Harvard Divinity School

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 Contemporary Islamic Religion and Society, this conference series is centered on the history of Muslim institutions and ideas in Africa. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

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 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. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

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 Alwaleed Chair in Contemporary Islamic Religion and Society, this conference series is centered on the history of Muslim institutions and ideas in Africa. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

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 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. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

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 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 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. 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) 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 member of the Program on Negotiation executive board at Harvard Law School; respondent J. Bryan Hehir, Parker Gilbert Montgomery Professor of the Practice of Religion and Public Life at Harvard Kennedy School, secretary for social services of the Archdiocese of Boston; and moderator Federica D’Alessandra, LLM, 2013-16 Fellow and 2010-12 Associate at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, 2016-17 Visiting Scholar/Researcher at HLS, 2017-18 Fellow at HDS, and 2016-18 RPP adviser. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

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/.

America is no longer a majority-white-Christian nation. Journalist, author, commentator, and Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne and Dr. Robert P. Jones, author of The End of White Christian America, discuss this seismic change, its impact on the politics and social values of the United States, and its implications for the future. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at hds.harvard.edu/.

Based on personal study and experience, Anne Waldman speaks on the refuge and Bodhisattva vows, the Six Realms of Existence, “co-emergent wisdom” and a parallel vow to poetry, and the joys and contradictions therein. She integrates her own poetry, particular writers associated with the Beat Literary Movement, and Giorgio Agamben’s notion of being contemporary with one’s time as “looking into the darkness”. 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 Series explores some of the key challenges that nonviolent resistance movements face, including obstacles to building and maintaining movement cohesion, ensuring effective communication, and gaining political leverage; how advocates of principled nonviolence (who promote nonviolence on a moral basis) often clash with advocates of civil resistance (who promote nonviolent action on a strategic or utilitarian basis); the ongoing debate on diversity of tactics; and the ways in which power and privilege undermine solidarity. The colloquium highlights the power of women in these movements and addresses ways in which spiritually-engaged communities are well-positioned to address many of these key movement challenges. It features Erica Chenoweth, PhD, Professor and Associate Dean for Research at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver and Fellow, One Earth Future Foundation; and moderator and respondent Jocelyne Cesari, PhD, Professor and Chair of Religion and Politics at the University of Birmingham, UK, Senior Research Fellow at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center on Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, Professorial Fellow at the Institute for Religion, Politics, and Society at the Australian Catholic University, and Visiting Professor of Religion and Politics at Harvard Divinity School. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

The Annual Greeley Lecture for Peace and Social Justice was delivered by Kelly Brown Douglas and examined the social/political and theological implications of whiteness as an impediment to living God’s justice. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Is religion a cause of violent conflict or a catalyst for its transformation? Do faith leaders have a role at the international peacebuilding tables? Current international affairs highlight the power of religious ideologies—and their misappropriation—as a catalyst for social action. They have also prompted unprecedented interest in the role of religious leaders and ideologies to transform conflict and violence. The keynote session of the fourth annual RPP Colloquium dinner series features Canon Sarah Snyder, PhD, Archbishop of Canterbury's Director of Reconciliation and The Right Reverend Anthony Poggo, PhD, the Advisor for Anglican Communion Affairs to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Together, they share their experience of working in conflict zones and reflect on vital lessons for the contemporary world. The event is moderated by Dean David N. Hempton, Alonzo L. McDonald Family Professor of Evangelical Theological Studies and John Lord O'Brian Professor of Divinity. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Held on December 7–8, 2017, the Religious Literacy and the Professions Initiative (RLPI) seeks to consider how religion is embedded in both constructive and antagonistic approaches to immigration, especially with respect to work undertaken by (or in collaboration with) governmental agencies. This panel continues this discussion in relation to Middle Tennessee. The panelists include Melissa Borja, Abdou Kattih, Kim Snyder, and Daniel Valdez. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Held on December 7–8, 2017, the Religious Literacy and the Professions Initiative (RLPI) seeks to consider how religion is embedded in both constructive and antagonistic approaches to immigration, especially with respect to work undertaken by (or in collaboration with) governmental agencies. This panel continues this discussion in relation to the Arizona-Mexico Border. The panelists include Kristin Du Mez, Scott Harshbarger, Juanita Molina, and Christopher Montoya. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Held on December 7–8, 2017, the Religious Literacy and the Professions Initiative (RLPI) seeks to consider how religion is embedded in both constructive and antagonistic approaches to immigration, especially with respect to work undertaken by (or in collaboration with) governmental agencies. This panel continues this discussion in relation to the Greater Boston Area. The panelists include Celina Barrios-Millner, Joe Curtatone, Erica James, Marjean Perhot, Patricia Montes, and Kathleen O'Keefe Reed. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Held on December 7–8, 2017, the Religious Literacy and the Professions Initiative (RLPI) seeks to consider how religion is embedded in both constructive and antagonistic approaches to immigration, especially with respect to work undertaken by (or in collaboration with) governmental agencies. This panel and the following remarks will close the symposium. The panelists include Michelle Boorstein, Jack Jenkins, Diane L. Moore, Stephen Prothero, and Amy Sullivan. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Held on December 7–8, 2017, the Religious Literacy and the Professions Initiative (RLPI) seeks to consider how religion is embedded in both constructive and antagonistic approaches to immigration, especially with respect to work undertaken by (or in collaboration with) governmental agencies. Shaun Casey, MDiv ’83, ThD ’98, gives the keynote address at the Religious Literacy and Government Symposium. Nadeem Mazen, Cambridge City Council member, and Diane L. Moore, director of the Religious Literacy Project at Harvard Divinity School, respond. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

From the Commission of Appraisal in 1936 to the Black Empowerment impulse of the 1960s, James Luther Adams was a significant shaper of Unitarian and Unitarian Universalist institutions. And as a social ethicist, he helped envision the new national and international institutions that emerged in the post-World War II period. Professor Dan McKanan’s lecture explores the way Adams translated his theological and ethical vision into institutional practice, seeking insights that might help religious liberals respond faithfully to the institutional crises of the twenty-first century. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Journalist and author E.J. Dionne, William H. Bloomberg Visiting Professor, delivers the 2017 Horace De Y. Lentz Lecture.

The South Asian Religions Colloquium (SARC) seeks to share ongoing, current scholarly research on topics in South Asian religions with Harvard students and faculty as well as the wider Boston academic community. This event features speaker James Mallinson, Senior Lecturer in Sanskrit and Classical Indian Studies at the University of London. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

As part of the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, this panel reflects on the interaction between religion scholars and law enforcement officials over the past 25 years and what may be learned from that experience to inform interaction going forward. Panelists include Eileen Barker, London School of Economics and Political Science; Michael Barkun, Syracuse University; David T. Resch, Federal Bureau of Investigation; Robin Montgomery, Brookfield, CT; Steven Weitzman, University of Pennsylvania; Eugene V. Gallagher, Connecticut College; and Gregory B. Saathoff, University of Virginia. Nancy Ammerman of Boston University serves as the respondent. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

"Forests think." Eduardo Kohn, author of the book How Forests Think, discusses a kind of thinking, which he calls “sylvan," that is manifested by tropical forests and those that live with them. This mode of thought can provide an ethical orientation in these times of planetary human-driven ecological devastation that some call the “Anthropocene." He presents his work as “cosmic diplomacy." How Forests Think, which has been translated into several languages, won the 2014 Gregory Bateson Prize and is short-listed for the upcoming 2018 Prix littéraire François Sommer. Eduardo Kohn's research continues to be concerned with capacitating sylvan thinking in its many forms. He teaches Anthropology at McGill University. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

WSRP 2017–18 Research Associate Avital Davidovich-Eshed, PhD (Bar Ilan University), Visiting Lecturer in Women's Studies and Judaism, delivers her talk, "Enclosed Gardens Revealed: The Concept of Virginity in Medieval Jewish Culture." Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

At the 2017 Diversity and Explorations Program (DivEx), Davíd Carrasco presents his talk, "Gifts from Mexico: Revitalizing Life Through the Day of the Dead Celebration". He describes one of the gifts from Mexico and Mexican's is the idea of convivencia, which he defines as "living together in order to give life the upper hand over death." He discusses three examples of convivencia that he has experienced and ends on the ways in which convivencia exists on our campus. Davíd Carrasco is Harvard Divinity School's Neil L. Rudenstine Professor of the Study of Latin America, with a joint appointment with the Department of Anthropology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. DivEx is a three-day introduction to graduate programs at Harvard Divinity School that span religious and cultural divides to prepare ethical leaders to work in a complex world. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Journalist and author E.J. Dionne, William H. Bloomberg Visiting Professor, delivers the 2017 Horace De Y. Lentz Lecture. Dionne is a distinguished journalist and author, political commentator, and longtime op-ed columnist for The Washington Post. He is also a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, a government professor at Georgetown University, and a frequent commentator on politics for National Public Radio, ABC’s “This Week,” and MSNBC. His most recent book, co-authored with Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann, is One Nation After Trump: A Guide for the Perplexed, the Disillusioned, the Desperate, and the Not-Yet Deported. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

As part of the Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Speakers Series, Khenpo Sodargye speaks about developing inner peace. Khenpo Sodargye is the abbot and senior educator at the renowned Larung Buddhist Institute, the largest Buddhist academy of this kind in the world. Khenpo trained closely with Khenchen Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche, one of the great luminaries of his generation. As a Tibetan lama, Buddhist scholar and teacher, prolific translator into Chinese, and modern Buddhist thinker, Khenpo Sodargye is renowned across Asia and the west for his interest in the integration of traditional Buddhist teachings with global issues and modern life. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Mark D. Jordan, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Christian Thought (HDS) and Professor of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality (Faculty of Arts and Sciences), discusses his recent publication, Teaching Bodies: Moral Formation in the Summa of Thomas Aquinas. James Keenan, S.J. (BC) and David Decosimo (BU) serve as respondents. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

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 illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

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 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/.

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/.

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. View the full transcript here: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2017/10/16/sarah-osborn-collected-writings 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/.