment as a graduate student at Boston University during the great snowstorm of 1978. "I had it. I told my father that I was coming home," he recalled. But after...
Dean David N. Hempton: Harvesting Peace
Dean David N. Hempton, the Alonzo L. McDonald Family Professor of Evangelical Theological Studies and John Lord O’Brian Professor of Divinity, delivered the sermon during Sunday Services at Memorial Church on October 4, 2015. Below is his sermon, as...
HDS Teams Up to 'Interrogate the Silence'
Why don't faith leaders address sexual and gender-based violence in their communities, even when they know about it? What can be done to break this silence? And what role can educational institutions play? These were some of the questions set before a...
HDS Sukkah Brings Faith Traditions Together
A group of 11 HDS students, faculty, and friends recently gathered behind Andover Hall for what has become an annual tradition: Building the HDS sukkah. Led by Rabbi Sally Finestone, the denominational counselor to Jewish students at HDS, the multifaith...
Exploring the Ancient City of Teotihuacan
Professor Davíd Carrasco has been to "the place where the gods were created." That's what the Aztecs called the monumental capital city of Teotihuacan centuries after its fall. Teotihuacan, located about 30 miles northeast of Mexico City, with its long...
Video: Jewish Liturgy as Jewish Theology
Although many have said that Judaism does not have a theology, it is clear that the Siddur, or Prayer Book, has a clear sense of the nature of God and God's relation to humans. In addition, as Franz Rosenzweig has suggested, Jewish liturgy invites Jews to...
Harvey Cox: How to Subvert Pope Francis' Visit
Now that Pope Francis has returned to Rome after his unforgettable visit to the United States, Professor Harvey Cox has taken time to reflect on what it was that made him uncomfortable about it.
On Jewish Liturgy as Jewish Theology
On Thursday, October 1, Steven Kepnes, director of the Chapel House and chair of the Department of Religion at Colgate University, will deliver the Albert and Vera List Fund for Jewish Studies Lecture at the Center for the Study of World Religions (CSWR).