Visiting Scholars and Visiting Fellows

Two types of visiting scholars make an important contribution to widening the circle of the CSWR. Appointments to the positions of senior visiting scholar and visiting fellow are made only through sponsorship by Harvard faculty; there is no general fellowship program.

CSWR Senior Visiting Scholars

In fulfilling its mission, the CSWR is keen to support Harvard faculty whose work will complement its global focus on religion, while bringing together scholars from within and outside the University to work collaboratively at the Center. The CSWR senior visiting scholar is nominated by religion faculty at Harvard. The senior visiting scholar is expected to collaborate with the nominating faculty member in research and teaching, and will teach one course a semester, preferably in conjunction with his or her faculty nominator. The CSWR senior visiting scholar continues the CSWR tradition of bringing world religion scholars to Harvard Divinity School, but in a way consistent with the Center's emphasis on integrating its work with that of Harvard faculty. The program also promotes faculty and institutional relationships between Harvard and universities in other countries, as strong preference is given to scholars from outside the United States. Selection is a competitive process and not open to general application. The CSWR is currently not accepting nominations for this program.

CSWR Visiting Fellows

The CSWR occasionally appoints visiting fellows, when a scholar is sponsored by a Harvard faculty member and the Executive Council believes that his or her presence will enrich the life of the CSWR.

The CSWR has appointed four visiting fellows for the 2011-12 academic year:

  • Fall 2011: Norbert Hintersteiner, Lecturer in World Christianity and Interfaith Studies at the Irish School of Ecumenics and director of research at the School of Religions, Theology, and Ecumenics at Trinity College Dublin. His book publications include Traditionen überschreiten: Angloamerikanische Beiträge zur interkulturellen Traditionshermeneutik (2001); Naming and Thinking God in Europe Today: Theology in Global Dialogue (2007, editor); Postcolonial Europe in the Crucible of Cultures (2007, co-editor); and Thinking the Divine in Interreligious Encounter (forthcoming; editor). Currently he is pursuing a research project, "Comparative Theology in Europe" (2010-14), funded by a grant from the European Commission. During his visiting fellowship at the CSWR he pursues research on translation and comparative theology.

  • Fall 2011: Paula Richman, William H. Danforth Professor of South Asian Religions in the Department of Religion at Oberlin College. Among her many publications are Extraordinary Child: Translations from a Genre of Tamil Devotional Poetry (1997) and Women, Branch Stories, and Religious Rhetoric in a Tamil Buddhist Text (1988). She has also edited numerous volumes, including Questioning Ramayanas: A South Asian Tradition (2000) and Many Ramayanas: The Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia (1992). During fall semester 2011, she will be completing a monograph titled "Whose Ramayana? Modern Tamil Narratives of Rama and Sita." The book analyzes which factors led each of nine prominent female and male authors to retell the Ramayana in the mid-twentieth century.

  • Spring 2012: Dietmar Winkler, Professor of Patristic Studies and History of Christianity in the Department of Biblical Studies and Ecclesiastical History at the University of Salzburg, and director of the Mayr-Melnhof Institute for Eastern Christian Studies in Salzburg. His recent books include The Church of the East. A Concise History (2003, with W. Baum); Ostsyrisches Christentum. Untersuchungen zu Christologie, Ekklesiologie und zu den ökumenischen Dialogen der Assyrischen Kirche des Ostens (2004); and Hidden Treasures and Intercultural Encounter (2009, co-editor with L. Tang).

  • Distinguished Visiting Fellow: Donald K. Swearer, Professor Emeritus of Religion, Swarthmore College, and former director of the CSWR.

Visiting fellows do not have offices or support staff at the CSWR. Please contact them directly through their home institutions.