Harvard Divinity School
Harvard Divinity School
Expand your understanding of the ways religion shapes the world with lectures, interviews, and reflections from Harvard Divinity School.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Dec 14, 2020 • 2min
“In Praise of Fire” by John O’Donohue | From Those Who are Claimed by Multiple Belongings
From Those Who are Claimed by Multiple Belongings | “In Praise of Fire” by John O’Donohue
Read by Jessica Young Chang, MDiv 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:
Let us praise the grace and risk of Fire.
In the beginning,
The Word was red,
And the sound was thunder,
And the wound in the unseen
Spilled forth the red weather of being.
In the name of the Fire,
The Flame
And the Light:
Praise the pure presence of fire
That burns from within
Without thought of time.
The hunger of Fire has no need
For the reliquary of the future;
It adores the eros of now,
Where the memory of the earth
In flames that lick and drink the air
Is made to release
Its long-enduring forms
In a powder of ashes
Left for the wind to decipher.
As air intensifies the hunger of fire,
May the thought of death
Breathe new urgency
Into our love of life.
As fire cleanses dross,
May the flame of passion
Burn away what is false.
As short as the time
From spark to flame,
So brief may the distance be
Between heart and being.
May we discover
Beneath our fear
Embers of anger
To kindle justice.
May courage
Cause our lives to flame,
In the name of the Fire,
And the Flame
And the Light.

Dec 14, 2020 • 48sec
“Adoro te devote,” 13th-century Benedictine plainsong | Meditation
Meditation | “Adoro te devote,” 13th-century Benedictine plainsong
Tianyi Yuan, MTS I, bamboo flute
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

Dec 14, 2020 • 52sec
Benediction | Mark D. Jordan, Richard Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Divinity
Benediction
Mark D. Jordan, Richard Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Divinity
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:
God of ten thousand names and none,
Author of words and songs and the silence from which they sound,
Companion in all the changes of light, kindling or quenching:
Tonight we need rest, healing, courage, clear-seeing, perhaps a little joy, hope—hope in abundance.
Help us to believe again in the good we gather to do—even when we cannot gather.
Show us how to keep pace with the mountains, which walk towards you no matter the winter.
Bless us in each other’s faces.
Bless us by living us.

Dec 13, 2020 • 8min
Prelude | Adagio by Franz Josef Haydn | Christopher Hossfeld, Director of Music and Ritual
Prelude | Adagio by Franz Josef Haydn
Christopher Hossfeld, Director of Music and Ritual, piano
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

Dec 13, 2020 • 6min
“Vajra Mantra” by Satigata | Kindling the Light
Kindling the Light | “Vajra Mantra” by Satigata
Chris Berlin, Counselor to Buddhist Students; Darren Becker, MDiv ’15; Andrew Stauffer MDiv ’18; and Alanna Coady, MDiv ’18
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
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.

Nov 3, 2020 • 44min
Jarena Lee as Protestant Icon: A Conversation with Nyasha Junior and Catherine Brekus
Nyasha Junior, Visiting Associate Professor of Women's Studies and African-American Religions, and Catherine Brekus, Charles Warren Professor of the History of Religion in America, discuss Jarena Lee as Protestant icon.
View the full transcript here: https://wsrp.hds.harvard.edu/news/2020/11/03/audio-jarena-lee-protestant-icon-conversation-nyasha-junior-and-catherine-brekus

Oct 29, 2020 • 2min
Sapir Sluzker Amran
The 2020-21 Fellows in Conflict and Peace at Religion and Public Life at Harvard Divinity School share their backgrounds, fellowship projects, and how they hope to engage with the RCPI and RPL communities during their fellowship year. To engage further, get in touch with RPL at https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/about/contact-us.

Oct 29, 2020 • 1min
Vivien Sansour
The 2020-21 Fellows in Conflict and Peace at Religion and Public Life at Harvard Divinity School share their backgrounds, fellowship projects, and how they hope to engage with the RCPI and RPL communities during their fellowship year. To engage further, get in touch with RPL at https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/about/contact-us.

Oct 29, 2020 • 2min
Mati Milstein
The 2020-21 Fellows in Conflict and Peace at Religion and Public Life at Harvard Divinity School share their backgrounds, fellowship projects, and how they hope to engage with the RCPI and RPL communities during their fellowship year. To engage further, get in touch with RPL at https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/about/contact-us.

Oct 29, 2020 • 2min
Salem Al Qudwa
The 2020-21 Fellows in Conflict and Peace at Religion and Public Life at Harvard Divinity School share their backgrounds, fellowship projects, and how they hope to engage with the RCPI and RPL communities during their fellowship year. To engage further, get in touch with RPL at https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/about/contact-us.


