Harvard Divinity School

The world is currently facing the largest humanitarian crisis since World War II, and little substantive aid is forthcoming from Wealthy Western countries, who often politicize refugees as national threats. This panel discusses storytelling, advocacy, and activism with the understanding that nothing can replace personal encounter in re-framing our understanding of this global crisis. Speakers: Anita Häusermann Fábos, Associate Professor of International Development and Social Change, Clark University; Cheryl Hamilton, director, International Institute of New England's Lowell office and creator of the "Suitcase Stories" series; U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo, multi-genre artist; and Ziad Reslan, graduate student, Harvard Kennedy School of Government and co-coordinator of the Middle East Refugee Service Initiative Moderator: Diane L. Moore, director of the Religious Literacy Project and Lecturer on Religion, Conflict and Peace at Harvard Divinity School Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illu

As part of the ministry colloquium series Mohammad Darawshe speaks about the current challenges of and opportunities for building a shared society in Israel. He is the director of planning, equality and shared society at Givat Haviva, the Center for Shared Society in Israel. Mohammad is an Arab with an Israeli Passport—a Muslim, Palestinian citizen of the State of Israel. Like 20 percent of Israel’s population, he is, as he puts it, “a child of both identities.” He brings an unexpected way of seeing inside the Middle Eastern present and future. Mohammad is considered a leading political analyst and expert on Jewish-Arab relations inside Israel. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Panelists Jennifer Graber, University of Texas at Austin; Heather Curtis, Tufts University; and Amy Howe, Brown University discuss carceral punishment in relation to religion and the historical roots of US incarceration. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Panelists Cornel West, Harvard Divinity School; Devin Singh, Dartmouth College; Michelle Sanchez, Harvard Divinity School; M. Shawn Copeland, Boston College; and Andre Willis, Brown University, discuss carceral punishment in relation to theology and humanities. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Willie Jennings, Yale Divinity School, opened the Christianity, Race, and Mass Incarceration Conference as the keynote speaker. The conference gathers scholars of various disciplines, activists, organizers, and formerly incarcerated persons to study carceral punishment, especially as it relates to questions of Christian thought and practice, and to provoke awareness and activism around incarceration in America. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Panelists Glenn Martin, JustLeadershipUSA; Kaia Stern, Harvard University; Rahsaan Hall, Massachusetts ACLU; Bev Williams, Criminal Justice Reform Campaign, GBIO; and Karlene Griffiths Sekou, Founder and Principal Consultant at The Dignity Project International, discuss carceral punishment in relation to activist strategies and the study of religion. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

On October 12, 2017, alumni spoke about their experience participating in the protests at Charlottesville or who support this protest in their own context. These alumni, including Willie Bodrick II, MDiv ’14; Tracy Howe Wispelwey, MDiv ’12; and Jalane Schmidt, MDiv '96, AM ’05, PhD ’05, will share their observations in order to open up a larger conversation on the important topic of public voice. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Catherine Brekus, HDS Charles Warren Professor of the History of Religion in America, discusses her recent publication, Sarah Osborn’s Collected Writings. David Holland (HDS) and Margaret Bendroth serve as respondents. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

This session of the fourth annual RPP Colloquium dinner series explores restorative justice, its spiritual dimensions, and the potential contributions of its approach to advancing sustainable peace in our communities and our world. The session features presentations by Fania Davis, J.D., PhD, Co-Executive Director, Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth (RJOY); and sujatha baliga, J.D., Director, Restorative Justice Project; Vice President, Impact Justice; Just Beginnings Fellow. Fania Davis presents “The Spiritual Roots of Restorative Justice: Resources for Cultivating Peace in Our Communities,” and sujatha baliga delivers a talk entitled “Have You Been Angry Long Enough? Faith, Forgiveness, and Restorative Justice”. The event is moderated by Janet Gyatso, PhD, Hershey Professor of Buddhist Studies, Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs, Harvard Divinity School. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at hds.harvard.edu/.

This year's Dudleian Lecture is presented by Dr. Paul C.H. Lim, Associate Professor of the History of Christianity and Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Vanderbilt University. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

MDiv candidate Tim Gallati is studying experiences of “silence” in nature and contemplative practice with applications in virtual and augmented realities. This piece is titled "Retreat," and is the sound captured during the walk from Gallati's apartment in Central Square, through Cambridge, and into and within the retreat house of Society of Saint John the Evangelist. Headphones recommended. Read more here: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2017/09/25/listening-ear-heart Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at hds.harvard.edu/.

Laura Dassow Walls, author of Henry David Thoreau: A Life and Richard Higgins, author of Thoreau and the Language of Trees to discuss Thoreau's life and work. Respondents include Barry Andrews, a Unitarian Universalist minister, who is the author of several books on Transcendentalism and a longtime participant in the Thoreau Society, and Terry Tempest Williams, author, conservationist, and activist who will be a writer-in-residence at HDS during the 2017–18 academic year. This event took place on September 14, 2017 and is a part of a series of events to honor the life of Henry David Thoreau in the year of his 200th birthday. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

How do our views of land and landscape influence our religious imagination, and vice versa? The panelists were: Matthew L. Potts, Associate Professor of Religion and Literature and of Ministry Studies; Charles M. Stang, Professor of Early Christian Thought, Director of the Center for the Study of World Religions; and Terry Tempest Williams, Writer-in-Residence.

Delivered on September 7, 2017, by Brad S. Gregory, Professor of History and Dorothy G. Griffin Collegiate Chair at the University of Notre Dame. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Women’s Studies in Religion Program (WSRP) Research Associates discuss the courses they'll be teaching during the 2017-18 academic year, 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.

On August 29, HDS Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy Cornel West delivered the 2017 Convocation address. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at hds.harvard.edu/.

Congratulations to the Harvard Divinity School class of 2017, who received their diplomas during the HDS Diploma Awarding Ceremony on May 25, 2017. David Price, MDiv ’17, gave the student address. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at hds.harvard.edu/.

The 2017 Multireligious Commencement Service was held on Wednesday, May 24, at Memorial Church. Susan Shallcross Swartz Professor of the Practice of Christian Studies Stephanie Paulsell was the faculty speaker. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

On the occasion of the bicentenary of the birth of the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, this presentation by Center for the Study of World Religions Visiting Fellow Sasha Dehghani provides an introduction to the life and writings of Bahá'u'lláh (1817–1892), with a focus on the principle of unity in its diverse forms of expression. Bahá'u'lláh's teachings on unity have not only earned the appreciation of some of the leading thinkers across different religions and races, such as Leo Tolstoy, E. G. Browne, Muhammad Iqbal, Mahatma Gandhi, and W.E.B. Du Bois, but have also encouraged the Bahá'ís to strive toward peaceful and coherent models of community life, and enabled them to withstand oppression in a spirit of constructive resilience. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Harvard Divinity School Professor Harvey Cox delivers the talk, "Whatever Happened to Secularization?" The talk took place during HDS's bicentennial celebration and alumni reunion on April 29, 2017. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at hds.harvard.edu/.