Harvard Divinity School

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 co-moderated by Rev. Dr. Nathan Jishin Michon and Rev. Dr. Monica Sanford. For full bios, see: https://youtu.be/ist6h9ge4SQ This event took place February 27, 2024. For more information: https://hds.harvard.edu Full transcript: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/02/27/video-refuge-storm-webinar-series-part-iii-caring-crisis-workers

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 the Christian tradition in order to diagnose how Christianity has contributed to the present crisis and suggest possibilities for a different way forward. Through particular attention to grief and hope as religious categories and with specific reference to various moments and movements from within the Christian tradition, Potts reflected upon the spiritual crisis at the heart of climate catastrophe and suggests the potential for a religious response. Speaker: Matthew Ichihashi Potts, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church Moderator: Diane L. Moore, Diane L. Moore, Associate Dean of Religion and Public Life Matthew Ichihashi Potts, MDiv '08, PhD '13, was appointed the Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church and the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals in 2021. Potts has served on the faculty at Harvard Divinity School since 2013 and has focused his teaching on sacramental and moral theology, ministry and pastoral theology, religion and literature, and preaching. He is the author of two books, Cormac McCarthy and the Signs of Sacrament: Literature, Theology, and the Moral of Stories (Bloomsbury, 2015) and Forgiveness: An Alternative Account (Yale University Press, 2022). He sits on the editorial board of the journal Literature and Theology. He is also co-host of the podcast Harry Potter and the Sacred Text. Potts served as both an officer in the United States Navy and as a college administrator before being ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church. This event took place on February 26, 2024. For more information on this series, visit https://hds.harvard.edu/news/religion-times-earth-crisis For more information on HDS, visit https://hds.harvard.edu/ Full transcript here: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/02/26/video-religion-times-earth-crisis-apocalyptic-grief-reckoning-loss-wrestling-hope

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 on February 16, 2024. For more information: https://hds.harvard.edu/ A transcript is forthcoming.

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 ecological crises. These stories of multispecies ancestors and colonizers, Islamic conceptions of the environment, and narrative traditions of Islamic ecological care have confronted cycles of crises with visions of pasts and futures. In this session, Teren Sevea will discuss the question, “Can listening to these stories compel us to re-evaluate our academic approaches to religion and environments and the relationship of religious pasts and presents, in our time of crisis?” Speaker: Teren Sevea, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies Moderator: Diane L. Moore, Diane L. Moore, Associate Dean of Religion and Public Life Teren Sevea is a scholar of Islam and Muslim societies in South and Southeast Asia. Before joining HDS, he served as Assistant Professor of South Asia Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Sevea is the author of Miracles and Material Life: Rice, Ore, Traps and Guns in Islamic Malaya (Cambridge University Press, 2020). Currently, Sevea is coordinating the project “The Lighthouses of God: Mapping Sanctity Across the Indian Ocean,” which investigates the evolving landscapes of Indian Ocean Islam through photography, film and GIS technology. For more information on the full series, "Religion in Times of Earth Crisis: A Series of Public Online Conversations," see: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/religion-times-earth-crisis This event took place on February 12, 2024. For more information, generally: https://hds.harvard.edu Full transcript: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/02/12/video-religion-times-earth-crisis-animal-stories-crisis

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 current moment through religious and political resources from the Jewish tradition. “End of Days” is a meditation on Jewish morality in the age of Israeli Jewish power, and a cri du coeur by an Orthodox Israeli Jew and former combat officer in the IDF. Manekin calls on fellow Israelis to examine the Jewish religious ethical tradition for an alternative to the secular and religious Zionism that sanctifies power, statehood, and sovereignty. Featuring: - Shaul Magid, Religion, Conflict and Peace Initiative Affiliate, and Distinguished Fellow in Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College - Mikhael Manekin, Religion and Public Life Fellow in Conflict and Peace, and director of the Alliance Fellowship program - Moderated by Atalia Omer, T. J. Dermot Dunphy Visiting Professor of Religion, Violence, and Peacebuilding This event took place on February 7, 2024. For more information: https://hds.harvard.edu Full transcript: https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/06/17/video-necessity-exile-essays-distance-end-days-ethics-tradition-and-power-israel

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 imperfect yet instructive ways, they blended ecological care with new forms of ancestral devotion. Gradually they learned what indigenous communities had long known: that care for the more-than-human world is inseparable from care for our ancestors. In this session, Dan McKanan will discuss these stories and how they can help contemporary Bostonians, and others, recognize that what makes a place wild is not the absence of humans but the presence of ancestors. Speaker: Dan McKanan, Ralph Waldo Emerson Unitarian Universalist Association Senior Lecturer in Divinity Moderator: Diane L. Moore, Diane L. Moore, Associate Dean of Religion and Public Life Dan McKanan, AB '89, joined the HDS faculty in 2008. He researches religious and spiritual movements for social transformation in the United States and beyond. McKanan serves on the Unitarian Universalist Panel on Theological Education and the board of the Unitarian Universalist Studies Network. At Harvard, he serves as chair of the MTS Curriculum Committee and as faculty director for the Divinity School’s Program for the Evolution of Spirituality. This event took place February 5, 2024. For more information: https://hds.harvard.edu/ Full transcript: https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/03/04/video-religion-times-earth-crisis-ancestors-and-climate-our-boston-backyard

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 and racial devastation teach us that environmental futures are linked to our pasts. We may describe them as “ancestral catastrophes,” as Elizabeth Povinelly suggests. In this session, Mayra Rivera explores the question, “How may we engage those stories in ways that honor our pasts and open possibilities for different futures?” Speaker: Mayra Rivera, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Religion and Latinx Studies Moderator: Diane L. Moore, Diane L. Moore, Associate Dean of Religion and Public Life Mayra Rivera works at the intersections between philosophy of religion, literature, and theories of coloniality, race and gender—with particular attention to Caribbean postcolonial thought. Her research explores the relationship between discursive and material dimensions of existence in shaping human embodiment and socio-material ecologies. She is the author of The Touch of Transcendence (2007) and Poetics of the Flesh (2015). Rivera is currently working on a project that explores the relationships between coloniality and ecological thought through Caribbean thought. This event took place on January 29, 2024. For more information: https://hds.harvard.edu/ Full transcript: https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/03/04/video-religion-times-earth-crisis-procession-catastrophes

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 interreligious dialogue. Yet, the effects of their efforts are often perverse, reinforcing neocolonial practices and disempowering local religious actors. This book is based on empirical research of inter- and intra-religious peacebuilding practices in Kenya and the Philippines. Featuring Atalia Omer, T. J. Dermot Dunphy Visiting Professor of Religion, Violence, and Peacebuilding; Senior Fellow in Conflict and Peace Moderated by Diane L. Moore, Associate Dean of Religion and Public Life; Lecturer on Religion, Conflict, and Peace; and Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religions This book event is the first event in our Religion, Conflict, and Peace Spring 2024 Book Series. This event took place January 25, 2024. For more information: https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/ Full transcript here: https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/03/04/video-rcpi-book-series-decolonizing-religion-and-practice-peace

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, and the twelve books Selig has channeled from “the Guides.” On the way, we explore what happens to Selig in the channeling state and the metaphysics of mind that make these states possible. Full transcript: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/02/06/video-pop-apocalypse-inside-mind-spirit-channel-%E2%80%93-conversation-paul-selig Learn more: cswr.hds.harvard.edu/

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, sexuality, theology, and goddess-worship in early Mesopotamia. Reception following the event from 6 to 7 pm. Celine Debourse, Assistant Professor in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard presented on “Women in Mesopotamian Temples: Priestess, Slaves, Weavers” and Dr. Sophus Helle, historian and translator of Enheduana’s poems, gave a talk on “Introducing Enheduana’s World: Grief and Gender.” Their presentations were followed by a musical performance, drawn from inspiration from Enheduana’s writings. The world premiere of “To the Stars,” composed by Douglas Knehans, featured CSWR’s Scholar in Residence, Anne Harley (soprano), Maggie Finnegan (soprano), Gabby Diaz (violin), Amy Advocat (bass clarinet), Matt Sharrock (percussion) and Evan Ziporyn (conductor). This event took place December 12, 2023. For more information, https://hds.harvard.edu/home A transcript is forthcoming.

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 Clevidence, David Grubbs, Susan Howe, Jill Magi, and Jane Miller, among others. This year’s publication featured readings from Victoria Chang, Jorie Graham, and Alice Oswald. This event took place November 30, 2023. For more information, https://hds.harvard.edu/ A transcript is forthcoming.

Watch an interview with author Mike Jay about his two most recent books, "Psychonauts: drugs and the making of the modern mind," and "Mescaline: a global history of the first psychedelic." "Mike Jay has written widely on the history of science and medicine, with a specialist interest in the mind sciences, mental health and psychoactive drugs. Alongside Mescaline and Psychonauts, his books include High Society: Mind-Altering Drugs in History and Culture and This Way Madness Lies: The Asylum and Beyond, both of which accompanied exhibitions he curated at Wellcome Collection in London. He writes regularly for New York Review of Books and London Review of Books and is an Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Health Humanities, University College London." More at his website, mikejay.net This event took place on November 27, 2023. For more information, https://hds.harvard.edu/ Full transcript here: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/01/02/video-psychedelics-and-future-religion-mescaline-and-psychonauts-mike-jay

Full title: LGBTQ+ Rights Under Attack - Session 2: Protecting Against Violence and Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity: A Global Perspective This is the second event in the three-part series “LGBTQ+ Rights Under Attack: The Weaponization of Religious Freedom and Free Speech." In this session, "Protecting Against Violence and Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity: A Global Perspective," Victor Madrigal-Borloz presented the “Report of the UN Independent Expert on Protection against Violence and Discrimination based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity,” which he released in June 2023 while fulfilling his appointment. In conversation with Susie Hayward, Madrigal-Borloz shared his perspective on the global dynamics and trends related to the assault on LGBTQI+ Rights and Freedom of Religion or Belief and how they are feeding in/out of what’s taking place in the United States. Speakers: Victor Madrigal-Borloz, Lecturer on Law and the Eleanor Roosevelt Senior Visiting Researcher at the Harvard Law School Human Rights Program Susie Hayward, Associate Director for the Religious Literacy and the Professions Initiative and former senior advisor for Religion and Inclusive Societies at the U.S. Institute of Peace Moderator: Diane L. Moore, Associate Dean of Religion and Public Life Overall Series: After over a decade of steady progress to protect and advance the rights of sexual and gender minorities in the US, a coordinated campaign to halt this progress and even unwind these protections has taken place in state legislatures, courts, and schools across the country. From “bathroom bills” passed to prevent trans people from using the bathroom that matches their gender identity to the illegalization of gender-affirming care for minors to Supreme Court rulings offering constitutional protection for business owners withholding their services to LGBTQ+ people, this legislation is often argued as a matter of religious freedom or free speech. A dominant claim of those pushing back against LGBTQ+ rights is that the accommodation of such legislation requires violating their ability to practice their sincerely held religious beliefs. Religion and Public Life will host a series of three events that engage this vital topic from a variety of angles and perspectives, asking, “What can the academic study of religion and religious literacy work offer to organizers, legal advocates, and other concerned citizens seeking to protect and advance justice in this critical moment for the LGBTQ+ rights movement?” This event took place on November 16, 2023. For more information, https://hds.harvard.edu/ Full transcript: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/video/2023/11/16/lgbtq-rights-under-attack-session-2-protecting-against-violence-and-discrimination

Full title: Book Launch and Discussion: Dr. Keith Edward Cantú, Like a Tree Universally Spread Sri Sabhapati Swami and Śivarājayoga Watch this discussion with author and CSWR Research Affiliate Keith Cantu on his recently released book, "Like a Tree Universally Spread Sri Sabhapati Swami and Śivarājayoga." Cantu will be in conversation with three respondents, Srilata Raman, Professor and Associate Chair, Department for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto Aaron Michael Ullrey, Lecturer, Religious Studies, University of Houston, and CSWR Research Affiliate, T&T Database Manon Hedenborg White, Associate Professor at Malmö University This event took place on November 11, 2023. For more information, https://hds.harvard.edu/ A transcript is forthcoming.

Philosophers Prof. Christine Hauskeller and Dr. Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes presented a multi-perspectival hermeneutics of psychedelic-occasioned experiences. They discussed the question: How do we make sense of the myriad of experiences and extraordinary states of being that psychedelics can evoke through lenses ground from the discipline of Philosophy? Sjöstedt-Hughes introduced his Metaphysics Matrix as a framework through which to interpret certain psychedelic experiences—covering systems such as physicalism, idealism, dualism, and neutral monism, panpsychism, and cosmopsychism—a “menu” that opens possibilities of interpretation beyond the restricted options imposed by implicit inculcation. Prof. Hauskeller drew upon Critical Theory and on feminist ethics to question the framing of experience as mystical and consider decolonial ways of meaning making. This event took place November 6, 2023. A full transcript is forthcoming. 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, hosted by Matthew J. Dillon, postdoctoral fellow at the CSWR, explores the mystical and the mythic, the paranormal and the psychedelic in popular culture. For episode five of the pod, we are honored to welcome Jeffrey J. Kripal, J. Newton Rayzor Chair of Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University. In this career-spanning chat [10:36], we discuss Kripal’s Catholic upbringing, psychoanalysis, and the ecstatic experience in Calcutta that changed the direction of his career. From there, we touch on Jeff’s role at Esalen, historical mystics and paranormal powers, telepathic insects, and how the study of religion and popular culture come together in film, comedy, and comics. 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. Full transcript: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/11/06/audio-video-pop-apocalypse-podcast-episode-five-ecstatic-knowledge-and-study-religion Learn more: cswr.hds.harvard.edu/

This webinar is the second in a series offered by the Buddhist Ministry Initiative at Harvard Divinity School. It featured a panel discussion of contributors to part II of Refuge in the Storm: Buddhist Voices in Crisis Care, edited by Nathan Jishin Michon. The panel included Kin Cheung (George) Lee and Lourdes Argüelles (Lopon Dorje Khandro), and was co-moderated by Rev. Dr. Nathan Jishin Michon and Rev. Dr. Monica Sanford. Bios: Kin Cheung (George) Lee Dr. Kin Cheung (George) Lee is a California licensed psychologist (PSY28022), a California Board of Psychology recognized clinical supervisor, and a registered clinical psychologist of the Hong Kong Associations of Doctor in Clinical Psychology. Clinically, he is a fellow member of the Asian Academy of Family Therapy, certified therapist in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and certified therapist in Managing and Adapting Practice. In the past 17 years, he has provided psychological services to individuals, couples, and families in various non-government agencies, community mental health centers, and schools in Hong Kong and the United States. Academically, Dr. Lee is a lecturer at The Centre of Buddhist Studies, The University of Hong Kong and a founding member of the Master of Buddhist Counselling program as well as the Postgraduate Diploma in Professional Practice of Buddhist Counselling. He is the former assistant chair of the Department of Psychology at University of the West and former Director of Clinical Training at Alliant International University, Hong Kong program. He is the author of the The Guide to Buddhist Counseling and 小空間(translated: "A Little Emptiness"). Lourdes Argüelles (Lopon Dorje Khandro) Born in Cuba and educated around the world, Lourdes Arguelles, PhD (Lopon Dorje Khandro) is a Ngkma ordained by HE Garchen Rinpoche and a Lopon installed by HH Chetsang Rinpoche, the head of the Drikung Kagyu tradition. She is also Professor Emerita of Education and Cultural Studies at Claremont Graduate University in California as well as a retired California licensed psychotherapist and community organizer who worked pro-bono with survivors of domestic and political violence in the US-Mexico Borderlands. Lopon-la currently lives in retreat except when she is attending dying beings or teaching at Drikung Kyobpa Choling, a Tiberan Buddhist monastery in Escondido,California and to its Sangha in Latin America. Monica Sanford Monica Sanford joined Harvard Divinity School as assistant dean for multireligious ministry in September 2021. Sanford comes to HDS from the Rochester Institute of Technology, where she became one of only two Buddhists in North America to lead a multireligious life department at a college or university. Sanford is one of the first full-trained Buddhist practical theologians in the United States, having earned her PhD in practical theology from Claremont School of Theology. Sanford also holds an undergraduate degree in design from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a master of divinity degree from University of the West. Sanford is an ordained Buddhist lay minister in a Chan lineage and trained as a Buddhist chaplain. Her recent book, Kalyāṇamitra: A Buddhist Model for Spiritual Care (January 2021), is the first textbook for Buddhist chaplains. Nathan Jishin Michon Nathan Jishin Michon is a JSPS visiting scholar focused on Buddhist chaplaincy at Ryukoku University in Kyoto, Japan. Jishin is editor of Refuge in the Storm: Buddhist Voices in Crisis Care and A Thousand Hands: Guidebook to Caring for Your Buddhist Community, among other works. Jishin especially focuses their research on Japanese Buddhist chaplaincy, chaplain training, and contemplative forms of care. They previously helped in disaster relief and hospice care. This event took place November 14, 2023. Full transcript: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/video/2023/11/14/refuge-storm-webinar-series-part-ii-sickness-aging-and-death-caring-life-cycle

This discussion followed the screening of Oscar-winning filmmakers Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin's extraordinary film "Wild Life". The film is a story of love, wildness, and restoration in Chile and Argentina, recording the life of Kris Tompkins through an epic decades-spanning love story as wild as the landscapes she dedicated her life to protecting. Special guests in this conversation include Kris Tompkins and Chai Vasarhelyi, with guest curator Geralyn Dreyfous and HDS writer-in-residence Terry Tempest Williams. This event took place November 13, 2023. For more information: https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/ Transcript: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/video/2023/11/13/wild-life-film-screening-and-discussion

In this project, Elena Guzman explored the way Black women and non-binary people through the Caribbean and its diaspora use spiritual and ritual performance within African Diasporic Religions, including Santeria, Haitian Vodou, Puerto Rican Espiritismo, 21 Divisions, and Obeah, as a means to forge interstitial geographies of the African diaspora. Elena Guzman is an Afro-Boricua filmmaker, educator, and scholar raised in the Bronx with deep roots in the LES. She received her PhD in Anthropology from Cornell University and is an Assistant Professor in the African American and African Diaspora Studies Department and Anthropology at Indiana University Bloomington. Her manuscript, "Chimera Geographies: Black Feminist Borderland Performances," focuses on the way Black women and non-binary people throughout the African diaspora use ritual performance in African diaspora religion as a means to forge Black feminist borderlands through spiritual crossings. Her work has been published in Feminist Anthropology, NACLA, and Cultural Anthropology’s Screening Room. This event took place October 31, 2023. For more information: https://wsrp.hds.harvard.edu/home Full transcript here: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/video/2023/10/31/chimera-geographies-black-spiritual-borderland-performances-caribbean

Full Title: From Ms. Marvel to the Smithsonian: A Conversation on Teaching Religious Literacy through Arts and Popular Culture with Dr. Hussein Rashid In this conversation, Dr. Rashid discussed his work and its uses in the classroom, with a particular focus on the Children’s Museum of Manhattan exhibit "America to Zanzibar: Muslim Cultures Near and Far?" Dr. Hussein Rashid is the new Assistant Dean for Religion and Public Life and brought to RPL with a wealth of experience as an educator in public and classroom settings. He has particular expertise in integrating the arts into the study of religion. From work with museums to film, documentary, and comics, Rashid has long engaged the power of images and art to highlight complexity and captivate learners when teaching religious literacy. Among other projects Dr. Rashid executive produced the Times Op-Doc "The Secret History of Muslims in the US" and co-edited a volume on Ms. Marvel, the first Muslim to have her own comic series with Marvel Comics. This event took place October, 24, 2023. For more information, https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/home Full transcript here: https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/news/2023/11/27/video-ms-marvel-smithsonian-teaching-religious-literacy-through-arts-and-popular-culture

Full title: Psychedelics and the Future of Religion: Panel discussion on Race and Exoticism in Global Psychedelic Spirituality with Professors Lucia and Saldanha Drawing from their respective perspectives and scholarship, Professors Lucia and Saldanha led a conversation around the racialized politics/ethics of the hallucinogenic experience (or discourses thereof) within the context of modern spiritualities. Amanda Lucia is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California-Riverside. She is author of White Utopias: The Religious Exoticism of Transformational Festivals and is the Principal Investigator for the Religion & Sexual Abuse Project. Arun Saldahna is Professor in the Department of Geography, Environment, and Society at the University of Minnesota. He is the author of Psychedelic White: Goa Trance and the Viscosity of Race and Space After Deleuze. This event took place October 26, 2023. For more information: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/ A transcript is forthcoming.

Major religious traditions call on their adherents to respond to the causes of suffering, those who suffer, and the prevention of suffering. The ways we respond and serve can take many forms including activism and holding political office. How does spiritual practice support the difficult work of speaking truth to power as well as being in positions of power without losing focus on the relief of suffering? In this book talk and conversation, Lori E. Lightfoot, Esq., 56th Mayor of Chicago, and Pamela Ayo Yetunde, J.D., Th.D., author of Casting Indra's Net: Fostering Spiritual Kinship and Community, reflected on the role of political officeholders and public theologians in the divisive social contexts we live in today. This event was live-streamed on the HDS Youtube channel, and took place October 24, 2023. Bios Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago Law School. She was an Assistant United States Attorney who also served in other governmental positions with the Chicago Police Department and the Office of Emergency Management and later, Lightfoot was a law partner at Mayer Brown. Lightfoot served as the 56th Mayor of Chicago. She was the second woman, first African-American female and first openly gay person to ever serve as Mayor. Her tenure ran from May 2019—May 2023. Mayor Lightfoot is a 2023 Senior Leadership Fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health where she is teaching a course on leadership and key discussion-making in public health. Pamela Ayo Yetunde, J.D., Th.D., is a pastoral counselor in private practice, Community Dharma Leader, human rights advocate, and the author of Casting Indra's Net: Fostering Spiritual Kinships and Community. Along with HDS's Dr. Cheryl A. Giles, Ayo co-edited Black and Buddhist: What Buddhism Can Teach Us About Race, Resilience, Transformation and Freedom. This anthology led to Dr. Charles Stang, director of the Center for the Study of World Religions, hosting a powerful program about being Black and Buddhist. Ayo is also an associate editor with Lion's Roar and Buddhadharma and has hosted many of their podcast interviews. You can visit Ayo's website (https://www.pamelaayoyetunde.com:) for more information, including how to purchase the book. For more information: https://hds.harvard.edu/academics/ministry-studies/buddhist-ministry-initiative Full transcript: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/video/2023/10/24/call-respond-and-serve-role-spirituality-public-theology-and-politics

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 Victoria Nelson. Full transcript: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/03/08/audio-pop-apocalypse-monsters-fictional-worlds-and-repressed-supernatural-talk Learn more: cswr.hds.harvard.edu/

This special event, jointly organized by CSWR and HDS Buddhist Ministry Initiative, aimed to commemorate Dhamma Chakra Day and delved into the enduring legacy of Dr. Ambedkar. His peaceful, egalitarian, grassroots movement has left an indelible mark on Indian society and politics. The event showcased three speakers whose research has deepened our understanding of Buddhism's impact and potential in fostering equality and social justice in India. Speaker List: - Dr Ambedkar: Restructuring of Indian Society towards Liberty, Fraternity, and Equality - Prof S. K. Thorat, Chairman, Indian Institute of Dalit Studies - Dr. Raja Sekhar Vundru, "Buddhism and Emancipation of oppressed classes in India," author of Gandhi, Ambedkar and Patel - Chief Secretary, Haryana State, India. - Dr. William Edelglass, Director, Barre Centre for Buddhist Studies, author of "Equality, Solidarity, and Religion: On Ambedkar’s Conversion" Buddhism made a significant comeback in India in October 1956 through a momentous mass conversion led by Dr. Ambedkar and his 500,000 followers, predominantly from the marginalized Untouchable communities. Despite enduring severe structural violence, Dr. Ambedkar eschewed the path of aggression, opting instead for the peaceful transformation of society. He believed that this transformation could only be achieved by embracing the teachings of Buddha-Dhamma. Presently, India boasts over 50 million Buddhists, many of whom found inspiration in Dr. Ambedkar. His conversion movement is a pivotal force, reshaping India's religious and social landscape to a degree not witnessed since the times of Buddha and Ashoka. This event took place on October 19, 2023. For more information: https://hds.harvard.edu/ Transcript: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2023/11/07/video-dhamma-chakra-day-buddhism-and-emancipation-marginalized-classes-india

Through her channel, "Angela's Symposium," Dr. Puca pioneered an innovative approach to academia by utilizing popular social media platforms, aiming to bridge the gap between esoteric academic scholarship and the wider community. This talk explored the challenges and opportunities of digital scholarship, discuss the implications of bridging two worlds for academia at large, and present future avenues for scholarly engagement in the rapidly evolving landscape of digital media. Angela Puca’s research focuses on magic, witchcraft, Paganism, esotericism, shamanism, and related currents. Author of several peer-reviewed publications and co-editor of the forthcoming "Pagan Religions in Five Minutes" for Equinox, she bridged the gap between academia and the communities of magic practitioners by delivering related scholarly content on her YouTube Channel and social media project "Angela’s Symposium." This event took place October 18, 2023. For more information: https://hds.harvard.edu/ Transcript: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2023/11/06/gnoseologies-angelas-symposium-youtube-esotericism-and-academia

This lecture was given by Jessica J. Fowler (University of Montana Western), who's an HDS Visiting Associate Professor of Women’s Studies and Catholicism on her work, "Illuminating the Empire: The Spanish Inquisition and the Spread of Global Heresy." This event took place October 11, 2023. For more information: https://hds.harvard.edu/ View transcript: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/video/2023/10/11/illuminating-empire-spanish-inquisition-and-spread-global-heresy

Hear from Alejandra Oliva, MTS '19, Mexican-American writer, translator, and immigration-justice activist, speak about her work and her recent book, "Rivermouth: A Chronicle of Language, Faith and Migration." Héctor Tobar, author of Translation Nation, described it as "a supremely intelligent account of a translator's journey into the Kafkaesque machinery of U.S. immigration and asylum policy." This event took place October 12, 2023. For more information: https://hds.harvard.edu/ Transcript: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/video/2023/10/23/rivermouth-chronicle-language-faith-and-migration-conversation-alejandra-oliva

Full Title: Third Annual T&T Presentations Launch: Five New Researchers Present on their Scholarly Work At the beginning of the last three academic years, the HDS Center for the Study of World Religion's Transcendence and Transformation scholars come together to hear about the research of the year's new scholars. We are thrilled to introduce and share the recording from this gathering, featuring presentations from Adam Bremer-McCollum, Nicholas Low, Fabien Muller, Russ Powell, and Tara Smith. This event took place on September 21, 2023. Find more information at: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/home Full transcript here: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2021/10/01/video-transcendence-transformation

Convened by Ahmad Greene-Hayes, Assistant Professor of African American Religious Studies at HDS, this colloquium bridged connections between the critical study of Black religion and studies of race, gender, and sexuality in critical theory and philosophy, among many other fields. The aim of this gathering was to support research and sustained dialogue about the ways in which religion and race are co-constitutive and function as governing categories of analysis at the helm of both religious studies and Black studies, respectively. This panel discussion featured Joy James (Williams College), Keri Day (Princeton Theological Seminary), and Paul Anthony Daniels (Fordham University). This event took place on October 5, 2023. For more information: https://hds.harvard.edu/ Full transcript here: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/video/2023/10/05/black-religion-and-critical-theory-colloquium-panel-ii

Convened by Ahmad Greene-Hayes, Assistant Professor of African American Religious Studies at HDS, this colloquium bridged connections between the critical study of Black religion and studies of race, gender, and sexuality in critical theory and philosophy, among many other fields. The aim of this gathering was to support research and sustained dialogue about the ways in which religion and race are co-constitutive and function as governing categories of analysis at the helm of both religious studies and Black studies, respectively. This panel discussion featured J. Kameron Carter (Indiana University—Bloomington), Cecilio M. Cooper (Folger Shakespeare Library), and Joseph Winters (Duke University). This event took place on October 5, 2023. For more information: https://hds.harvard.edu/ Full transcript here: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/video/2023/10/05/-black-religion-and-critical-theory-colloquium-panel-i

Full title: CSWR List Lecture with Adam Afterman: Kabbalistic Neoplatonism: Divine Emanation and Mystical Integration Dr. Afterman addressed the profound impact of Neoplatonism on Kabbalah, the medieval trend of Jewish mysticism. While its impact on the development of a new form of mystical religiosity of communion and unio mystica is relatively known, he will focus on another critical development: Afterman argued that through an interpretation of Neoplatonic emanation in terms of substantive intra-divine emanation, the kabbalist developed for the first time a Jewish godhead. Dr. Adam Afterman is a Professor at the Department of Jewish Philosophy and Talmud at Tel Aviv University, specializing in Jewish philosophy and Kabbalah. He is a senior scholar and director of the John Paul II Center for Interreligious Dialogue and a senior fellow of the Kogod Center for the Renewal of Jewish Thought at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. This event took place September 28, 2023. Full transcript here: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2023/09/28/list-lecture-jewish-studies-adam-afterman-kabbalistic-neoplatonism-divine-emanation

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/

The Center for the Study of World Religions hosted a talk by Raashid Goyal, who researches the history, languages, and literature of the early Islamic and pre-Islamic Near East, with a particular interest in the development of legal and political ideas in the early centuries of Islam. This event took place July 20, 2023. A full transcript is forthcoming. Learn more: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/

The principle factor determining what we experience is our mind. During an event hosted by the Buddhist Ministry Initiative at Harvard Divinity School, Khentrul Rinpoche spoke about how to harness the potential of mind to transform unwanted conditions into positive circumstances. When we stop our hate of suffering, we learn how to befriend adversity and find strength in the midst of all that we experience. Not only does this transform our own lives, but it gives us the capacity to better serve others. By cultivating greater compassion and reducing oversensitivity we can effectively help others with the challenges that they face. This event took place April 20, 2023. A full transcript can be found on the HDS website: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2023/06/22/video-power-mind-talk-khentrul-lodro-thaye-rinpoche Learn more: https://hds.harvard.edu/

A new religious philosophy aims to help humans understand again that they are part of and utterly dependent on the living Earth. This is a special audio version of "Following the Gaian Way," a feature written by Erik Assadourian and appearing in the Spring/Summer 2023 issue of Harvard Divinity Bulletin. Read by Michael Dowd. Read or follow along on the Harvard Divinity Bulletin website: bulletin.hds.harvard.edu/following-the-gaian-way/

"I see my craft as a poet as being first and foremost grief work. To re-imagine and commit ourselves to a more peaceful and just world, we must first grieve the harms that have necessitated this pursuit." Religion and Public Life at Harvard Divinity School hosted a poetry reading with Suzannah Omonuk, MDiv '23. This event took place April 19, 2023. A full transcript can be found online: https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/news/2023/07/20/video-garden-we-sat-weeping-poetry-reading-suzannah-omonuk Learn more: https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/

The Religion and Public Life program at Harvard Divinity School hosted a talk with Larry L. Rasmussen, Christian Environmental Ethicist, and Reinhold Niebuhr Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary. He was in conversation with: Diane L. Moore, Faculty Director of Religion and Public Life; Lecturer on Religion, Conflict, and Peace; and Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religions; Terry Tempest Williams, author, environmental activist, HDS Writer-in-Residence; and john gehman, MTS '24, Council of Student Sustainability Leaders. This event took place April 20, 2023. A full transcript can be found online: https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/news/2023/07/20/video-book-event-planet-you-inherit Learn more: https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/

Each spring, the Office of Ministry Studies organizes the Billings Preaching Prize Finals, an annual preaching competition open to second- and third-year MDiv students. Congratulations to MDiv Sharon Christner, the 2023 Billings Preaching Prize Competition winner, and to finalists James Lewis and Stephanie Hollenberg for their incredible talents. The finals were held during Noon Service on April 19 in Williams Chapel. The event also featured a reading from Nicole Marie, the Massachusetts Bible Society scripture reading winner, and john gehman, the reading from contemporary literature winner. This event took place April 19, 2023. A full transcript can be found online: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2023/07/28/video-2023-billings-preaching-prize-competition Learn more: https://hds.harvard.edu/

Anti-Asian hate spiked 145 percent in 2020 during the height of the pandemic. At the same time, nearly one-third of the COVID deaths among nurses were Filipina nurses. As we look back at the first three years of the COVID-19 pandemic, increasingly complex stories continue to emerge. How can religious literacy and a lens of racial justice inform the stories that we and our students hear, tell, and seek out? The Religion and Public Life program at Harvard Divinity School hosted a conversation with Professor Aprilfaye Manalang of Norfolk State University to learn about her ongoing research on religious identity, grief, and COVID with Filipina-American nurses, as well as Jeanne Shin-Cooper of Buffalo Grove High School in Illinois whose students are taking part in this critical interview project. Prof. Manalang discussed her pedagogical practice of promoting Asian-American understanding at a Historically Black University, and the process of communicating this research to a public audience via podcast. This event took place May 8, 2023. A full transcript can be found online: https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/news/2023/07/24/video-educator-webinar-religious-literacy-and-nurses-stories-age-covid-and-anti-asian-hate Learn more: https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/

Throughout millennia, Jews have explored individual and communal consciousness through a variety of techniques and traditions. More recently, Jews have played an outsized role in the “psychedelic renaissance” as researchers, practitioners, and advocates, including prominent leaders. A surge of interest in these substances creates an opportunity to reflect on non-ordinary experiences in Jewish life and theology more broadly. This panel, hosted by the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School, included Sam S. B. Shonkoff, the Taube Family Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies at the Graduate Theological Union, Melila Hellner-Eshed, Professor of Jewish Mysticism in the Department of Jewish Studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, as well as a senior research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, and Jay Michaelson is an affiliated assistant professor at Chicago Theological Seminary and the author of nine books on Judaism and contemplative practice. A full transcript is forthcoming. This event took place April 27, 2023. Learn more: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/home

The Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School hosted his conversation with Professor Fadeke Castor. CSWR Research Associate Dr. Giovanna Parmigiani and Castor discussed multiple subjectivities, ethnographic practices, and being scholar practitioners in the academic context. This event was part of the Gnoseologies: Transcendence and Transformation Today series. Castor is Assistant Professor of Religion and Africana Studies at Northeastern University and award-winning author of Spiritual Citizenship: Transnational Pathways from Black Power to Ifá in Trinidad. She is also a visiting scholar at the CSWR. A full transcript can be found online: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/video-multiple-subjectivities-and-ethnographic-study-lived-religion-conversation This event took place April 26, 2023. Learn more: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/