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 in the studies of religion, science, and philosophy.... Read more about HDS Dean Hempton to Deliver Prestigious Gifford Lectures
"Religion is conceived very narrowly with exclusive attention to ideas or doctrines, even though we have established that most of the political conflicts related to religion do not pertain to beliefs but belongings," writes Jocelyne Cesari, T. J. Dermot Dunphy Visiting Professor of Religion, Violence, and Peacebuilding at HDS.
“Baked into the international system and into diplomacy, especially in the West, is a great deal of simplistic and often biased thinking about religion,” said Susan Hayward, associate director of the religious literacy and the professions initiative at HDS.
“The healing garden is about curing, not just remembering. It’s about restoration, it’s about hope of transformation, coming out of this,” said HDS Professor Davíd Carrasco. "It's also saying to the people who have tried to put a boot in the face of Mexicans and Mexican Americans in recent years — that we will not imitate your cruelty with ours."
"Death as a palpable force looms large in the Yoruba religious and social consciousness. From cosmology to various ritual practices and genres of oral traditions such as proverbs, poetry and short stories are all brought to bear on the reality of death. Not a day goes by that speakers of the Yoruba language do not make mention of death as both a phenomenon and a certainty," says HDS Professor of African Religious Traditions Jacob Olupona.
"At various stages of a stellar career as a scholar of the highest distinction, Professor Olupona has marshaled his energy to build bridges so that those coming behind him can have a more secure pathway as they march forward," writes Amherst College Professor Olufemi Vaughan, in tribute to HDS Professor Jacob Olupona on his 70th birthday.
Jocelyne Cesari, T. J. Dermot Dunphy Visiting Professor of Religion, Violence, and Peacebuilding, discusses the role of Orthodoxy in Russia's nation-building, domestic politics, and international relations.
