Harvard Divinity School

At Harvard Divinity School's 209th Convocation ceremony, HDS Dean Marla F. Frederick delivered the address "And, Yet...We Hope" to the HDS and Harvard community, friends, alumni, and distinguished guests. This event took place on September 26, 2024. Full transcript: https://www.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/09/30/harvard-divinity-school-2024-convocation.

Each year the HDS Women's Studies in Religion Program brings scholars in gender from around the country to enrich the experience of HDS students. 2024 Orientation offered students the opportunity to hear from the 2024–25 WSRP visiting faculty, who shared their thoughts on the ethical responsibility of scholars to be engaged in the study of gender. Speakers: S. Zahra Moballegh, Visiting Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies and Islam Wendy Mallette, Visiting Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies and Theology Ashley L. Bacchi, Visiting Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies and Jewish History Ghazal Asif Farrukhi, Visiting Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies and Anthropology Erminia Ardissino, Visiting Associate Professor Emerita of Women’s Studies and Literature Moderated by Ann Braude, Director of the Women's Studies in Religion Program Full transcript: https://www.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/08/29/video-ethical-scholarship-gender-religion-and-difference.

The Women's Studies in Religion Program (WSRP) at Harvard Divinity School was delighted to host Erminia Ardissino as she presented on biblical exegesis in Renaissance Venice aimed at rehabilitating the image of Eve. Ann D. Braude, Director of WSRP and Senior Lecturer on American Religious History at Harvard Divinity School, introduced Ardissino. Erminia Ardissino is Professor Emerita of Italian Literature at the Università di Torino. She received her MA in romance languages at the University of Georgia in Athens, a PhD at Yale University, and a doctorate at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan. She has also taught as visiting professor in several universities across Europe and North and South America. Full transcript: https://www.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/10/10/video-eves-innocence-womens-biblical-exegesis-renaissance-venice.

In Zionism: An Emotional State, author Derek J. Penslar demonstrated how the energy propelling the Zionist project originates from bundles of feeling whose elements have varied in volume, intensity, and durability across space and time. Penslar examined the emotions that have shaped Zionist sensibilities and practices throughout the movement’s history. Featuring Derek J. Penslar, William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History at Harvard University Moderated by Shaul Magid, HDS Visiting Professor of Modern Jewish Studies Full transcript: https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/12/3/video-zionism-emotional-state.

“Political Futures,” featured RPL Organizing Fellow, Josh Wolfsun, and RPL Arts and Popular Culture Fellow, Angélique Roché. Assistant Dean for Religion and Public Life, Hussein Rashid, served as moderator. Moving from the exigencies of the moment, this conversation focused on creating new communities, generating solidarity, imagining different economies, and asked how we can make the politics of the possible a reality. This was the first of four sessions in the Religion and Democratic Ideals series. This series focused on where religion intersects with democratic ideals and institutions. Sponsored by Religion and Public Life Full transcript: https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/11/14/video-religion-and-democratic-ideals-political-futures

“Reproductive Healthcare Access and White Nationalism,” featured founder of Funky Brown Chick, Twanna Hines, and Melissa Deckman, CEO of Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI). Assistant Dean for Religion and Public Life, Hussein Rashid, served as moderator. Access to reproductive healthcare engages with explicitly religious language. This session positioned that language in the broader framework of white nationalism, which is often undergirded by Christian nationalism. The session tied together structures of patriarchy and race, and offered ways of possible solidarity to create a more just future. This was the third of four sessions in the Religion and Democratic Ideals series. This series focused on where religion intersects with democratic ideals and institutions. Sponsored by Religion and Public Life Full transcript: https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/11/14/video-religion-and-democratic-ideals-reproductive-healthcare-access-and-white-nationalism.

On October 1, 2024, HDS hosted a celebration of "Hindu and Catholic, Priest and Scholar: A Love Story," the new memoir from HDS Professor Francis X. Clooney, S.J. Joining Prof. Clooney on a panel of respondents were: Rajeev Persaud, MTS ’24, Andrea Bischoff, MTS ’24, and Jonathan Makransky, multireligious ministry initiatives coordinator at HDS. The event was introduced by Kerry Maloney, Chaplain and Director of Religious and Spiritual Life. Sponsored by the Office of the Chaplain and Religious and Spiritual Life and by the Office of Ministry Studies. Full transcript: https://www.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/10/01/video-hindu-and-catholic-priest-and-scholar-love-story.

“Media, Religion, and the Nation,” featured Zeba Khan, San Fransisco Chronicle, Jesse Holland, George Washington University, and Syreeta McFadden, Borough of Manhattan Community College. Assistant Dean for Religion and Public Life, Hussein Rashid, served as moderator. For decades, news media in the U.S. has been critiqued as reproducing structures of power and exclusion, including those in religions. While entertainment media has worked towards more inclusive storytelling recently, historically all media has been inconsistent in representing and engaging marginalized communities. This panel examined how media framing creates our understanding of what the United States is and how we can be more literate media consumers. This was the second of four sessions in the Religion and Democratic Ideals series. This series focused on where religion intersects with democratic ideals and institutions. Sponsored by Religion and Public Life Full transcript: https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/11/14/video-religion-and-democratic-ideals-media-religion-and-nation.

In their book, “Safety Through Solidarity: A Radical Guide to Fighting Antisemitism,” Shane Burley and Ben Lorber, two activist journalists, present a progressive, intersectional approach to the vital question: What can we do about antisemitism? Using personal stories, historical deep-dives, front-line reporting, and interviews with leading change-makers, Burley and Lorber help us break the current impasse to understand how antisemitism works, what’s missing in contemporary debates, and how to build true safety through solidarity, for Jews and all people. Featuring co-authors Ben Lorder and Shane Burley Moderated by Shaul Magid, HDS Visiting Professor of Modern Jewish Studies This is the first event in RPL's Religion, Conflict, and Peace 2024-25 Book Series. Full transcript: https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/10/01/video-safety-through-solidarity-radical-guide-fighting-antisemitism.

This special HDS Buddhist Ministry Initiative event commemorated Dhamma Chakra Day, the anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s conversion to Buddhism along with 500,000 of his followers. Dr. Ambedkar’s peaceful, egalitarian, and grassroots movement of social liberation left an indelible mark on Indian society, embracing Buddhism as a powerful method for marginalized people to denounce the caste system and to gain true equality and dignity. Moderated by Buddhist Ministry Initiative Post-Doctoral Fellow Dr. Santosh Raut, this program included a presentation by Professor Charles Hallisey and a panel discussion on Dr. Ambedkar’s legacy as it resonates with Isabel Wilkerson’s "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents," featuring Dean Melissa Bartholomew and Professor Stephanie Sears. Full transcript: https://www.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/11/07/video-celebrating-dhamma-chakra-day-buddhism-emancipation.