Women, Gender, and Religion

“I’m going to stay and fix my church somehow," says Kori Pacyniak, MDiv '11, who was eight when they told their grandmother they wanted to become a priest.

“When you’re growing up, it’s really easy to separate yourself from your own body, to be scared of your own body," says MTS candidate Nadia Issa, who dances the role of Absolem in Virtually Oberon's "Alice in Rainbowland." The message of “Rainbowland” is...

Cheryl Giles, Francis Greenwood Peabody Senior Lecturer on Pastoral Care and Counseling at HDS, discusses her coedited anthology of “freedom stories” exploring what it means to be Black and Buddhist in America.

HDS Professor Catherine Brekus discusses the Salem Witch Hunt and talks about what leads a close-knit community to turn against each other—and draws some uncomfortable parallels with our own moment, from conspiracy theories to the demonization of...

One of the core mandates of Harvard’s new Program for the Evolution of Spirituality is to look honestly at both the positive and negative dimensions of emerging spiritual movements. We are keenly aware that the abuse of power is a sensitive topic. Open...

Harvard Divinity School and the Women’s Studies in Religion Program are thrilled to have Georgette Ledgister with us this 2020-21 academic year. Ledgister is a WSRP Research Associate and Visiting Lecturer on Women's Studies and African Religions. Her...

Ann Braude, director of the Women's Studies in Religion Program at Harvard Divinity School discusses the history of women and religion and how religion has defined gender roles.

Believing that a month should be dedicated to the celebration and teaching of gay and lesbian history, Rodney Wilson, a Missouri high school teacher, gathered other educators and community leaders to discuss the issue in 1994. The group selected October...

Former WSRP director Constance Buchanan "was hired to be a bridge between the righteous anger of the young radical feminists in the divinity school classrooms, and the millennia of theological education that had been exclusively in the hands of men," said...

This conversation was presented on August 27, 2020, by the HDS Women’s Studies in Religion Program, which brings five scholars in gender from around the country each year to enrich the experience of HDS students. The research associates shared their...