Harvard Divinity School

This panel was presented by the Women’s Studies in Religion Program (WSRP), which brings six scholars in gender from around the country each year to enrich the experience of our students. They shared their thoughts on the ethical responsibility of scholars to be engaged in the study of gender. The scholars who presented were Jessica J. Fowler, Elena Herminia Guzman, Samira K. Mehta, S. Zahara Moballegh, Z. Fareen Parvez, and Ashley M. Purpura.

This event took place on August 30, 2023.

Find more information for this event here: https://wsrp.hds.harvard.edu/home

Transcript available here: https://wsrp.hds.harvard.edu/news/2023/10/04/video-ethical-scholarship-gender-religion-and-difference

Amid ongoing ecological collapse, calls for more intense activists are on the rise. What is the role of civil disruption in addressing ecological catastrophe? How can spiritual practice inform direct action? How does taking such actions deeply impact those who dare to act? In this talk, Tim Ream explores these questions as he reflects on decades of direct action and Zen practice.

Tim is an organizer, campaigner, writer, film maker, and environmental attorney. He has alternated between outlaw, lawyer, and monk. He’s blocked roads, occupied corporate and government offices, and been jailed a number of times. He has also engaged in frequent, intensive residential Zen practice since 1993, and led Zen retreats for environmental leaders. His activism spans everything from direct action to successful lawsuits to protect wolves and other species.

This event took place March 23, 2023. It was organized by Rachael Petersen, MDiv III and co-leader of the HDS Plant Consciousness Reading Group, Interspecies Dialogue, the Harvard Buddhist Community, and Ecotheology Fellowship.

A full transcript is forthcoming.

Learn more: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/research-programming/transcendence-transformation/reading-groups

This webinar is the first in a series offered by the Buddhist Ministry Initiative at Harvard Divinity School. It featured a panel discussion of contributors to part I of Refuge in the Storm: Buddhist Voices in Crisis Care, edited by Nathan Jishin Michon.

The panel included Dr. Victor Gabriel, Chun Fai (Jeffrey) Ng, and Dr. g (Claudelle R. Glasgow, Psy.D., SEP, and will be co-moderated by Rev. Dr. Nathan Jishin Michon and Rev. Dr. Monica Sanford.

This event took place on September 20, 2023.

Find more info: https://hds.harvard.edu/academics/ministry-studies/buddhist-ministry-initiative

Read transcript here: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/9/20/2023/video-refuge-storm-webinar-series-part-i-buddhist-approaches-large-scale-and-community

Full Title: The Ziyārat of Imām al-Ḥusayn as Liturgical Text in Early Shī‘ī Ḥadīth and its Role in the Promulgation of Shī‘ī Piety

The intention of this lecture and study is to investigate the intricacies and substance of a genre of devotional literature and liturgical practice in Twelver Shī‘īsm, namely the Ziyārat (visitational eulogy) of Imam al-Ḥusayn. In doing so, this talk presented a historical and close philological-thematic study of this ziyāra, a text that is consistently found throughout classical and contemporary Shi‘ī prayer manuals and formative hadith works such as al-Kāfī. The ziyāra has been ascribed by Twelver Shī‘īs to the sixth Imām, Ja‘far al-Ṣādiq (d. 148/765). Unlike most studies dealing with the topic of Shī‘ī devotion, this lecture shall focus on the textual history, Qur’ānic, and mystical-theological themes which imbue this liturgy. The speakers were Vinay Khetia, Academic Director, Shia Research Institute, Toronto

Furthermore, the numerous statements of esoteric or gnostic provenance found throughout this text sheds further light upon the development and promulgation of the non-rationalist stream of Shī‘īsm by authorities such as al-Kulaynī, Ibn Qawlawayh, and Ibn Babawayh al-Qummī who place the ontological function of Imāms knowledge and walāya (charismatic persona and authority) at the very centre of any notion of acceptable religiosity. It is the author's contention that this ziyāra text is part and parcel of the broader venture of early esoteric Shī‘īsm thus, a text of this genre would be most appropriately analyzed within this context. Sponsored by the Jaffer Family Foundation of NY.

This event took place on September 15, 2023.

Find more information for this event here: https://shiism.hds.harvard.edu/

Transcript: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2023/09/15/video-ziyarat-imam-al-husayn-liturgical-text-early-shii-hadeth-and-its-role-promulgation?admin_panel=1

As part of the Transcendence and Transformation initiative, the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School is proud to announce its first ever podcast. Pop Apocalypse explores the mystical and the mythic, the paranormal and the psychedelic in popular culture.

The show features interviews with musicians, artists, and writers about how their spiritual experiences and practices inform their work. We also explore the mythological universes in film and fiction with show-runners, writers, and directors. These candid, first-person reflections will be complemented by interviews with scholars who situate these artistic products in the study of mysticism and esotericism.

Together, the podcast offers descriptive, interpretive, and theoretical scholarship on religion and popular culture in real-time that will be of interest to scholars and laypersons alike.

Hosted by Matthew J. Dillon, postdoctoral fellow at the CSWR, in conversation with Whitley Strieber.

Full transcript: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/03/07/audio-pop-apocalypse-aliens-eros-and-life-after-death-interview-whitley-strieber

Learn more: cswr.hds.harvard.edu/

The entire HDS and Harvard community, friends, alumni, and guests were invited to the opening of HDS's 208th year. The 2023 Convocation featured remarks by Harvard President Claudine Gay, Interim Dean David F. Holland, and David N. Hempton.

This event took place on September 7, 2023.

Read transcript here: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/9/7/2023/convocation-2023

Find more information for this event here: https://hds.harvard.edu/news-events/convocation-2023

The Constellation Project is pleased to announce the publication of our second “Prayer Book,” by HDS student Morgan Curtis. “The Decolonial Dames of America,” is a landmark essay about the importance of ancestral repair work needed to be taken by the white descendants of oppressors to cultivate the soil of healing. This event featured a reading by Morgan Curtis in conversation with Melissa Bartholomew, associate dean for diversity, inclusion, and belonging.

This event took place April 19, 2023.

Read the transcript: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2023/10/06/video-decolonial-dames-america-book-launch-and-reading

Learn more: https://www.planetaryhealthalliance.org/the-constellation-project

As part of the Transcendence and Transformation initiative, the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School is proud to announce its first ever podcast. Pop Apocalypse explores the mystical and the mythic, the paranormal and the psychedelic in popular culture.

The show features interviews with musicians, artists, and writers about how their spiritual experiences and practices inform their work. We also explore the mythological universes in film and fiction with show-runners, writers, and directors. These candid, first-person reflections will be complemented by interviews with scholars who situate these artistic products in the study of mysticism and esotericism.

Together, the podcast offers descriptive, interpretive, and theoretical scholarship on religion and popular culture in real-time that will be of interest to scholars and laypersons alike.

Hosted by Matthew J. Dillon, postdoctoral fellow at the CSWR, in conversation with Laurence Caruana.

A full transcript can be found online: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2023/05/15/audio-pop-apocalypse-psychedelic-gnosis-and-imaginal-double-laurence-caruana

Learn more: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/

As part of the Transcendence and Transformation initiative, the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School is proud to announce its first ever podcast. Pop Apocalypse explores the mystical and the mythic, the paranormal and the psychedelic in popular culture.

The show features interviews with musicians, artists, and writers about how their spiritual experiences and practices inform their work. We also explore the mythological universes in film and fiction with show-runners, writers, and directors. These candid, first-person reflections will be complemented by interviews with scholars who situate these artistic products in the study of mysticism and esotericism.

Together, the podcast offers descriptive, interpretive, and theoretical scholarship on religion and popular culture in real-time that will be of interest to scholars and laypersons alike.

Hosted by Matthew J. Dillon, postdoctoral fellow at the CSWR, in conversation with Alex and Allyson Grey.

A full transcript can be found online: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2023/05/15/audio-pop-apocalypse-waking-flesh-dream-alex-and-allyson-grey

Learn more: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/

Audre Lorde is one of the most significant and influential Black feminist writer/activists of the twentieth century. In this talk at Harvard Divinity School, Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall, founding director of the Women’s Research and Resource Center at Spelman College, examined Lorde’s prolific writings in the context of contemporary Black feminist ethics, discourse, and activism. As the nation faces increasing political resistance to social justice reform in the aftermath of the Black Lives Matter Movement, Dr. Guy-Sheftall reflected upon the importance of returning to Lorde’s work as a resource for imagining and building social transformations in society, electoral politics, the criminal justice system, and the academy.

This event took place on April 25, 2023.

Full transcript: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2023/04/25/video-i-am-your-sister-audre-lorde-context-black-feminist-activism-and-ethics?

Learn more: https://hds.harvard.edu/