News

The Fog of Peace

October 18, 2016

Political anthropologist Jennifer Schirmer, a visiting scholar at the Religions and the Practice of Peace Initiative at Harvard Divinity School, spent 14 years working on peace negotiations in Colombia. She offers insight following the country's rejected...

What's Said in the Dark Will Be Heard in the Light

October 14, 2016

Stephanie Paullsell is the Susan Shallcross Swartz Professor of the Practice of Christian Studies. On October 14, she spoke at the Morning Prayers service in Holden Chapel in Harvard Yard. Below are her remarks. ♦♦♦ The first time an adult man grabbed a...

'It Can Be Done'

October 14, 2016

Karen Tse had a vision. As a second-year student at HDS in the late 1990s, she imagined founding an organization that would end the use of torture by law enforcement around the world. She even made her dream the topic of her master of divinity thesis...

Video: Religion, Ecology, and Our Planetary Future

October 14, 2016

“Religion, Ecology, and Our Planetary Future” advances the work of understanding and transforming the discourse of religions and ecology for the twenty-first century. The conference marks the twentieth anniversary of the Religions of the World and Ecology...

Chaplaincy Without Borders

October 13, 2016

The NFL has chaplains. Most universities do, too. The military, U.S. Congress, and hospitals across the country have access to chaplaincy resources, but not social change leaders. Not typically anyway. But over the last several years, three Harvard...

Video: Changing the World from the Inside Out: Multifaith Perspectives on the Inner-Life and Social Justice

October 13, 2016

In what ways does piety and the contemplative life encourage or discourage social change activism? A diverse panel of religious leaders explore how different religious traditions balance inner spiritual development with the mandate to work for economic...

Benjamin Payton, HDS Alumnus and Transformative Leader of Tuskegee University, Dies at 83

October 12, 2016

Benjamin F. Payton, BD '58, a civil rights advocate who was instrumental in transforming the historically black Tuskegee Institute in Alabama into the more broadly encompassing Tuskegee University over nearly three decades as its president, died on Sept...

Video: Ending Torture: An Alum's Journey from HDS to IBJ

October 12, 2016

Join Karen Tse for this special bicentennial colloquium on “leading from within,” human rights as ministry, and how to leverage the HDS experience to effect global change. Listen on SoundCloud

Politics and Pope Francis' Gender Comments

October 07, 2016

One of the problems about being pope, said HDS professor Francis Clooney, director of the Center for the Study of World Religions, is the immensely diverse set of political situations with which a pontiff’s words carry weight.

Becoming Our Aspirational Selves

October 06, 2016

HDS ministry innovation fellow Angie Thurston, MDiv '16, writes about finding purpose in community as she works to map a landscape of life-giving organizations that are emerging even as religious affiliation declines.

Video: Women as Catalysts for Local and Global Spiritually-Engaged Movements for Sustainable Peace

October 06, 2016

Part of the Religions and the Practice of Peace Colloquium Dinner Series, this event was held on October 6, 2016, and featured 2011 Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee, Liberian peace activist, trained social worker, and women’s rights advocate. Listen on...

Video: Money, Corporations, and Democracy: Moral and Religious Perspectives

October 05, 2016

What are the moral questions that underlie issues of money in politics, corporate power, and wealth in democracy? What resources do we find in our various religious traditions to help us approach these questions with thoughtful consideration, moral...