Harvard Divinity School

As part of the efforts to promote the study of Islam in Africa at Harvard, an Islam in Africa conference series was initiated under the sponsorship of HDS, NELC, CAS, AAAS, and the Hutchins Center with the goal to convene an international symposium every year to facilitate intellectual conversation between junior and senior scholars involved in cutting edge research in the field. In line with the mission of the Alwaleed Chair in Contemporary Islamic Religion and Society, this conference series is centered on the history of Muslim institutions and ideas in Africa.

Panel 1 of West Africa and the Maghreb: Reassessing Intellectual Connections in the 21st Century Panelists: Armaan Sidiqi, Harvard University, “Perspectives on “Politicized Sufism”: A Case Study of the ṭarīqa QadīrīBoutchichiyya” Jaison M. Carter, Harvard University, ”Black Muslimness Mobilized: A Study of West African Sufism in Diaspora” Ariela Marcus-Sells, Elon University, “Technologies of Devotion in the works of Sidi Mukhtar al-Kunti” Christine Thun-Nhi Dang, New York University, “The Politics of Love in African Performances of Sufi Poetry” Chair: Stephanie Paulsell, Harvard Divinity School As part of the efforts to promote the study of Islam in Africa at Harvard, an Islam in Africa conference series was initiated under the sponsorship of HDS, NELC, CAS, AAAS, and the Hutchins Center with the goal to convene an international symposium every year to facilitate intellectual conversation between junior and senior scholars involved in cutting edge research in the field. In line with the mission of the Al

Panel 2 of West Africa and the Maghreb: Prayers, Invocations, and the Talismanic Tradition Panelists: James C. Riggan, Florida State University, “Qur’anic Exorcism in North and West Africa” Zachary Wright, Northwestern University Qatar and Adam Larson, Weill Cornell University – Qatar,“Genealogy of Prayer Manuals 18th Century to the Present” Paul Anderson, Harvard, “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered: A Reconsideration of the Evil Eye and Ruqyah through Ethnographic Analysis” Oludamini Ogunnaike, College of Williams and Mary, “Poetry in Praise of Prophetic Perfection: West African Madih Poetry and its Precedents” Chair: Kimberly C. Patton, Harvard Divinity School As part of the efforts to promote the study of Islam in Africa at Harvard, an Islam in Africa conference series was initiated under the sponsorship of HDS, NELC, CAS, AAAS, and the Hutchins Center with the goal to convene an international symposium every year to facilitate intellectual conversation between junior and senior scholars involved in c

Panel 3 of West Africa and the Maghreb: Re-evalutating the Historic Core Curriculum Panelists: Ismail Warcheid, CNRS France, “Scholarly Networks, Legal Debates, and Territorial Integration” David Owen, Harvard University, “Of Radd and Sharḥ and Ṭurra: The Long and Late Dynamism of the African Commentary Tradition on Akhḍarī's Sullam on Avicennian Organon Logic” Alexis Trouillot, Université Paris VII, “The Study of Mathematics in the Sahel from the 15thto the 20th C.” Abubakar Abdulkadir, University of Alberta, Canada, “Poetry in West Africa and the Maghreb” Chair: Charles Hallisey, Harvard Divinity School As part of the efforts to promote the study of Islam in Africa at Harvard, an Islam in Africa conference series was initiated under the sponsorship of HDS, NELC, CAS, AAAS, and the Hutchins Center with the goal to convene an international symposium every year to facilitate intellectual conversation between junior and senior scholars involved in cutting edge research in the field. In line with the mission

Panel 4 of West Africa and the Maghreb: Jihadi Ideology: What is New, What is Not? Panelists: William Miles, Northeastern University, “Jihadism in Muslim West Africa in Historical Perspective” Abdulbasit Kassim, Rice University, Jihadi-Salafism and the Vocabulary of Takfīr in the 21st Century Hausaland and Bornu” Zekeria Ould Ahmed Salem, Northwestern University Evanston, “Assessing the Salafi Current in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania” Anouar Boukhars, McDaniel College, “The Strategic Incentives for Insurgents to Embrace Extreme Ideology: The Case of the Sahel and Maghreb” As part of the efforts to promote the study of Islam in Africa at Harvard, an Islam in Africa conference series was initiated under the sponsorship of HDS, NELC, CAS, AAAS, and the Hutchins Center with the goal to convene an international symposium every year to facilitate intellectual conversation between junior and senior scholars involved in cutting edge research in the field. In line with the mission of the Alwaleed Chair in Co

Panel 5 of West Africa and the Maghreb: New Intellectual Connections Panelists: Mansour Kedidir, CRASC Algeria, “Connections of Intellectuals in the Maghreb and Sub-Saharan Africa: Trajectories and Representations” Fatima Harrak, Institute of African Studies, Rabat Morocco, “Research on Moroccan-African Relations at the Rabat Institute of African Studies” Robert Parks, CEMA, Algeria, “American Research Centers in North Africa and Sahara-Sahel Studies” Ebrima Sall, Trust Africa, Senegal “CODESRIA and the New Pan-Africanist Intellectual Connections Across the Sahara” Chair: Jacob K. Olupona, Harvard Divinity School As part of the efforts to promote the study of Islam in Africa at Harvard, an Islam in Africa conference series was initiated under the sponsorship of HDS, NELC, CAS, AAAS, and the Hutchins Center with the goal to convene an international symposium every year to facilitate intellectual conversation between junior and senior scholars involved in cutting edge research in the field. In line with the

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. Each year, WSRP brings five scholars in gender from around the world to pursue research on women and religion and to enrich the experience of our students. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at www.hds.harvard.edu.

​Dr. Frank Rogers delivers the keynote for "Cultivating Resilience Through the Peaks and Valleys of Chaplaincy" conference. The conference focuses on resiliency practices upheld by seasoned chaplains from the major fields of chaplaincy. Rogers is the Muriel Bernice Roberts Professor of Spiritual Formation and Narrative Pedagogy and the co-director of the Center for Engaged Compassion at the Claremont School of Theology and the author of Practicing Compassion. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Francisca Cho proposes that Buddhist epistemic frameworks regarding the nature of ritual apparitions offer an account of the religious possibilities of film that is absent in Western phenomenological conversations on the same topic. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Congratulations to the Harvard Divinity School class of 2018, who received their diplomas during the HDS Diploma Awarding Ceremony on May 25, 2017. Lindsey Franklin, MDiv ’18, and Denson Staples, MDiv ’18, gave the student address. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

The promotion of more just and peaceful societies is a fundamental goal of the United Nations (UN). In response to the spike in violent conflict worldwide and unparalleled levels of forced displacement, the UN broke new ground in 2016 with two “peacebuilding resolutions,” which set forth a new UN approach to “sustaining peace” that addresses “all stages of conflict” and “all its dimensions.” During this session, we explored what law, policy, and ethics can teach us about “sustaining peace” and how the UN can be assisted in forging a more coherent vision of this new paradigm. This session of the fourth annual RPP Colloquium Series features Benjamin B. Ferencz, JD ’43 HLS, recipient of the Harvard Law School Medal of Freedom 2014, and former United States prosecutor at the International Military Tribunal at Nüremberg; respondent Gabriella Blum, LLM ’01, SJD ’03, Rita E. Hauser Professor of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, faculty director of the Program on International Law and Armed Conflict (PILAC), and m

David Freudberg of Humankind talks with Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann and Sensei Joshin Byrnes. Cultivating Resilience Through the Peaks and Valleys of Chaplaincy focuses on resiliency practices upheld by seasoned chaplains from the major fields of chaplaincy. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Kimberly Blockett, Visiting Associate Professor of Women's Studies and African American Religions, and WSRP Research Associate and Colorado Scholar, Brandywine, presents “#sayhername: Recovering Zilpha Elaw’s Rebellious Evangelicalism." Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Laura R. Prieto, Visiting Professor of Women’s Studies and American Religious History from Simmons College, presents “Making Disciples: Women, Missions, and Colonial Education in the Early 20th-Century Philippines”. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

HDS students Hal Edmonson, Lou Fish-Sadin, Sally Fritsche, and Isaac Martinez deliver sermons for the Billings Preaching Prize Competition during Noon Service on April 11, 2018. The annual preaching competition is open to second- and third-year MDiv students. In addition, Samm Melton, the Massachusetts Bible Society scripture reading winner read the scripture passage. 02:16 Samm Melton 03:58 Hal Edmonson 16:38 Lou Fish-Sadin 28:09 Sally Fritsche 38:21 Isaac Martinez Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Terry Tempest Williams, the 2017–18 Writer-in-Residence at Harvard Divinity School, delivers the 2018 Ingersoll Lecture. She has been called "a citizen writer," a writer who speaks and speaks out eloquently on behalf of an ethical stance toward life. A conservationist and fierce advocate for freedom of speech, she has consistently shown us how environmental issues are social issues that ultimately become matters of justice. "So here is my question," she asks, "what might a different kind of power look like, feel like, and can power be redistributed equitably even beyond our own species?" Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

The 2018 Peter J. Gomes STB '68 Memorial honorees speak for the final installment of this year’s Divinity Dialogues. The panelists were: Robert Michael Franklin, MDiv '78; Jalane D. Schmidt, MDiv '96, AM '05, PhD '05; Simran Jeet Singh, MTS '08; Karen I. Tse, MDiv '00; and Ann D. Braude, Senior Lecturer on American Religious History and director of the Women’s Studies in Religion Program. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Estonian composer Arvo Pärt is the most performed living composer in the world today. His style is often characterized as a “mystic” or “holy” minimalism, inspired in part by Gregorian chant. This panel explores the religious dimensions of Pärt’s music and how it has been received, performed, and adapted for various vocal and instrumental ensembles. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at hds.harvard.edu/.

Satigata is a group of Harvard Divinity School alumni and students who blend Buddhist chanting, modern rock, and folk set to guitar, hand drums, and Buddhist bells. They recently released the album "Boundless." For more information visit: Jaya/Berlin. Based on the song "Take me Away" by Jaya. Mantra melody by Chris Berlin.

Violence is not inevitable in stressed and oppressed communities and the building of peace in those communities requires the building of bridges between unlikely collaborators. That's the lesson learned in Boston over three decades of trying to change the trajectory of proven-risk youth and their families. This session of the fourth annual RPP Colloquium Series features Rev. Dr. Ray Hammond, MD '75, MA '82, AB '71, pastor and founder of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, chairman and co-founder of the Ten Point Coalition and executive committee member of the Black Ministerial Alliance, Boston. The event is moderated by Stephanie Paulsell, PhD, Susan Shallcross Swartz Professor of the Practice of Christian Studies; formerly associate dean for ministry studies and Houghton Professor of the Practice of Ministry Studies at Harvard Divinity School. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.