Harvard Divinity School

New York Times religion reporter Laurie Goodstein delivers the keynote address during the Religious Literacy and Journalism Symposium at Harvard Divinity School. Opening remarks are offered by HDS Dean David N. Hempton, Diane L. Moore, director of the Religious Literacy Project at HDS, and Stephen Prothero, Professor of Religion at Boston University. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Religions and the Practice of Peace Colloquium co-sponsored with the conference "Pluralism Project @ 25: Diversity and Inclusion in the American Crucible." This event was held on September 22, 2016. The featured speakers were Sarbpreet Singh, playwright, commentator, and poet, and J. Mehr Kaur, graduate of Smith College with a BA in theatre and an emphasis in directing. Mr. Singh and Ms. Kaur were joined by the actors Benjamin Gutman, Sydney Grant, Monica Giordano, and Michelle Finston, who performed an excerpt from Mr. Singh’s play "Kultar’s Mime." Thanks to the generous support from the El-Hibri Foundation. This monthly public series, convened by HDS Dean David N. Hempton, brings together a cross-disciplinary RPP Working Group of faculty, experts, graduate students, and alumni from across Harvard University and the local area to explore topics and cases in religions and the practice of peace.

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. The conversation was moderated by David N. Hempton, Dean of Harvard Divinity School and Ann Braude, director of the Women’s Studies in Religion Program at HDS. Co-sponsored by the Women's Studies in Religion Program at Harvard Divinity School. With generous support from the Provostial Fund for the Arts and Humanities at Harvard University, the Susan Shallcross Swartz Endowment for Christian Studies, and the El-Hibri Foundation. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

WSRP Research Associate Gwynn Kessler delivers the talk, "The Crooked and the Straight: Queer Theory and Biblical Interpretation." Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Grassroots relationship building across divides has emerged as a recommendation from scholars, practitioners, and religious peacebuilders in many of our RPP conversations. While recent political and social turmoil in the US has led to much pain, partisanship, and anger, it also presents an opportunity for individuals and communities in this country to demonstrate and model a more constructive path forward. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake will discuss the challenges of leading a city in today's turbulent racial and political climate. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Professor Guy Stroumsa delivered the 2016 Albert and Vera List Fund for Jewish Studies Lecture on the topic "Christianity and the God of Israel: Henri Bergson, Simone Weil, Emmanuel Levinas." Professor Stroumsa is Martin Buber Professor Emeritus of Comparative Religion, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Professor Emeritus of the Study of the Abrahamic Religions, University of Oxford. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

WSRP Research Associate Rosalyn LaPier delivered the talk, “People, Plants, and Purity: Blackfeet Women of the O’kan.” Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

In what ways does piety and the contemplative life encourage or discourage social change activism? How do liberal and conservative religious traditions integrate or divide the inner life and work for social justice. In what ways can social change activism be a spiritual practice itself? Join with a diverse panel of religious leaders in exploring how different religious traditions balance inner spiritual development with the mandate to work for economic and social justice for all. Panelists include: Claire Schaeffer-Duffy, cofounder of the Saints Francis & Thérèse Catholic Worker; HDS professor Cheryl Giles; Celene Ibrahim, Muslim chaplain at Tufts University and HDS alum; David Jaffe, rabbi, author, and founder of the Kirva Institute; and Dudley Rose, HDS associate dean for ministry studies. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

In 1939, Rev. Waitstill Sharp, a Unitarian minister, and his wife, Martha, a social worker, agreed to travel to Prague to investigate reports of a humanitarian crisis. A new documentary by Ken Burns and Artemis Joukowsky, Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War, tells the riveting story of the Sharps’ work in Europe during World War II. In this discussion, panelists Artemis Joukowsky, HDS professor Kevin Madigan, Amber Moulton of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, and Sana Mustafa, an activist and Syrian refugee place the Sharps’ efforts in a larger historical context of modern refugee crises. The panel was was moderated by HDS professor Dan McKanan. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Charles Stang, HDS Professor of Early Christian Thought, discusses his recent publication, Our Divine Double. Gregory Shaw (Stonehill College) and Benjamin Dunning (Fordham University) serve as respondents. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Arvind Sharma, Birks Professor of Comparative Religion at McGill University, discusses the recent tensions between the academic and faith communities. This is the second Hindu View of Life Annual Lecture. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

In what ways does piety and the contemplative life encourage or discourage social change activism? How do liberal and conservative religious traditions integrate or divide the inner life and work for social justice. In what ways can social change activism be a spiritual practice itself? Join with a diverse panel of religious leaders in exploring how different religious traditions balance inner spiritual development with the mandate to work for economic and social justice for all. Panelists include: Claire Schaeffer-Duffy, cofounder of the Saints Francis & Thérèse Catholic Worker; HDS professor Cheryl Giles; Celene Ibrahim, Muslim chaplain at Tufts University and HDS alum; David Jaffe, rabbi, author, and founder of the Kirva Institute; and Dudley Rose, HDS associate dean for ministry studies. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

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. After years as a public defender and human rights lawyer, Karen Tse, MDiv ’00, heard the call to ministry and enrolled at HDS. While a student, she was inspired to combine her vocations and found International Bridges to Justice (IBJ), a global nonprofit that works to end torture as an investigative tool through early access to counsel. Today, IBJ is active in over 40 countries around the world, training scores of police, prosecutors, and judges. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

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 insight, action, and hope? This panel discussion brings together leaders, scholars, writers, and activists of many faith traditions to discuss questions at the intersection of democracy, faith, money, and morals. Panelists are Sojourners founder, Jim Wallis; Cambridge City Councillor, Nadeem Mazen; president of American Promise, Jeff Clements; recent HDS alum Tajay Bongsa; the Rev. Mariama White-Hammond; and Rabbi Aryeh Klapper. The event and panel was moderated by HDS Professor Dan McKanan. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

WSRP Research Associate Taylor Petrey delivers his talk, “The Mormon Homosexual: Caring and Curing from the 1970s to the Present.” Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Cities across the northeast are ranked as some of the least Bible-minded cities in America. Both inside and outside the church, people in our region have a lot of issues with the Bible. This September, Rev. Anne Robertson, humanist author Tom Krattenmaker, and Fr. Warren Savage are traveling to New Haven, Albany, Providence, and Boston to help us talk about it in a series of town-hall style discussions about the Bible. Learn more at massbible.org/experiment. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Sandeep Das (tabla) and Rajib Karmaker (sitar) perform music from India. Remarks by Anne Monius, Professor of South Asian Religions. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

For twenty-five years, the Pluralism Project at Harvard has studied the changing religious landscape of the United States. Join us as we mark this milestone with “The Pluralism Project at 25: Diversity and Inclusion in the American Crucible,” a conference featuring conversations about the critical challenges and opportunities religious diversity poses today. In this panel co-sponsored by the El Hibri Foundation and moderated by Diana L. Eck, Parvez Ahmed, Imam Hassan Selim, Taymullah Abdur-Rahman, Celene Ibrahim discuss Islamaphobia in the interfaith age. “The Pluralism Project at 25: Diversity and Inclusion in the American Crucible” is part of Harvard Divinity School Bicentennial celebrations. From August 2016 through May 2017, HDS will celebrate 200 years of excellence in the study of religion and look ahead to its future. Learn more at http://hds.harvard.edu/about/hds-bicentennial. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

For twenty-five years, the Pluralism Project at Harvard has studied the changing religious landscape of the United States. Join us as we mark this milestone with “The Pluralism Project at 25: Diversity and Inclusion in the American Crucible,” a conference featuring conversations about the critical challenges and opportunities religious diversity poses today. In this keynote, Imam Khalid Latif and Rabbi Yehuda Sarna lead a dialogue on religious diversity and inclusion. “The Pluralism Project at 25: Diversity and Inclusion in the American Crucible” is part of Harvard Divinity School Bicentennial celebrations. From August 2016 through May 2017, HDS will celebrate 200 years of excellence in the study of religion and look ahead to its future. Learn more at http://hds.harvard.edu/about/hds-bicentennial. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.