Harvard Divinity School

This year, HDS is hosting two Hindu Swamis, Swami Chidekananda of the Ramakrishna Order, and Swami Sachidananda of the Arsha Vidya Gurukul. Both Swamis quickly became cherished members of our community, in the classroom, in community activities, and at religious services. During this event, participants heard the two swamis talk personally about their choice for monastic life, sharing with us insights into their personal journeys as swamis, and reflecting on what it means to be a monastic in the twenty first century. This event took place March 20, 2024. Full transcript: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/03/20/video-being-hindu-monastic-personal-journeys

Dr. Charmain Jackman (she/her), founder and CEO of InnoPsych, delivered the closing keynote at the Black Religion and Mental Health Symposium. Professor Ahmad Greene-Hayes (Harvard Divinity School) and Professor George Aumoithe (FAS, History and African and African American Studies) proposed this two-day interdisciplinary symposium, integrating mind, brain, and behavior insights into the exploration of Black religious practices and their impact on mental health. They questioned how Black religious spaces can enhance mental health outcomes, considering their dual role as sanctuaries and potential impediments to open discourse. The symposium brought together experts from history, public health, psychiatry, African American studies, religious studies, and civic society, focusing on understanding the neurobiological and socio-behavioral dynamics contributing to mental health stigmatization within Black communities. The symposium aimed to illuminate how societal stressors, such as racism, influence brain function and behavior, thereby affecting mental health, while also exploring resilience mechanisms among Black religious communities. This project aligns with the Harvard Mind Brain Behavior Interfaculty Initiative’s mission of facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration to address complex issues, contributing to a broader understanding of the interplay between mind, brain, and behavior in the context of Black mental health. This event took place on March 1, 2024. For more information: https://hds.harvard.edu Full transcript: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/video/2024/03/01/black-religion-and-mental-health-symposium-closing-keynote-dr-charmain-jackman

Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and legendary gospel artist Twinkie Clark talked about her musical journey and performed music from her catalog of over 350 songs. Scholars Charrise Barron, Assistant Professor of Music at Harvard University, and Damien Sneed, Associate Professor in the Department of Music at Howard University, facilitated the conversation with Twinkie Clark which illuminated the motivations and milestones of her music career and explored key elements of her signature sound. The evening culminated in a recital in which Twinkie Clark, a Hammond Organ Hall of Fame member, performed on the Hammond B-3 organ. This event took place April 10, 2024. Learn more: https://hds.harvard.edu/ Full transcript: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/04/22/video-evening-twinkie-clark

Each spring, the Office of Ministry Studies organizes the Billings Preaching Prize Finals, an annual preaching competition open to all HDS students who have not previously won. Congratulations to MDiv candidate Auds Jenkins, the 2024 Billings Preaching Prize Competition winner, and to finalists Nicole Marie and Eve Woldemikael for their incredible talents. The event also featured readings from Solomon Kwaghko, the Massachusetts Bible Society scripture reading winner, and Ivy Wang, the OMS reading prize winner. This event took place April 17, 2024. Learn more: https://hds.harvard.edu/ Full transcript: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/04/17/video-2024-billings-preaching-prize-competition

Full title: Battle of Siffin: The Intrigues Against Imam Ali's Statebuilding Project & Its Legacy in the Modern Middle East This talk explores the politics and legacy of the Battle of Siffin — a foundational moment in the early political memory and history of Islam that pitted Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib against a rebellion in Syria led by Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan. As the first Shi'a Imam and fourth Sunni Caliph, the figure of Ali looms large in the consciousness of Muslims from the very early Islamic period until today. The talk is divided into two sections. The first explores the dialogue and politics between Ali and the diverse battle factions in his army at the Battle of Siffin. It analyzes Imam Ali's state building project, the interests of various elite generals and divisions within Imam Ali’s army, the context behind internal Muslim conflict and the political order of the early Islamic state, and the distinctions made by Ali regarding the roots and reasons behind internal civil conflict within the Muslim body politic. The second section analyzes how contemporary thinkers and scholars in the modern Middle East have interpreted the legacy of Imam Ali, the Battle of Siffin, and the "First Muslim Civil War” as a lens through which to understand the intersection between early Islamic history and modern political theology as well as debates over governance and statecraft in contemporary Islamic intellectual thought. Speaker: Dr. Mohammad Sagha, Lecturer in the Modern Middle East, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (NELC), Harvard University This event took place on April 29, 2024. For more information: https://hds.harvard.edu Full transcript: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/video/2024/04/29/battle-siffin-intrigues-against-imam-alis-statebuilding-project-its-legacy-modern

Sahar Shahid, MDiv ’17, and the members of the HDS Alumni/Alumnae Council are pleased to invite fellow graduates and the School community to celebrate Peter J Gomes STB ’68 Distinguished Alumni Honors and our theme of Journeys of the Soul. This year, we seek to honor those who, across various systems of belief, delve into the soul's journey in this life and beyond and are committed to practices that foster connection with the transcendent. Read about this year's honorees here: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/04/22/journeys-soul-hds-recognizes-awe-inspiring-alumni-2024-gomes-distinguished-honors This event took place on May 9, 2024. For more information, visit https://hds.harvard.edu/ Full Transcript: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/video/2024/05/09/peter-j-gomes-stb-%E2%80%9968-distinguished-alumni-honors-journeys-soul

Listen to Tibetan Buddhist master H.E. Ling Rinpoche's teachings on embodying the power of compassion and wisdom to uproot discrimination and bigotry. HDS was so honored to extend this rare opportunity to the community to experience the teachings of Buddhism from a representative of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. Bio His Eminence the 7th Kyabjé Yongzin Ling Rinpoche is the reincarnation of the senior tutor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He entered Drepung Monastery in India in 1990 and completed all of his Buddhist studies and training by 2017. He is one of the few religious figures in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition who represents His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and he travels widely around the globe giving teachings. This event took place on April 23, 2024. For more information, see https://hds.harvard.edu Full transcript: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/video/2024/04/23-compassion-action-addressing-discrimination-through-lens-buddhist-teachings

A yearly tradition at HDS, the Stendahl Symposium honors the memory of former professor Krister Stendahl, who tirelessly sought to repair fractions between Jews and Christians, supported the ordination of women, and pushed for the full inclusion and participation of women and minority voices in academia and interfaith work. Opening Remarks: Given by Samirah Jaigirdar, HDSSA Academics Chair Panel 1: Conversations Across Religious Boundaries "Christian Zen: Innovative Syncretism or Cultural Appropriation?" by Jeffrey Ng "Are You My Mother: Redefining Adoptive Relationships Through a Comparative Study of Western-Christian and Neo-Confucian Ethics" by Grace Sill "They said that he was the image of Tezcatlipoca: Dress and iconography in technologies of ritual remembrance in 1500s Texcoco" by Marisol Andrade Muñoz "Humanism in the Eastern and Western Philosophy and Religion: Concerning Confucius/Mencius and Kant" by Juye Han Panel 2: Religion and the Digital Age "Meme-ing Making: Our Newest Testament" by Maddison Tenney "Religion’s On Her Lips: Exploring the “Good Girl Faith” of Taylor Swift’s Lyricism" by Olivia Hastie and Anna Guterman "New Media, New Narratives, New Nuns: Catholic Nuns Making a Habit of Social Media" by Lauren Tassone "The Spiritual Value of Slasher Films: Watching Horror Movies as a Sacred Practice" by Kristen Maples Panel 3: Religion and Current Affairs "From Haven to Hazard: Examining the Role of Family as Sanctuary in Mormon Discourse" by Perlei Toor ""We Are Both First Responders and Vulnerable": Religious Actors as Implementing Partners for Climate Adaptation in Kenya" by Miriam Israel "Vacation to Auschwitzland: The Commodification of Grief and Fear in Auschwitz Dark Tourism and its Implications for the Divine" by Hannah Eliason "Is QAnon a Cult? An Analysis of Religious Rhetoric in Q Drops" by Brady W Schuh "The Transformative Power of Humility: The Irony of American History and a Reorientation of American Foreign Policy in the 21st Century" by Ailih Weeldreyer Panel 4: Studying Religion "“Christian Writers on Judaism” at Harvard: Who Studies Whom in the Academic Study of Religion?" by Rachel Florman "Rassenfrage, Judenfrage, Schwarzen-frage: Liminal Identities in W.E.B. Du Bois’s Prayers for Dark People" by Becca Leviss "Reimagining Religious Studies: Wilfred Cantwell Smith’s Revolutionary Legacy" by Yanchen Liu Panel 5: Religion and Identity "Thus Spoke the Child " by Micah Rensunberg "Coming Out as Evangelical, Converting to Queerness" by Karina Yum "Heritage Judaism, Race Science, and the Embodied Past: Searching for the Anti-Zionist Jewish Body" by Shir Lovett-Graff "Building a Theological Home for Korean Queers: The Possibilities for Korean Queer Theology through the Eyes of Korean Christian Queers" by Jihyun Son This event took place on April 19, 2024. For more information: https://hds.harvard.edu Full transcript: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/video/2024/04/19/stendahl-symposium-2024-new-horizons-new-resistance

Full title: RCPI Spring 2024 Book Series: Stranger in My Own Land: Palestine, Israel and One Family's Story of Home This book talk featured “Stranger in My Own Land: Palestine, Israel and One Family's Story of Home,” a memoir by Palestinian writer Fida Jiryis. “Stranger in My Own Land” chronicles a desperate, at times surreal, search for a homeland between the Galilee, the West Bank and the diaspora. The book is a tale of conflict, exodus, occupation, return, and search for belonging, narrated through Jiryis’s personal experience with displacement. In the book, Jiryis asks difficult questions about what the right of return would mean for the millions of Palestinians waiting to come ‘home’. Featuring Fida Jiryis, Palestinian writer and editor Moderated by Sara Roy, Associate of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies Co-sponsored by the Middle East Forum at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard This event took on April 8, 2024. For more information: https://hds.harvard.edu/ Full transcript: https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/06/18/video-stranger-my-own-land-palestine-israel-and-one-familys-story-home

This lecture was given by visiting Associate Professor of Women’s Studies and Islam, Z. Fareen Parvez (University of Massachusetts, Amherst). This event took place on April 4, 2024. For more information: https://hds.harvard.edu Full transcript: https://wsrp.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/04/04/video-passions-aisha-women-trauma-and-jinn-possession-morocco