Harvard Divinity School

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/2021/03/08/video-what-psychedelic-chaplaincy

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

In an October 2020 op-ed for the Christian Post, Joe Biden wrote: “My Catholic faith drilled into me a core truth—that every person on earth is equal in rights and dignity, because we are all beloved children of God.” As president, he continued, “These are the principles that will shape all that I do, and my faith will continue to serve as my anchor, as it has my entire life.” I’m Jonathan Beasley, and this is a special pop-up episode of the Harvard Religion Beat. Today, I’m chatting with E. J. Dionne, who many of you likely know as a journalist, author, and political commentator. He also teaches at Georgetown and here at Harvard and HDS. And just before the election he co-authored the report "A Time to Heal, A Time to Build," with Melissa Rogers for the Brookings Institution, where he is a senior fellow in Governance Studies. I wanted to speak with E. J. to get his insight into how Joe Biden’s Catholicism will shape the way he governs as president, and how his faith will serve as a road map for how his administration will tackle economic injustices, equal rights, religious freedom, and racial justice—all while trying to heal a very divided nation. Full transcript here: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2021/1/19/how-joe-bidens-faith-will-shape-his-presidency Music credit: InSpectr, "After the Border" (Free Music Archive)

From the Christian Tradition | 2 Corinthians 4:6-18, The Bible (NRSV) Read by Emmanuel Correa Vazquez, MDiv III Seasons of Light is hosted by Harvard Divinity School's Office of Religious and Spiritual Life under the direction of Christopher Hossfeld, Director of Music and Ritual, and Kerry A. Maloney, Chaplain and Director of Religious and Spiritual Life. The full video recording of Seasons of Light 2020 can be found on the HDS YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVuYb9d7tCc&t=587s TRANSCRIPT: For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture— “I believed, and so I spoke”— we also believe, and so we speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence. Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.

From the Hindu Tradition Read by Malini Srikrishna, MTS II Seasons of Light is hosted by Harvard Divinity School's Office of Religious and Spiritual Life under the direction of Christopher Hossfeld, Director of Music and Ritual, and Kerry A. Maloney, Chaplain and Director of Religious and Spiritual Life. The full video recording of Seasons of Light 2020 can be found on the HDS YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVuYb9d7tCc&t=587s TRANSCRIPT: The ancient Indian or Hindu traditions are passed down by grandmothers, grandfathers, their stories and just the spirit of our ancestors. So here is a prayer my grandmother taught me. The human body is the temple of God. To kindle the light of awareness within you is to experience true light. The sacred flame in your inner shrine is constantly burning—embrace it! The experience of unity is what will enable you to find the purpose of this body, of this temple. Every season can be a season of light when we recognize that the true light is already always within us. To harness it, we must intentionally take the time to reflect on the ways in which darkness has shown up in our bodies and our lives. Be it through hatred, separation, ignorance or deception. A central aspect of discovering our inner shrine is recognizing the unity of all Life. If one life form suffers, you, me and all life forms are suffering in the process. To recognize that is to truly recognize ourselves, our unity. How we can manifest and really live this unity is by setting a clear vision for the way our lives will work to transform malicious histories into a future that reinforces truth. So, for this Season of Light, I invite you to discover the ways in which your body has been a carrier of histories of hatred and love and envision the future and qualities you want it to become a temple for. Let us be brave and let our fire burn all that is dark so we pave the way for an unimaginable and unifying light force. One that burns away hatred and is eternal in its capacity to love.

From the Unitarian Universalist Tradition | “Dark and Light,” by Jacqui James Read by Alex Jensen, MDiv III Seasons of Light is hosted by Harvard Divinity School's Office of Religious and Spiritual Life under the direction of Christopher Hossfeld, Director of Music and Ritual, and Kerry A. Maloney, Chaplain and Director of Religious and Spiritual Life. The full video recording of Seasons of Light 2020 can be found on the HDS YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVuYb9d7tCc&t=587s TRANSCRIPT: Blackmail, blacklist, black mark. Black Monday, black mood, black-hearted. Black plague, black mass, black market. Good guys wear white, bad guys wear black. We fear black cats, and the Dark Continent. But it’s okay to tell a white lie lily-white hands are coveted, it’s great to be pure as the driven snow. Angels and brides wear white. Devil’s food cake is chocolate; angel’s food cake is white! We shape language and we are shaped by it. In our culture, white is esteemed. It is heavenly, sun-like, clean, pure, immaculate, innocent, and beautiful. At the same time, black is evil, wicked, gloomy, depressing, angry, sullen. Ascribing negative and positive values to black and white enhances the institutionalization of this culture’s racism. Let us acknowledge the negative connotations of whiteness. White things can be soft, vulnerable, pallid, and ashen. Light can be blinding, bleaching, enervating. Conversely, we must acknowledge that darkness has a redemptive character, that in darkness there is power and beauty. The dark nurtured and protected us before our birth. Welcome darkness. Don’t be afraid of it or deny it. Darkness brings relief from the blinding sun, from scorching heat, from exhausting labor. Night signals permission to rest, to be with our loved ones, to conceive new life, to search our hearts, to remember our dreams. The dark of winter is a time of hibernation. Seeds grow in the dark, fertile earth. The words black and dark don’t need to be destroyed or ignored, only balanced and reclaimed in their wholeness. The words white and light don’t need to be destroyed or ignored, only balanced and reclaimed in their wholeness. Imagine a world that had only light—or dark. We need both. Dark and light. Light and dark. — from Been in the Storm So Long (2015) eds. Mark Morrison-Reed and Jacqui James. https://www.uua.org/worship/words/meditation/dark-and-light

From Those Who are Unaffiliated | Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space by Carl Sagan Read by Kate Hoeting, MTS II Seasons of Light is hosted by Harvard Divinity School's Office of Religious and Spiritual Life under the direction of Christopher Hossfeld, Director of Music and Ritual, and Kerry A. Maloney, Chaplain and Director of Religious and Spiritual Life. The full video recording of Seasons of Light 2020 can be found on the HDS YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVuYb9d7tCc&t=587s TRANSCRIPT: Hi everyone! I’m going to be reading a passage from Carl Sagan’s book Pale Blue Dot, in which he is reflecting on the famous photo which you can see here, titled Pale Blue Dot, taken from the Voyager I spacecraft on its way out of our solar system of Earth. It’s a little self portrait, and you can see in the middle-right, sort of in that orange sunbeam, is a tiny pixel which is Earth. Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it, everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of… religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every [parent], hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there— on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. […] The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.   It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known. — Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (New York: Random House, 1994), 8-9.