Saints, spiritual warriors, bodhisattvas, zaddikim—no matter how they are named in a given tradition, all share a profound altruistic wish to free others from suffering. Saints are not beings of stained glass or carved stone. “Each of us can be a new saint,” says Lama Rod Owens. “In our pain, our trauma, and all our complexity, we all can—and must—awaken the virtue of our compassion for the benefit of our communities, our planet, and our own souls.” Watch Lama Rod as he shares personal...

In this episode of the Hope Podcast, we sit down with Keisha Bush, a second-year MTS student. We discuss the importance of intention and the value of community. Learn more about religion and spiritual life at Harvard Divinity School here: hds.harvard.edu/community-life/re…nd-spiritual-life Transcript forthcoming.

In this episode of the Hope Podcast, we sit down with Swami Sachidananda, a student fellow at HDS. We discuss his monastic journey and the power of a smile. Learn more about religion and spiritual life at Harvard Divinity School here: hds.harvard.edu/community-life/re…nd-spiritual-life Transcript forthcoming.

In this episode of the Hope Podcast, we hear from Jamail Khan, a second-year MTS student at HDS. We discuss the importance of religious community for spiritual growth and the power of love and beauty in the face of hopelessness. Learn more about religion and spiritual life at Harvard Divinity School here: hds.harvard.edu/community-life/re…nd-spiritual-life Transcript forthcoming.

Pop Apocalypse, hosted by Matthew J. Dillon, postdoctoral fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School, explores the mystical and the mythic, the paranormal and the psychedelic in popular culture. For episode 7, we welcome the writer and scholar Erik Davis to reflect on the journey that led to his new book, BLOTTER: The Untold Story of an Acid Medium. We discuss Erik’s writing for the Village Voice in the early 90s, his breakthrough monograph Techgnosis,...

In this episode of the Hope Podcast, we hear from Michael Fuhrman, a second-year MDiv student at HDS. This conversation includes his religious position of non-position, religious sympathy, and the importance of writing for its own sake. Learn more about religion and spiritual life at Harvard Divinity School here: hds.harvard.edu/community-life/re…nd-spiritual-life Transcript forthcoming.

In this episode of the Hope Podcast, we hear from Ahmaad Edmund, a third-year MDiv student at HDS. He discusses his long-time commitment to the Baptist tradition, starting a basement church as a youngster, and finding hope in transit. Learn more about religion and spiritual life at Harvard Divinity School here: https://hds.harvard.edu/community-life/religious-and-spiritual-life Transcript forthcoming.

This alumni webinar explored the role of chaplaincy in fostering resilience and navigating complex challenges. Representing different religious traditions and fields, HDS alumni—Celene Ibrahim, MDiv '11, Faculty and Muslim Chaplain at the Groton School; Naomi Tzril Saks, MDiv '10, Palliative Care Chaplain at University of California, San Francisco; and The Venerable Priya Rakkhit Sraman, MDiv '17, Buddhist Chaplain at Emory University—shared their insights and experiences on providing...

This was the fifth event is a six-part series, Religion in Times of Earth Crisis. Can personhood be granted to mountains, lakes, and rivers? What does it mean to be met by another species? How do we extend our notion of power to include all life forms? And what does a different kind of power look like and feel like? Wild Mercy is in our hands. Practices of attention in the field with compassion and grace deepen our kinship with life, allowing us to touch something deeper than hope. Great...

Plenary II: Plenary Chair: Dr. Melissa Wood Bartholomew, Associate Dean for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging, Lecturer on Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging, Harvard Divinity School Panelists: Sevonna Brown, National Director of Black Women’s Blueprint, Safer Childbirth Cities Initiative, Merck for Mothers, Dr. Henry Love, inaugural Obama Foundation U.S. Leaders Fellow, Vice President of Public Policy and Strategy at Women in Need, Dr. Joshua Louis Gills, Rutgers Presidential...

Plenary I: Plenary Chair: Dr. Tracey E. Hucks, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Africana Religious Studies, Harvard Divinity School Panelists: Rev. Dr. Monica A. Coleman, John and Patricia Cochran Scholar for Inclusive Excellence and Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Delaware, Dr. Martin Summers, Professor of History and African and African Diaspora Studies at Boston College, Dr. Stephanie Y. Evans, Professor of Black Women's Studies (WGSS & AAS) at Georgia State...

Full Title: Black Religion and Mental Health Symposium Keynote, "Black Freedom and the Racialization of Religious Excitement in American Psychiatry” by Dr. Judith Weisenfeld Professor Ahmad Greene-Hayes (Harvard Divinity School) and Professor George Aumoithe (FAS, History and African and African American Studies) proposed this two-day interdisciplinary symposium, integrating mind, brain, and behavior insights into the exploration of Black religious practices and their impact on mental...

This event was sponsored by the Women's Studies in Religion Program at Harvard Divinity School. This lecture, "More Babies and More Birth Control: American Jews and the Politics of Reproduction," was given by Samira K. Mehta, who is the Visiting Associate Professor of North American Religions. This event took place on February 29, 2024. For more information, see: https://wsrp.hds.harvard.edu/ A full transcript is forthcoming.

Full title: Refuge in the Storm Webinar Series, Part III: Caring for Crisis Workers- Buddhist Approaches to Stress Management and Self-Care This webinar is the third in a series offered by the Buddhist Ministry Initiative at Harvard Divinity School and featured a panel discussion of contributors to part III of Refuge in the Storm: Buddhist Voices in Crisis Care, edited by Nathan Jishin Michon. The panel included Shushin R.A. Peterson, Alex Baskin, and Acala Xiaoxi Wang, and was be...

This was the fourth event in the six-part Religion in Times of Earth Crisis Series. Human-caused climate change already contributes to manifold global disasters. As the planet inevitably continues to warm, these disasters will be routine and unrelenting. Addressing the reality of loss must become a basic spiritual task of our climate present and future, along with summoning the resolve to respond to all our losses. In this session, Matthew Ichihashi Potts considered the apocalyptic roots of...

Dr. Luis Eduardo is the Director of Wasiwaska, a research center in Brazil for the study of psychointegrator plants, visionary art and consciousness. Dr. Luna spoke about the ethnobotanical research at his Center, learning with and from the local communities and speaking with and to the plants. He also explored the relationship between his research work and art and how the greater-than-human world has informed his approach to being an artist and an exhibition director. This event took place...

This is the third event is a six-part series that took place live on Zoom discussing religion in times of earth crisis. Across the Indian Ocean world, communities have shared stories while encountering legacies of modern state-centrism, colonial capitalism, post-colonial environmental destruction, and religious reform. Muslim communities, among others, have shared stories of religious environments and animals that were inherited, transmitted, and reinterpreted in light of evolving...

Full event title: Religion, Conflict, and Peace Book Series Spring 2024: The Necessity of Exile: Essays from a Distance & End of Days Ethics, Tradition, and Power in Israel This joint book talk will feature “The Necessity of Exile: Essays from a Distance” by Shaul Magid and “End of Days Ethics, Tradition, and Power in Israel” by Mikhael Manekin. “The Necessity of Exile” is a progressive collection of essays on the Jewish relationship to Zionism and exile. Magid invites us to rethink our...

This is the second event in a six-part series about religion in times of earth crisis. Two hundred years ago, the residents of metropolitan Boston faced a climate crisis. White settlers had destroyed the region’s pine forests, triggering dangerous disruptions to both water and carbon cycles. Activists responded by creating forest parks on previously disrupted landscapes. But many of these activists were themselves descended from the settlers who had caused the harm they sought to heal. In...

This is the first event is a six-part series that will take place live on Zoom and is free and open to the public. Environmental catastrophes can create a break in the experience of time, they can rupture the possibility of collective meaning. Yet, for communities shaped by colonialism and racism, this rupture can only be understood in relation to the past, as an event in the “unceremoniously archived procession of our catastrophes,” to use Édouard Glissant’s words. Histories of colonial...

Join this author discussion about the book "Decolonizing Religion and the Practice of Peace." The book is an investigation of what consolidating religion as a technology of peacebuilding and development does to people's accounts of their religious and cultural traditions and why interreligious peacebuilding entrenches colonial legacies in the present. Throughout the global south, local and international organizations are frequent participants in peacebuilding projects that focus on...

Pop Apocalypse, hosted by Matthew J. Dillon, postdoctoral fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School, explores the mystical and the mythic, the paranormal and the psychedelic in popular culture. For our sixth episode, we welcome the spirit channel, teacher, and playwright Paul Selig. We explore Selig’s early career as a playwright and professor, his spiritual awakening during the Harmonic Convergence of 1987, how he cultivated his mediumship abilities,...

We invite you to listen to the special evening celebrating the life and writings of Enheduana, also En-hedu-Ana; (c. twenty-third century B.C.E.) who is the first named author in human history. Enheduana, an Akkadian princess and daughter of King Sargon I, was appointed high priestess of the moon god Nanna (Sîn) in the holy city of Ur. Her poems and hymns offer unique, first-hand accounts of her personal experiences of the goddess Inana, and provide insights into issues of gender,...

Peripheries Journal: A Journal of Word, Image, and Sound is celebrating the release of Issue 6. This 2024 edition includes work from Victoria Chang, Angie Estes, Aracelis Girmay, Joanna Klink, Sam Messer, Geoffrey Nutter, Sharon Olds, Alice Oswald, Rowan Ricardo Philips, Tracy K. Smith and many more. General pages are joined by a folio, “Anti-Letters,” that comprises the “personal” writings (ephemera, letters, lists, notes, recordings, photographs etc.) of poets such as Cody-Rose...