News

Prayers for Peace and Justice

September 21, 2017

To mark the International Day of Peace, HDS has compiled a dozen prayers from various faith traditions and backgrounds. These prayers for peace were offered in Assisi, Italy, on the Day of Prayer for World Peace during the U.N. International Year of Peace...

Video: Barren Landscapes and Open Spaces

September 15, 2017

How do our views of land and landscape influence our religious imagination, and vice versa? On September 13, the Center for the Study of World Religions hosted its opening event of the 2017–18 academic year, "Barren Landscapes and Open Spaces." The...

A Summer Between Two Homelands

September 14, 2017

This summer, thanks to several generous gifts in support of Dean David N. Hempton’s campaign initiatives, HDS continued its ongoing effort to provide students with financial support so that they can serve communities locally and abroad through...

Video: Thoreau Bicentennial: Celebrating Henry David’s 200th Birthday at HDS

September 14, 2017

Laura Dassow Walls, author of Henry David Thoreau: A Life and Richard Higgins, author of Thoreau and the Language of Trees discuss Thoreau's life and work. Respondents include Barry Andrews, a Unitarian Universalist minister, who is the author of several...

Jonathan Walton on 'Rewriting History'

September 12, 2017

Walton, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church, speaks on moral courage and civil disobedience.

Humans of HDS: Religion and Suffering

September 12, 2017

Sarah Griffis, a fifth-year doctoral candidate, is currently writing a dissertation on the narrativization of suffering in antiquity, focusing on early Christian martyrdom texts and Greek tragedy.

Transcript: Cornel West's 2017 Convocation Address

September 08, 2017

HDS Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy Cornel West delivered the 2017 Convocation address titled "Spiritual Blackout, Imperial Meltdown, Prophetic Fightback." His remarks can be read below. A video of the ceremony and a recap are available...

Hempton: Belonging at Harvard

September 07, 2017

HDS Dean David N. Hempton is a social historian of religion with particular expertise in populist traditions of evangelicalism in Europe, North America, and beyond. On September 7, he spoke at the Morning Prayers service in The Memorial Church, Harvard...

Video: The Reformation Era and the Unintended Secularization of Western Society

September 07, 2017

Brad S. Gregory, Professor of History and Dorothy G. Griffin Collegiate Chair at the University of Notre Dame, delivered a lecture titled “The Reformation Era and the Unintended Secularization of Western Society.” Audio Listen on iTunes or via SoundCloud...

This Is Why a Growing Number of Teachers Want More Lessons on Religion in School

September 05, 2017

"It's pretty difficult to see how you can understand anything about contemporary human affairs without understanding their religious dimensions," said Diane Moore, founder and director of HDS's Religious Literacy Project.

Shopping Period: Pope Francis and the Future of Religion

September 05, 2017

This feature is part of an HDS Communications interview series offering students a closer look at selected upcoming courses. Below, we chat with Hollis Professor of Divinity Emeritus Harvey Cox about his fall 2017 class “Pope Francis: His ‘Theology of the...

Video: Ethical Scholarship—Gender, Religion, and Difference 2017

August 31, 2017

Women’s Studies in Religion Program (WSRP) 2017-18 Research Associates discuss their research and share their thoughts on the ethical responsibility of scholars to be engaged in the study of gender. Listen