Harvard Divinity School

Dr. Alaa Murabit discusses the promotion of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), at Harvard Divinity School, highlighting the intersection between women's leadership, religion, and sustainable development. She presents unique examples of women's religious leadership to advance human rights, societal development, and peacebuilding and explores the importance of leveraging religious scholarship. Speaker: Dr. Alaa Murabit, UN High-Level Commissioner and SDG Global Advocate Moderator and Discussant: Professor Jocelyne Cesari, T. J. Dermot Dunphy Visiting Professor of Religion, Violence, and Peacebuilding for 2018-19 at Harvard Divinity School For more info: https://tinyurl.com/y5jc894g Full transcript here: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2019/03/14/video-promoting-the-un-sustainable-development-goals Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Presented as a rational, scientific, and practical religion, modern Buddhism appears to have all the answers. Even the secular forms of mindfulness promise ever-increasing practitioners that Buddhist meditation will provide the solutions to all their mental, emotional, and spiritual issues. But is there a problem with all of this? In his new book, "A Critique of Western Buddhism: Ruins of the Buddhist Real," scholar Glenn Wallis argues that there is, and that Buddhism as we know it "must be ruined." On March 11, 2019, Wallis was in conversation with HDS professor Charles Hallisey at the Center for the Study of World Religions. Glenn Wallis holds a Ph.D. in Buddhist studies from Harvard University's Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies. He is the founder and director of Incite Seminars, in Philadelphia. Charles Hallisey is the Yehan Numata Senior Lecturer on Buddhist Literatures at Harvard Divinity School. His research centers on Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, Pali language and literature, Buddhist ethics, and literature in Buddhist culture. Full transcript here: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2019/03/11/case-against-buddhism Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

On March 1, 2019, Harvard Divinity School hosted its third annual Black Religion, Spirituality, and Culture Conference. The theme was Blackness at the Margins. The day featured many panel discussions, including this one. The revolutionary artist Nina Simone once said, “It’s an artist’s duty to reflect the times.” What does it mean to create art that reveals and speaks to the contemporary social, cultural, intellectual, and political times? The panel addresses many facets of the role of art in these times. Full transcript here: https://hds.harvard.edu/files/hds/files/brcs-panel-3.pdf Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at www.hds.harvard.edu.

On March 1, 2019, Harvard Divinity School hosted its third annual Black Religion, Spirituality, and Culture Conference. The theme was Blackness at the Margins. The day featured many panel discussions, including this one. This conversation addressed immigration, gentrification, and the politics of displacement. Full transcript here: https://hds.harvard.edu/files/hds/files/brsc-panel-2.pdf Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at www.hds.harvard.edu.

On March 1, 2019, Harvard Divinity School hosted its third annual Black Religion, Spirituality, and Culture Conference. The theme was Blackness at the Margins. The day featured many panel discussions, including this one. This panel addressed the ways in which Afro-religious traditions are represented within the movie, "Black Panther," and shape the relationship between those on the African continent and those in the diaspora for black liberation. Full transcript here: https://hds.harvard.edu/files/hds/files/brsc-panel-1.pdf Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at www.hds.harvard.edu.

The Harvard Divinity School Buddhist Community (HBC) hosted the Fifth Annual Buddhism and Race Conference: Centering Intersectionalities, on March 8, 2019 at Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, MA. During this conference, scholars, sangha leaders, activists, and students from diverse backgrounds joined together to engage in conversations about issues at the intersection of Buddhism, race, and beyond. This panel discussed the intersections of Buddhism, Race, and Gender. Full transcript here: https://hds.harvard.edu/files/hds/files/buddhism-panel-1.pdf 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 took place February 27, 2019, at the HDS Center for the Study of World Religions. (Learn more: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/) Race and religion are among the best predictors of how Americans choose a president. Race and religion are also bases for political compromises that call into question our moral credibility on issues ranging from voting rights to police brutality. How do we demonstrate courage when we decline or choose to compromise? Cornell William Brooks is Professor of the Practice of Public Leadership and Social Justice at the Harvard Kennedy School. He is also Director of The William Monroe Trotter Collaborative for Social Justice at the School’s Center for Public Leadership, and a visiting scholar at Harvard Divinity School. Brooks is the former president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a civil rights attorney, and an ordained minister. Todne Thomas is a socio-cultural anthropologist and Assistant Professor of African American Religions at Harvard Divinity School. Her current research examines the familial and spiritual experiences of black evangelicals and the neoliberal displacement of black sacred space. Full transcript here: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2019/02/26/faith-faustian-bargains

"Business" is a taboo topic in divinity school--but anyone who wants to change the world needs to understand how to think like an entrepreneur. Leading experts on social and wellness entrepreneurship, innovative leadership, and the intersection of money and spirituality share their stories and wisdom in a panel discussion. Full transcript here: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2019/03/05/video-business-of-spirituality Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Poor mestizos in northern Peru offer a new way to theorize humanism and sentient landscapes that interact with humans in terms of environmental justice, collective ethics, and health. By defining “community” and “well-being” as humans-in-relationship-to-places-as-persons, poor mestizos resignify “nature” itself as an anchor for social justice. Ana Mariella Bacigalupo, Professor of Anthropology at the State University of New York-Buffalo, speaks on her research in northern Peru. She has worked with Mapuche shamans in Southern Chile and shamans on the north coast of Peru. Full transcript: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2019/02/20/video-subversive-politics-northern-peru Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Much has been written about the Northern Ireland peace process, particularly on securing the peace. However, as Senator George Mitchell commented in relation to the Good Friday agreement, “If you think getting this agreement was difficult, implementing it will be even more difficult.” Twenty-one years after the signing of the Good Friday agreement, those have proven to be prophetic words. Dr. Mason will explore what reconciliation looks like in a contested space, the power of memory and story in keeping the pain of the past alive, and how theology can move into that contested narrative in a way that brings about dialogue, honesty, and healing. He will also address the current Brexit situation, exploring how Brexit has been a very difficult experience for these two islands. Event sponsored by Religions and the Practice of Peace (RPP) and Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School Speakers: Rev. Dr. Gary Mason, director of Rethinking Conflict; senior research fellow at the Kennedy Institute for Conflict Intervention at Maynooth University in Ireland David N. Hempton, Dean of the Faculty of Divinity For more info see here: https://tinyurl.com/y4yrhmzg Video and full transcript: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2019/02/27/video-reconciliation-memory-theology-shaping-public-stage Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Wylin D. Wilson, 2018-19 WSRP Visiting Associate Professor, delivers the lecture "'Bioethics on the Margins: Vulnerable Populations and Health Outcomes." Full transcript here: https://wsrp.hds.harvard.edu/news/2019/02/20/video-bioethics-on-the-margins Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

On February 19, U.S. presidential candidate, spiritual lecturer, and number one New York Times bestselling author Marianne Williamson spoke at HDS on the topic "Reparations for Slavery: The Role of Repentance in Politics." The event featured an opening talk by HDS student Kassi Underwood, MDiv '19. Full transcript here: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2019/02/19/video-marianne-williamson-role-repentance-politics Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/

This panel explores the intersection of racism, oppression, urban trauma, disaster, and other social realities faced by those desperately in need of peace. More than the absence of violence and war, we need the aggressive and proactive generation of peace, healing, and bliss under a continuing barrage of compromises to health and well-being. What is peace? How do we create it when there is little? Who deserves peacemaking? Speakers and Moderators: - Zumbi, founder, Kilombo Novo; director, Trauma Response and Recovery at Boston Public Health Commission - Emily Click, assistant dean for ministry studies and field education and Lecturer on Ministry at Harvard Divinity School - David Harris, managing director, Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School For more info: http://tinyurl.com/y33o4t6c Full transcript here: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2019/02/14/video-rpp-colloquium-indigenous-perspectives-peacemaking-racism Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at hds.harvard.edu/.

Evolution is an organizing principle of the living world. While competition is integral to evolution, cooperation can be seen as the master architect of biological complexity, language, and culture. Human beings have emerged from this evolutionary process as “SuperCooperators.” In this Religions and the Practice of Peace (RPP) Colloquium, Martin Nowak discusses the scientific interpretation of evolution and its compatibility with Christian theology, which holds that God is the primary cause for all that exists, the creator and sustainer of the universe.

S. Zahra Moballegh, 2018-19 WSRP Visiting Associate Professor, delivers the lecture "Veiled Women Unveiling God: Understanding the Qur’an Through Its Women Characters." Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at hds.harvard.edu/.

Sound Education was a 3-day event at Harvard University for educational and academic podcasters and radio hosts, and their listeners. It was hosted by Ministry of Ideas, a podcast based at Harvard Divinity School. The conference featured many panel discussions, including this one with strategies for growing a podcast's audience. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at www.hds.harvard.edu.

Phakchok Rinpoche and Erric Solomon are authors of the recently released book Radically Happy: A User’s Guide to the Mind. These two meditation experts—a seasoned Silicon Valley entrepreneur and a traditionally trained Tibetan Rinpoche— discussed their efforts to make meditation, mindfulness, and Buddhist thought accessible to a secular and modern audience.

Sound Education was a 3-day event at Harvard University for educational and academic podcasters and radio hosts, and their listeners. It was hosted by Ministry of Ideas, a podcast based at Harvard Divinity School (HDS). Zachary Davis, host of Ministry of Ideas, welcomed participants. Diane Moore, Director of the Religious Literacy Project, delivered the first keynote address. Moore is HDS Lecturer in Religion, Conflict, and Peace, and a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religions Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at www.hds.harvard.edu.

Peter Hayes (Ph.D., Yale, 1982) specializes in the histories of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust and, in particular, in the conduct of the nation’s largest corporations during the Third Reich. Dr. Hayes gave this year's Dudleian Lecture on "Kristallnacht 1938: Crescendo and Overture." Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at www.hds.harvard.edu.

On November 7, 2018, Harvard Divinity School hosted its annual Theological Education Day. The day featured many panel discussions, including this one on admissions and financial aid. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at www.hds.harvard.edu.

At the 2018 Diversity and Explorations Program (DivEx), Jacob Olupona gave the keynote address during dinner that coincided with Harvard Divinity School's Theological Education Day (TED). Jacob K. Olupona is Professor of African Religious Traditions, with a joint appointment as Professor of African and African American Studies 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/.

On November 7, 2018, Harvard Divinity School hosted its annual Theological Education Day. The day featured many panel discussions, including this one with students and staff describing life at HDS. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at www.hds.harvard.edu.

On November 7, 2018, Harvard Divinity School hosted its annual Theological Education Day. The day featured many panel discussions, including this one that introduced participants to the school's MDiv, MTS, ThM, and PhD degree programs. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at www.hds.harvard.edu.

On November 7, 2018, Harvard Divinity School hosted its annual Theological Education Day. The day featured many panel discussions, including this one on ministry studies and field education program. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at www.hds.harvard.edu.

On November 7, 2018, Harvard Divinity School hosted its annual Theological Education Day. Dean David N. Hempton and Angela Counts, Director of Admissions, welcomed participants. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at www.hds.harvard.edu.

Sound Education was a 3-day event at Harvard University for educational and academic podcasters and radio hosts, and their listeners. It was hosted by Ministry of Ideas, a podcast based at Harvard Divinity School. The conference featured many panel discussions, including this one with strategies for packaging history into audio programs. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at www.hds.harvard.edu.

Sound Education was a 3-day event at Harvard University for educational and academic podcasters and radio hosts, and their listeners. It was hosted by Ministry of Ideas, a podcast based at Harvard Divinity School. The conference featured many panel discussions, including this one with lessons for sound design on educational podcasts. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at www.hds.harvard.edu.

Sound Education was a 3-day event at Harvard University for educational and academic podcasters and radio hosts, and their listeners. It was hosted by Ministry of Ideas, a podcast based at Harvard Divinity School. The conference featured many panel discussions, including this one with lessons from how the Radiolab team plans, produces, and polishes a typical episode. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at www.hds.harvard.edu.

Barbara Zimbalist, 2018-19 WSRP Visiting Associate Professor, delivers the lecture "Translating Christ in the Middle Ages: Visionary Translation, Divine Rhetoric, and Verbal Devotion in England, France, and the Low Countries." Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election thanks in large part to overwhelming support from one particular group of folks: white evangelicals. And despite what seems to be weekly, if not daily controversy over the president’s public remarks or past behaviors, a poll from earlier this year found that 75 percent of white evangelicals still hold a positive opinion of Mr. Trump. Given what we know about evangelicals and their social positions centered on family values, and given what we know about Trump, a thrice-married casino mogul facing numerous allegations of adultery, sexual assault, and bigotry, where does this evangelical support for Trump come from? This is the Harvard Religion Beat*, a podcast examining religion’s underestimated and often misunderstood role in society. Here, we're speaking with Dudley Rose, Professor of Ministry Studies here at Harvard Divinity, and an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. We wanted to get his insight into some of the historical and present-day factors that are behind evangelical support for Trump. We’ll also look forward a bit to 2020 and talk what the Democrats might need to do in order to appeal to Christian conservatives in the upcoming elections. The Rundown 00:26 - White evangelical support for Trump 01:53 - Intro to the pod and to my guest, Prof. Dudley Rose 02:25 - Evangelical oppression? 05:01 - Abortion as a redline 08:46 - Evangelicals "dream president" 10:47 - Jesus chatting w/ Trump 11:51 - Lesser of two evils? 14:56 - Democrats win over white evangelicals? 17:14 - "Evangelicals are people of hope, not fear" 18:06 - Golf clap + other ways to connect If you don’t already, please follow us on social and subscribe to our e-newsletter! And listen to our other pod “Ministry of Ideas!” https://hds.harvard.edu/news/connect https://www.ministryofideas.org/ *re-named from "Beyond Belief" in April 2019.

How did pious medieval Muslims experience health and disease? Rooted in the prophet’s experiences with medicine and healing, Muslim pietistic literature developed cosmologies in which physical suffering and medical interventions interacted with religious obligations and spiritual health. Ahmed Ragab discusses his recent publication, Piety and Patienthood in Medieval Islam. Ragab is Richard T. Watson Associate Professor of Science and Religion at Harvard Divinity School. Respondents: Mark Jordan, Richard Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Divinity, Harvard Divinity School Nancy Khalek, William A. Dyer Jr. Assistant Professor of the Humanities, Brown University Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Religion was fundamental to the development of both slavery and race in the Protestant Atlantic world. For slaveholders, Christianity was a sign of freedom, and most believed that slaves should not be eligible for conversion. Meanwhile, Protestant missionaries arrived in the plantation colonies in the 1670s and were appalled that most slave owners rejected the prospect of slave conversion. Over time, missionaries increasingly used the language of race to support their arguments for slave conversion. Enslaved Christians, meanwhile, developed an alternate vision of Protestantism that linked religious conversion to literacy and freedom. This lecture discusses the differing motivations of slave owners, missionaries, and enslaved populations since the 17th century in the Protestant Atlantic. Speaker: Katharine Gerbner is a McKnight Land-Grant Professor and Assistant Professor of History at the University of Minnesota. Her research explores the religious dimensions of race, authority, and freedom in early America and the Atlantic world. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

This event features three unique voices from several different traditions and life experiences: Mary Ashu, a forest ranger from Cameroon; Prathima Muniyappa, a researcher at the MIT Media Lab exploring the use of space technology to advance issues of social justice; and Stacy Bare, a war veteran, National Geographic Adventurer, and co-founder of the Great Outdoors Lab. More event info here: https://goo.gl/6Pkk4Z Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

It is commonplace today to group the three monotheistic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—under the category of the “Abrahamic.” Scholars have investigated the roots, ancient and modern, for this category, and continue to debate its contemporary merits. Meanwhile, practitioners are doing significant work in the wider world under the aegis of the “Abrahamic.” This panel will explore the public practice of the Abrahamic Religions. Panelists will reflect on their work in light of this category, including its strengths and limitations. Chair: Charles Stang, Professor of Early Christian Thought, Harvard Divinity School; Director of the Center for the Study of World Religions Panelists: Huda Abuarquob, Regional Director of the Alliance for Middle East Peace Joseph Montville, Director of the Program on Healing Historical Memory, and chair of the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy, and Conflict Resolution in the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University Stephanie Saldaña, The Abraham Path, founder of Mosaic Stories The RPP Colloquium Series is organized with generous support from the Reverend Karen Vickers Budney, MDiv ’91, and Mr. Albert J. Budney, Jr., MBA ’74, as well as the Once Here Foundation. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Anglican church leaders in sub-Saharan Africa have a vision of a malaria-free world. Join us for a panel discussion on the role of faith and learn how religious leaders and communities are working to end malaria for good. Panelists: The Right Rev. Andre Soares, bishop of the Diocese of Angola and vice-president of the Council of Christian Churches in Angola The Right Rev. David Njovu, bishop of the Diocese of Lusaka (Zambia) The Right Rev. Cleophas Lunga, bishop of the Diocese of Matebeleland (Zimbabwe) Moderators: Jacob Olupona, Professor of African Religious Traditions, Harvard Divinity School Dyann Wirth, Richard Pearson Strong Professor of Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Cornelia Holden, MDiv ’03 discusses her experiences as a spiritual innovator and founder of Mindful Warrior and the Core Leadership California at Ministry Colloquium. Cornelia works with large companies, universities, secondary schools and athletic teams to develop mental stability, resilience, presence and authenticity to empower them to make values-driven decisions regularly and under pressure. Her work is grounded in spiritual principles, experiential education in body-centered approaches to the mind and a deep commitment to equity and inclusion. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

By bringing together scholars from across Harvard, this panel discussed the importance of a critical, nuanced, and interdisciplinary understanding of refugee, asylum, and immigrant issues, while highlighting activist efforts. The discussion took place October 11, 2018. It was moderated by HDS's Francis Clooney, S.J., and organized by MTS '19 candidate Shannon Boley. More event info here: https://goo.gl/gpL6ys Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Anna Sun, 2018–19 WSRP Visiting Associate Professor, delivers the lecture "Turning Ghosts into Ancestors: Ritual, Gender, and the Afterlife in Contemporary Urban China." Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

On October 3, 2018, André Aciman, author of "Call Me by Your Name," and writer Benjamin Balint will discuss themes of exile and homecoming, of time, place, identity, and art across Aciman’s works of fiction and nonfiction. André Aciman is the author of Enigma Variations, Call Me by Your Name, Out of Egypt, and False Papers, and is the editor of The Proust Project (all published by FSG). He teaches comparative literature at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He lives with his wife and family in Manhattan. Benjamin Balint is a library fellow at the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem. He has written for the Wall Street Journal, the Weekly Standard, and Die Zeit, and his translations from the Hebrew have appeared in the New Yorker. He is the author of Kafka’s Last Trial: The Case of a Literary Legacy and, with Merav Mack, Jerusalem: City of the Book (forthcoming). This event was hosted by the Center for Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Panel 3 of the Thinking Islam Within Religious Studies: Methods, Histories and Futures conference Panelists include Diana Eck, Ali Asani, and Roy Mottahedeh. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Panel 2 of the Thinking Islam Within Religious Studies: Methods, Histories and Futures conference Panelists include Ahmed Ragab, Charles Stang, and Guy Stroumsa. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Panel 1 of the Thinking Islam Within Religious Studies: Methods, Histories and Futures conference Panelists include Mohsen Goudarzi, Jane McAuliffe, Shady Nasser, and Walid Saleh. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

How is the comparative scholarship on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam possible? What are its presuppositions, and what does it entail? How can the history of religions help interfaith understanding? These are some of the questions this lecture addresses. Lecture by Guy Stroumsa, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Oxford University; response by Jon Levenson, Harvard Divinity School; opening remarks by Charles Stang, Harvard Divinity School, and Adam Afterman, Tel-Aviv University Held Wednesday, September 26, 2018, at HDS. Sponsored by the Center for the Study of World Religions at HDS, John Paul II Center for Interreligious Dialogue, Alwaleed Islamic Studies Program, and Center for Middle Eastern Studies. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Abigail E. Disney delivers the keynote address of the Religious Literacy and Business: Media & Entertainment Symposium. This symposium brings together media professionals and scholars of media, religion, and business to assess the state of religious literacy in the field and the role of entertainment media in shaping the public understanding of religion. Our aim is to foster critical reflection and collaborative relationships between scholars and media professionals in order to improve the religious literacy of the American public and reduce conflict and antagonism by encouraging more complicated, nuanced, and creative representations of religion on screen. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Panel 2 of the Symposium on Religious Literacy and Business: Media & Entertainment moderated by Diane L. Moore and featuring panelists Lorraine Ali, Sarah Hammerschlag, Rhon S. Manigault-Bryant, and Anthony Petro. This symposium brings together media professionals and scholars of media, religion, and business to assess the state of religious literacy in the field and the role of entertainment media in shaping the public understanding of religion. Our aim is to foster critical reflection and collaborative relationships between scholars and media professionals in order to improve the religious literacy of the American public and reduce conflict and antagonism by encouraging more complicated, nuanced, and creative representations of religion on screen. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Panel 1 of the Symposium on Religious Literacy and Business: Media & Entertainment, moderated by Sarabinh Levy-Brightman and featuring panelists John L. Jackson, Jr., Mik Moore, Joanna Piacenza, Sheila Murphy, and Christopher White. This symposium brings together media professionals and scholars of media, religion, and business to assess the state of religious literacy in the field and the role of entertainment media in shaping the public understanding of religion. Our aim is to foster critical reflection and collaborative relationships between scholars and media professionals in order to improve the religious literacy of the American public and reduce conflict and antagonism by encouraging more complicated, nuanced, and creative representations of religion on screen. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Panel 3 of the Symposium on Religious Literacy and Business: Media & Entertainment moderated by Stephen Prothero and featuring panelists CarolAnne Dolan, Geralyn Dreyfous, Amir Hussain, and Gordon Quinn. This symposium brings together media professionals and scholars of media, religion, and business to assess the state of religious literacy in the field and the role of entertainment media in shaping the public understanding of religion. Our aim is to foster critical reflection and collaborative relationships between scholars and media professionals in order to improve the religious literacy of the American public and reduce conflict and antagonism by encouraging more complicated, nuanced, and creative representations of religion on screen. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Panel 4 of the Symposium on Religious Literacy and Business: Media & Entertainment moderated by Lauren R. Kerby and featuring panelists Mario Cader-Frech, Bruno del Granado, Kerida McDonald, and Ross Murray. This symposium brings together media professionals and scholars of media, religion, and business to assess the state of religious literacy in the field and the role of entertainment media in shaping the public understanding of religion. Our aim is to foster critical reflection and collaborative relationships between scholars and media professionals in order to improve the religious literacy of the American public and reduce conflict and antagonism by encouraging more complicated, nuanced, and creative representations of religion on screen. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad presented "Hindu View of Life: Speaking For and Against Oneself" on Monday, September 17, at the Center for the Study of World Religions at HDS. By reflecting on three key textual passages, Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad engaged with the intersectional nature of his Hindu identity. This examination of Hinduism and intersectionality offered a new perspective on how identity is creatively and constantly reconfigured by the textual lessons and the lived reality of religious traditions. Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad, MA, DPhil (Oxon), is Fellow of the British Academy, and Distinguished Professor of Comparative Religion and Philosophy at Lancaster University. He is the author of some fifty papers and six books. His "Divine Self, Human Self: The Philosophy of Being in Two Gita Commentaries" won the Best Book Award 2011–2015 of the Society for Hindu-Christian Studies. His "Human Being, Bodily Being: Phenomenology from Classical India" was recently published by Oxford University Press. Learn more about the CSWR at https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/

Religious traditions insist on the importance of cultivating our faculty of attention, whether it be attention to ourselves, others, our environment, or the presence of the divine in any of these three. This panel will explore whether and how the practice of writing, especially fiction writing, helps us cultivate this art of attention. What is it about writing, and the imagination and patience required, that helps us learn how better to attend? The panelists are Stephanie Paulsell, Susan Shallcross Swartz Professor of the Practice of Christian Studies, HDS; C.E. Morgan, author of the novels All the Living and The Sport of Kings, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; and Chris Adrian, novelist, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.