News

Video: FBI and Religion Scholars: Reflecting on the Past 25 Years

November 17, 2017

As part of the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, this panel reflects on the interaction between religion scholars and law enforcement officials over the past 25 years and what may be learned from that experience to inform interaction going...

Journalist E. J. Dionne Addresses Political Strains in the U.S.

November 16, 2017

In a nation clearly so divided as the United States these days —politically, socially, culturally —how do we fight for our beliefs at an urgent moment without ostracizing those who old other views? That’s the question distinguished journalist and author E...

Divine Vision

November 16, 2017

On his tenth birthday, Akhil Gupta’s mother cooked up a big batch of food to give to the poor in the old section of Delhi. Then she took her son down to their first stop, a Hindu temple. Next stop was the Sikh temple, then the places of worship for Jains...

Video: Anthropology as Cosmic Diplomacy: Toward an Ecological Ethics for the Anthropocene

November 15, 2017

"Forests think." Eduardo Kohn, author of the book How Forests Think, discusses a kind of thinking, which he calls “sylvan," that is manifested by tropical forests and those that live with them. This mode of thought can provide an ethical orientation in...

Rallying Around Racial Justice

November 14, 2017

MTS candidate Steven Núñez writes below on the ongoing activities and efforts of the HDS Racial Justice and Healing Initiative. In the wake of the murder of Michael Brown in 2014, Melissa Bartholomew, MDiv ’15, and a group of HDS students, along with Rev...

From Harvard Square to Jordan Through a Portal

November 09, 2017

Harvard Divinity School brought to the Cambridge campus a large shipping container that serves as a portal to refugees around the world, using audio-visual technology that allows students and refugees to have live conversations, WGBH radio reports.

Video: Fighting for Justice with an Open Heart: Conviction, Empathy, and the Niebuhrian Imperative

November 09, 2017

Journalist and author E.J. Dionne, William H. Bloomberg Visiting Professor, delivers the 2017 Horace De Y. Lentz Lecture. Dionne is a distinguished journalist and author, political commentator, and longtime op-ed columnist for The Washington Post. He is...

Face Time With Refugees

November 08, 2017

Harvard Divinity School student Shannon Boley pushed open the heavy door to the large shipping container and slowly stepped out on to the School’s campus green, wiping away tears from her eyes. Asked why she was crying, she said “that was just a...

Video: Secularization and Religious Innovation in the North Atlantic World

November 08, 2017

David Hempton discusses his recent publication, Secularization and Religious Innovation in the North Atlantic World. Heather Curtis (Tufts) and Jon H. Roberts (BU) served as respondents.

Video: Enclosed Gardens Revealed: The Concept of Virginity in Medieval Jewish Culture

November 08, 2017

WSRP 2017–18 Research Associate Avital Davidovich-Eshed, PhD (Bar Ilan University), Visiting Lecturer in Women's Studies and Judaism, delivers her talk, "Enclosed Gardens Revealed: The Concept of Virginity in Medieval Jewish Culture."

Video: Diversity and Explorations 2017: Keynote by Davíd Carrasco

November 08, 2017

At the 2017 Diversity and Explorations Program (DivEx), Davíd Carrasco presents his talk, "Gifts from Mexico: Revitalizing Life Through the Day of the Dead Celebration". He describes one of the gifts from Mexico and Mexican's is the idea of convivencia...

Can We Reclaim 'Thoughts and Prayers'?

November 07, 2017

Instead of being an excuse for inaction, thoughts and prayers can turn us toward acts of love, writes Professor Stephanie Paulsell.