Harvard Divinity School

WSRP Research Associate Changshen Shi (Ching-ning Wang) delivers the talk, "The Making of A Modern Female Chan Teacher: Gender, Religion, and Modernity." Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Iqbal Akhtar, Associate Professor, Florida International University, “The Indic Chronicle of Light from Zanibar” Kim Wortmann, PhD Student, Harvard University, “Zanzibar and Oman: Ibadi Revival in an East Africa town” Caity Bolton, PhD Student, Graduate Center CUNY, “Divine Science: Knowledge, Islamic Education and Development in Zanzibar” Ahmed Sharif, PhD student, NYU, “Somalia, Sudan, and the rise of Scholar Politics in the ICU” Panel chair: Kai Kresse, Columbia University Texts, Knowledge, and Practice: The Meaning of Scholarship in Muslim Africa website: http://hds.harvard.edu/texts-knowledge-practice-africa Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Abdulkadir Hashim, Senior Lecturer Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies Praise and Prestige: Significance of Elegiac Poetry among Muslim Intellectuals in the Late Twentieth Century Kenya Coast Lidwien Kapteijns, Elizabeth Kimball Kendall and Elisabeth Hodder Professor of History, Wellesley College, and Alessandra Vianello, Affiliated Researcher at School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), ʻIlm and the Common People: Sufi Vernacular Poetry and Islamic Education in Brava, c. 1890–1925 Hassan Mwakimako, Associate Professor, Department of Religious and Philosophical Studies, Pwani University Kenya, “Swahili Islamic Manuscripts; the Friday khutba of Shaykh Al-Amin b. Ali al-Mazrui, 1890-1947.” Kai Kresse, Associate Professor Columbia University, ‘Enduring relevance. Sample of Oral Poetry on the Swahili Coast Panel chair: Chanfi Ahmed, Humboldt Universität Texts, Knowledge, and Practice: The Meaning of Scholarship in Muslim Africa website: http://hds.harvard.edu/texts-knowledge-practice-africa Le

Ousmane Kane, Alwaleed Professor of Contemporary Islamic Religion and Society at Harvard Divinity School delivers a lecture titled “History, Movement, and the Spread of Islamic Scholarship in Muslim Africa.” Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Martin Doblmeier, Cornel West, Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy, Harvard Divinity School, and project director Andrew Finstuen discuss Doblmeier's documentary on Reinhold Niebuhr. K. Healan Gaston, Lecturer on American Religious History at Harvard Divinity School moderated the discussion. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Divinity School professors have long taught ethics in the Yard. Beginning early in the 1880s, as HDS pioneered the analysis of "social problems" using the case method, Francis Peabody taught an undergraduate course on urban ills. Students called it "drainage, drunkenness, and divorce." Today teaching has to address other ethical anxieties. Despite claims of universal liberation, many of them have to do with sexuality and gender. Professor Mark Jordan discusses teaching sexual ethics at Harvard in the age of hook-up apps, fluid identities, and "affirmative consent." Mark D. Jordan is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Christian Thought at Harvard Divinity School and Professor of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Vinya Ariyaratne, Nobuyuki Asai, Tara Gingerich, and Susan Hayward discuss the humanitarian crisis of a natural disaster. Diane L. Moore moderated the discussion. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Alastair Ager, Sahar Ali, Nahuel Arenas, and Manal Omar discuss the humanitarian crisis of resource distribution in Sudan. Stephen Prothero moderated the discussion. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Fadi Hallisso, Azza Karam, Anwar Khan, and Tahir Zaman discuss the humanitarian crisis of the Syrian conflict. Diane L. Moore moderated the discussion. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Jean Duff, Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, and Katherine Marshall discuss the humanitarian crisis of infectious disease through the lens of Ebola and HIV/AIDS. Stephen Prothero moderated the discussion. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

The the symposium on Religious Literacy and Humanitarian Action opened on January 19, 2017 with a plenary panel featuring Alastair Ager, Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, and Azza Karam. Opening remarks are offered by HDS Dean David N. Hempton, Diane L. Moore, director of the Religious Literacy Project at HDS, and Stephen Prothero, Professor of Religion at Boston University. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Mauro Nobili, Assistant Professor of History, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign A Nineteenth-Century Political Project: Nūḥ b. al-Ṭāhir’s Tārīkh al-fattāsh Noah Salomon, Associate Professor of Religion, Carleton College, “Rethinking Scripturalism: Ethics, Knowledge, and Textual Practice in Contemporary Sudan” Oludamini Ogunnaike, Assistant Professor of Religion, College of William and Mary, “Philosophical Sufism in the Sokoto Caliphate: The Case of Shaykh Dan Tafa” Farah El-Sharif, PhD Student, Harvard University Sunnah as “Open Source” in Hājj ʿUmar al-Fūti’s Kitāb al-Rimāh Panel chair: Charles Hallisey, Harvard Divinity School Texts, Knowledge, and Practice: The Meaning of Scholarship in Muslim Africa website: http://hds.harvard.edu/texts-knowledge-practice-africa Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Etty Terem, Associate Professor, Rhodes College, “The New Mi`yar of al-Wazzani: Redefining Islamic Orthodoxy and the Making of Modern Morocco” Ismail Warscheid, Research Fellow CNRS, “A West African Approach to Islamic Law? Sahelo Saharan Legal Writing in Post Classical Malikism” Sarah Eltantawi, Assistant Professor, Comparative Religion and Islamic Studies. The Evergreen State College ”The influence of Northern Nigeria’s encounter with European colonialism on the development of Islamic law.” Matthew Steele, PhD Student, Harvard University, “The Khalil and Commentary: Making of Legal Literary Canon in West Africa” Panel chair: Zachary Wright, Northwestern University Qatar Texts, Knowledge, and Practice: The Meaning of Scholarship in Muslim Africa website: http://hds.harvard.edu/texts-knowledge-practice-africa Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

A roundtable discussion with journalists and scholars during a symposium organized by the Religious Literacy Project at Harvard Divinity School in collaboration with Boston University. Panelists were: Diane Moore, Harvard Divinity School; Stephen Prothero, Boston University; and Laurie Goodstein, The New York Times. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Journalists and scholars discussed Donald Trump and evangelicals during a symposium organized by the Religious Literacy Project at Harvard Divinity School in collaboration with Boston University. The panelists were: Michelle Boorstein, The Washington Post, Jason DeRose, National Public Radio News; Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Princeton University; Debra Mason, Missouri School of Journalism; and Jeff Sharlet, Dartmouth College. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Journalists and scholars discussed refugees, immigration, and national security during a symposium organized by the Religious Literacy Project at Harvard Divinity School in collaboration with Boston University. Panelists were: Michelle Boorstein, The Washington Post; Stewart Hoover, UC Boulder College of Media, Communication and Information; and Angela Zito, Center for Religion and Media at New York University. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Journalists and scholars discussed the Black Lives Matter movement during a symposium organized by the Religious Literacy Project at Harvard Divinity School in collaboration with Boston University. The panelists were: Adelle Banks, of Religion News Service; Lilly Fowler, of Religion and Ethics Newsweekly; Nathan Schneider of the University of Colorado, Boulder; Wendi Thomas, a 2016 Nieman Fellow; and Diane Winston, the the Knight Center Chair in Media and Religion at the University of Southern California, Annenberg. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

New York Times religion reporter Laurie Goodstein delivers the keynote address during the Religious Literacy and Journalism Symposium at Harvard Divinity School. Opening remarks are offered by HDS Dean David N. Hempton, Diane L. Moore, director of the Religious Literacy Project at HDS, and Stephen Prothero, Professor of Religion at Boston University. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Religions and the Practice of Peace Colloquium co-sponsored with the conference "Pluralism Project @ 25: Diversity and Inclusion in the American Crucible." This event was held on September 22, 2016. The featured speakers were Sarbpreet Singh, playwright, commentator, and poet, and J. Mehr Kaur, graduate of Smith College with a BA in theatre and an emphasis in directing. Mr. Singh and Ms. Kaur were joined by the actors Benjamin Gutman, Sydney Grant, Monica Giordano, and Michelle Finston, who performed an excerpt from Mr. Singh’s play "Kultar’s Mime." Thanks to the generous support from the El-Hibri Foundation. This monthly public series, convened by HDS Dean David N. Hempton, brings together a cross-disciplinary RPP Working Group of faculty, experts, graduate students, and alumni from across Harvard University and the local area to explore topics and cases in religions and the practice of peace.

Part of the Religions and the Practice of Peace Colloquium Dinner Series, this event was held on October 6, 2016, and featured 2011 Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee, Liberian peace activist, trained social worker, and women’s rights advocate. The conversation was moderated by David N. Hempton, Dean of Harvard Divinity School and Ann Braude, director of the Women’s Studies in Religion Program at HDS. Co-sponsored by the Women's Studies in Religion Program at Harvard Divinity School. With generous support from the Provostial Fund for the Arts and Humanities at Harvard University, the Susan Shallcross Swartz Endowment for Christian Studies, and the El-Hibri Foundation. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.