Harvard Divinity School

This conversation was part of the fall 2021 series "Weather Reports: The Climate of Now." The featured speaker was poet Victoria Chang. Victoria Chang writes in her New York Times Notable Book of 2020, Obit, “I always knew that grief was something I could smell. But I didn’t know that it’s not actually a noun but a verb. That it moves.” After the deaths of her parents, she refused to write elegies; instead, Chang wrote poetic obituaries of the beautiful, broken world that surrounds her (many see them as love letters). How does poetry illuminate this time of uncertainty? How do we embrace grief and not look away from all that is breaking our hearts? What we thought was a pause is now a place, and grief is part of this place. Respondent: Jorie Graham, Poet, Harvard English Department About this event series: "Weather Reports: The Climate of Now" is a ten-week series of online conversations with poets, writers, public servants, theologians, biologists, scholars, and activists who are engaged in the spiritua

This conversation was part of the fall 2021 series "Weather Reports: The Climate of Now." The featured speaker was Janet Gyatso, Hershey Professor of Buddhist Studies and Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs at Harvard Divinity School. We are not the only species that lives and loves and grieves on this planet. Janet Gyatso focuses on the phenomenology of being not just among humans but with all other sentient beings. How we can cultivate the capacity to have such experiences, in ways that might reform our ethical and spiritual practices? How might compassion and an understanding toward animals heighten and mirror reciprocal relationships toward each other. What does it mean not only to be human, but one species among many? About this event series: "Weather Reports: The Climate of Now" is a ten-week series of online conversations with poets, writers, public servants, theologians, biologists, scholars, and activists who are engaged in the spiritual reckoning and awakening surrounding climate colla

This conversation was part of the fall 2021 series "Weather Reports: The Climate of Now." The featured speakers were climate activist Morgan Curtis, MDiv '24, and brontë velez, Black-latinx transdisciplinary artist. Morgan Curtis and brontë velez discuss the intersectionality of race, class, gender, and climate collapse, and how seeing the world whole through the lens of relationships creates communities of care rather than conflict. They consider what reparations might look like on behalf of racial justice and justice for the Earth, and why it is critical to find a radical, intergenerational, diverse and dynamic dialogue that calls for a global paradigm shift. Respondent: Melissa Wood Bartholomew, Associate Dean for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging at Harvard Divinity School About this event series: "Weather Reports: The Climate of Now" is a ten-week series of online conversations with poets, writers, public servants, theologians, biologists, scholars, and activists who are engaged in the spiritual rec

This conversation was part of the fall 2021 series "Weather Reports: The Climate of Now." The featured speaker was Gwich’in activist Bernadette Demientieff. Bernadette Demientieff, Executive Director of the Gwich’in Steering Committee, discusses why sacred land protection matters to indigenous communities. Learn how her community in Alaska is standing strong to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge—Coastal Plain from becoming an oil and gas reserve. “Our identity is non-negotiable,” she says. “We will never sell our culture and our traditional lifestyle for any amount of money.” About this event series: "Weather Reports: The Climate of Now" is a ten-week series of online conversations with poets, writers, public servants, theologians, biologists, scholars, and activists who are engaged in the spiritual reckoning and awakening surrounding climate collapse, sacred land protection, and planetary health. Environmentalist, author, and HDS Writer-in-Residence Terry Tempest Williams will lead conversations c

This conversation was part of the fall 2021 series "Weather Reports: The Climate of Now." The featured speaker was British filmmaker Lucy Walker. Following the aftermath of the 2018 Camp Fire (the deadliest in California’s history), British filmmaker Lucy Walker directed “Bring Your Own Brigade” (2021). The film urgently asks: why are catastrophic wildfires increasing in number and severity around the world, and what can be done about it? Clips of the groundbreaking film will be shown throughout the conversation, even as the American West continues to burn. Respondent: Teresa Cavasas Cohn, University of Idaho, RPL Climate Change Fellow About this event series: "Weather Reports: The Climate of Now" is a ten-week series of online conversations with poets, writers, public servants, theologians, biologists, scholars, and activists who are engaged in the spiritual reckoning and awakening surrounding climate collapse, sacred land protection, and planetary health. Environmentalist, author, and HDS Writer-in-Resid

Dune. The Matrix. Blade Runner. Star Wars. We know that fantasy and sci-fi use religion, but do they change actual religion in the process? Do they impact how we believe, what we believe, and even the nature of belief itself? In this episode, we investigate why fantasy and sci-fi use religious elements in storytelling and even create full religions of their own. Do they appropriate or appreciate, respect or denigrate?

This week, we conclude our Divinity Dialogues Gomes Award podcast series with a reflective conversation between Dean Hempton and our 2021 Gomes Friend of the School honoree, Drew Gilpin Faust. Faust holds several titles, including President Emerita of Harvard University and Arthur Kingsley Porter University Professor. She has also been a longtime partner and advocate for the Divinity School and was recognized as this year’s Friend of the School for her humane leadership, guided by a profound commitment to collaboration and an unflinching attention to the past in service of a more just future. This episode includes an excerpt from the discussion Dean Hempton had with President Emerita Faust at the award ceremony in May 2021.

"The notion of a stranger, for me—the way I was raised and the way that I studied—is that the stranger just might hold the key to your liberation" Continuing "Divinity Dialogues"—a special edition podcast series from Harvard Divinity School that puts conversations on faith, purpose, and bearing witness at the center of today’s most pressing issues. Today, we hear from HDS alum Robin Coste Lewis, MTS ’97. Robin is a poet laureate, National Book Award winner, Doctor of Creative Writing and Literature, LA Woman of the Year, and avid Sanskrit scholar whose current research focuses on the intersecting production histories of early African American poetry and photography. She is also one of this year's Gomes Distinguished Alumni Honorees. In the interview, Robin delves into the connections between Sanskrit and the time-space continuum and what Shiva might be able to teach us about liberation by way of strangers. Note: The full conversation was edited for time to keep this podcast in the 30-minute range. Tran

Continuing "Divinity Dialogues"—a special edition podcast series from Harvard Divinity School that puts conversations on faith, purpose, and bearing witness at the center of today’s most pressing issues. Today, we hear from HDS alum Omar Sultan Haque, MTS ’04, MD ’08. Dr. Haque is a physician, social scientist, teacher, and philosopher who studies questions ranging across social medicine, religion, and bioethics. He is also one of this year's Gomes Distinguished Alumni Honorees. In the interview, Haque shares how he began his spiritual journey as an atheist, what psychiatry misses with its materialistic bias, and how to navigate moral pluralism within the medical field. Full transcript available here: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2021/06/17/divinity-dialogues-medicine-metaphysics-and-moral-pluralism

Continuing "Divinity Dialogues"—a special edition podcast series from Harvard Divinity School that puts conversations on faith, purpose, and bearing witness at the center of today’s most pressing issues.  Today, we hear from HDS alum Rod Owens, MDiv ’17, author, activist, Buddhist Lama, and one of this year’s Gomes Distinguished Alumni Honorees. Considered one of the leaders of the next generation of Dharma teachers, Lama Rod blends his formal Buddhist training with experiences from his life as a Black, queer male, born and raised in the South, and heavily influenced by the church and its community. In the interview, Owens talks about practicing non-attachment, seeking spaciousness rather than rigidity, and finding freedom. Full transcript available here: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2021/06/10/divinity-dialogues-lama-rod-owens-love-rage-and-freedom

Episode 1 - Introducing Divinity Dialogues—a special edition podcast series from Harvard Divinity School that puts conversations on faith, purpose, and bearing witness at the center of today’s most pressing issues. Today, we hear from HDS alum Joshua Eaton, MDiv ’10, investigative journalist and one of this year’s Gomes Distinguished Alumni Honorees. Based in Washington, D.C., Joshua Eaton holds the powerful accountable and gives a voice to the vulnerable. He has worked with investigative teams at CQ Roll Call and ThinkProgress. In the interview, Eaton talks how spirituality has moved him in his career, what we can do to bring ethics and compassion back to leadership, and how to keep the vital work of storytelling alive in a world governed by the “hot take industrial complex.” Full transcript available on the HDS site: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2021/06/04/investigative-journalist-joshua-eaton-hot-take-industrial-complex

A dialogue between CSWR director and HDS Professor Charles Stang and Tanya Luhrmann on her book, "How God Becomes Real." Tanya Marie Luhrmann is the Albert Ray Lang Professor at Stanford University, in the Stanford Anthropology Department (and Psychology, by courtesy). Her work focuses on local theory of mind and the world of the spirit: on voices, visions, and the presence of invisible others. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2003 and received a John Guggenheim Fellowship award in 2007. "How God Becomes Real" was published by Princeton University Press in 2020. Full transcript available: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2021/04/26/2021/video-how-god-becomes-real-kindling-presence-invisible-others

Todne Thomas, HDS Assistant Professor of African American Religions, discusses her recent publication, "Kincraft: The Making of Black Evangelical Sociality." Judith Casselberry (Bowdoin College) and Soong-Chan Rah (North Park University) served as respondents. Full transcription available: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2021/05/10/video-author-discussion-todne-thomas-kincraft-making-black-evangelical-sociality

This lecture focused on the Hindu view of life from the margins. While the “Hindu margin” is a fairly large heterogeneous group, this lecture laid the lens on the third gender, Kinnars (pejorative term hijṛā) and spiritual partners, categorized as “consorts.” Both these groups were discussed within the ritual praxis of “lived religions,” within the larger world of Śākta Tantra (Goddess esoteric traditions). Sravana Borkataky-Varma is a historian, educator, and social entrepreneur. As a historian, she studies Indian religions focusing on esoteric rituals and gender, particularly in Hinduism (Śākta Tantra). As an educator, she is currently working as a Lecturer at Harvard University’s Faculty of Divinity and at University of North Carolina-Wilmington, where she teaches introductory courses on World Religions and higher-level courses on Hinduism, Buddhism, Religion and Film, and History of Yoga. Full transcript available: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2021/04/27/hindu-margins-third-gender-and-women-spiritu

How do we face the harsh realities and the loss associated with climate change, while still finding joy in the natural wonder that surrounds us? Today, we're speaking with Terry Tempest Williams, activist, conservationist, Harvard Divinity School Writer in Residence, and author of numerous books, including the environmental literature classic, "Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place." In this episode, Terry talks about the spiritual implications of climate change, the class she's teaching at HDS, and how we can still find beauty despite the chaos that surrounds us.

Examining religion's role in past pandemics, the responsibility faith leaders have during a health crisis, and how religious practice has been changed by the Coronavirus. Full transcript: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2021/03/12/podcast-religion-time-pandemic

This panel brought together Daan Keiman, spiritual caregiver and facilitator at a psilocybin retreat in the Netherlands, with Jamie Beachy, a MAPS MDMA Therapist and director of the Center for Contemplative Chaplaincy at Naropa University, in dialogue with Trace Haythorn of ACPE to explore their visions for psychedelic chaplaincy. What is the potential role of spiritual caregivers in providing support for people preparing for, undergoing, or integrating psychedelic experiences? What are the challenges in creating psychedelic education and training opportunities for chaplains and clergy? To what extent does the continually increasing access to psychedelics call on us to rethink, reshape, or expand conceptions of chaplaincy writ large? The panel was moderated by Rachael Petersen. Rachael is a visiting fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religion and the Psychedelics and Religion Program Director for the Riverstyx Foundation. Full video and transcript available: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2021/

A conversation with pastor, professor, and policy influencer Quardricos Driskell about whether Black History Month has taken on new significance in 2021. We also chat about avoiding complacency around racial justice issues now that the Trump presidency is over, how the Black Lives Matter movement can continue its momentum by working across generational divides, and why Democrats running for political office should talk more openly about their faith. Full transcript here: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2021/02/12/what-black-history-month-2021-means-rising-spiritual-and-ethical-movement

The HDS Office of Development and External Relations was pleased to host "Virtual Voices of Divinity: Making Meaning in 2021 at the Crossroads of Business and Capitalism, Ethics, Faith, and Justice," on February 2, 2021. Featured speakers included: John P. Brown, MBA '74, MDiv '88, Practitioner in Residence in Religion, Business Ethics, and the Economic Order, HDS Katherine Collins, MTS '11, Head of Sustainable Investing, Putnam Investments Karim Hutson, MBA '03, MTS '08, Founder & Managing Member, Genesis Companies Al-Husein Madhany, MTS '01, Head of Global People Operations, Moveworks.ai. Full transcript available on the HDS website: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2021/02/11/video-making-meaning-2021-crossroads-business-and-capitalism-ethics-faith-and-justice

The most influential religious historian of the twentieth century, Huston Smith, once referred to it as the "best-kept secret" in history. Did the ancient Greeks use drugs to find God? And did the earliest Christians inherit the same secret tradition? A profound knowledge of visionary plants, herbs, and fungi passed from one generation to the next, ever since the Stone Age? This discussion on Febrary 1, 2021, between CSWR Director Charles Stang and Brian Muraresku about his new book, The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name, a groundbreaking dive into the role of psychedelics in the ancient Mediterranean world. Full transcript here: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2021/02/12/video-psychedelics-ancient-religion-no-name