Academic Lectures and Discussions

Delivering this year's Convocation address, entitled "Schools Visible and Invisible," was Mark Jordan, Richard Reinhold Niebuhr Research Professor of Divinity at HDS. The ceremony included a welcome from Dean David N. Hempton, music by Christopher...

Over the course of its 133-year history, the prestigious Gifford Lectures delivered annually in Scotland have developed deep ties to Harvard University whose faculty—including Professors Diana Eck, William James, and Steven Pinker—have broken new ground...

Harvard University’s Center for the Study of World Religions held a discussion titled “What is Psychedelic Chaplaincy?”, the purpose of which was to explore the role that spiritual caregivers might play among those seeking and undergoing psychedelic...

This webinar features a dialogue between Tanya Luhrmann and CSWR director and HDS Professor Charles Stang on her Luhrmann's book How God Becomes Real: Kindling the Presence of Invisible Others.

Where do our ideas about how the economy works, and our views on economic policy, come from? Critics of contemporary economics complain that belief in free markets, among economists as well as many ordinary citizens, is a form of religion. The...

This lecture focused on the Hindu view of life from the margins. While the “Hindu margin” is a fairly large heterogeneous group, this lecture laid the lens on the third gender, Kinnars (pejorative term hijṛā) and spiritual partners, categorized as...

In the wake of our February 25 Virtual Panel, “ Abuse of Power in Alternative and Emerging Spiritual and Cultural Organizations,” many people have expressed a desire to continue the conversation. Therefore, we are launching an ongoing discussion on our...

Rev. Dr. Ray Hammond, Co-founder and Pastor of Bethel AME Church, led a conversation with Dr. Marla F. Frederick, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Religion and Culture at Emory University, and D. Michael Lindsay, the eighth president of Gordon College...

A reflection and panel discussion on how and where spirituality, social justice, and climate change come together and intersect within faith traditions. Speakers included: Dan McKanan, AB ’89, Ralph Waldo Emerson UUA Senior Lecturer at Harvard Divinity...

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...