Religion

Sense where none seems possible

Five panelists at Harvard Divinity School — including Dean David N. Hempton — grappled with the ways religion is sometimes used to justify acts of terror, covering as well the role of faith traditions in encouraging healing.

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Posted in Boston Marathon bombing, Christopher Lydon, Colleen Walsh, David Hempton, Harvard Divinity School, Harvey G. Cox Jr., Islamic Society of Boston, Jocelyne Cesari, Marathon Bombings, National & World Affairs, Religion, “Religion and Terror” | Comments Off

The world as sacred

The first conference on African diasporic religions offered spiritual lessons from the continent that helped to create humankind, including a reminder that the body itself is a sacred space.

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Posted in African and Diasporic Religious Studies Association, Awo Oluwole Ifakunle Adetutu Alagbede, Baba John Mason, Center for the Study of World Religions, DeShannon Bowens, Francis X. Clooney, Funlayo E. Wood, Harvard Divinity School, Ile Omo Ope, Ilera, Lisa Osunleti Beckley-Roberts, Lukumi Arts, Maya James, National & World Affairs, Religion, Suzanne Preston Blier, Yoknyam Dabale, Yorùbá | Comments Off

On spirituality at Harvard

Harvard President Drew Faust and Divinity School Dean David N. Hempton discuss the role of religious studies and spiritual life in the 21st century — at Harvard and beyond.

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Posted in David N. Hempton, Drew Faust, Harvard Divinity School, Jonathan L. Walton, National & World Affairs, Religion | Comments Off

Something in a name

Author James Carroll and Harvard Divinity School professor Francis Clooney explored the significance of the Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio’s selection as pope, the potential challenges he faces as the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, and the direction for the church in the years and decades to come.

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Posted in Christopher Lydon, Colleen Walsh, Harvard Divinity School, James Carroll, National & World Affairs, Religion, Sistine Chapel | Comments Off

A new face at the Vatican

After Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected pope on Wednesday, Harvard analysts weighed in on what his selection, as the Vatican’s first Jesuit and first South American leader, could mean for the future of the Roman Catholic Church.

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Posted in Catholic Church, Catholicism, Colleen Walsh, Francis Schüssler Fiorenza, Harvard Divinity School, Harvard Kennedy School, J. Bryan Hehir, Jesuits, Katie Koch, National & World Affairs, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis, Religion, Rome, Vatican | Comments Off

Letting religion in

Two political philosophers explored the role of religion in public life during a discussion sponsored by the nonprofit organization The Veritas Forum.

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Posted in Colleen Walsh, Jean Bethke Elshtain, Michael Sandel, National & World Affairs, Pope John Paul II, Religion, The University of Chicago Divinity School, Veritas Forum, “What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets | Comments Off

Finding ‘a solution to closed doors’

A Harvard Divinity School panel explored the workings of Shariah law and the rights of women under its rules, in part through the eyes of its first female judge.

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Posted in Amina Lawal, Colleen Walsh, Harvard Divinity School, Hauwa Ibrahim, Kholoud Al-Faqih, Leila Ahmed, National & World Affairs, Religion, shariah | Comments Off

Vatican in flux

The Gazette asked Francis Schüssler Fiorenza, a professor of Roman Catholic theological studies at the Divinity School, to weigh in on the decision by Pope Benedict XVI to step down.

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Posted in Colleen Walsh, Francis Schüssler Fiorenza, Harvard Divinity School, National & World Affairs, papal conclave, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope John Paul II, Religion, Vatican II | Comments Off

A message of inclusion

Songs of struggle and freedom filled the vast sanctuary at Harvard’s Memorial Church on Monday as part of a celebration of the life and message of Martin Luther King Jr. The event marked the start of the University’s third annual Interfaith Awareness Week.

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Posted in Aaron Lester, Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, Interfaith Awareness Week, Martin Luther King Jr., Memorial Church, National & World Affairs, Religion, Rev. Jonathan L. Walton, S. Allen Counter | Comments Off

Inside India’s pop-up city

Every 12 years, the kumbh mela, a centuries-old Hindu pilgrimage, temporarily transforms an empty floodplain in India into one of the biggest cities in the world. This month, an interdisciplinary team of Harvard professors, students, and researchers set out to map the gathering for the first time.

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Posted in Business, Diana Eck, Environments & Sustainability, Faculty of Arts & Sciences, François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard Business School, Harvard Global Health Institute, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Harvard School of Public Health, India, International, Katie Koch, Kumbh Mela, Meena Hewett, National & World Affairs, Public Health, Rahul Mehrotra, Religion, South Asia Institute, urban planning | Comments Off