Seminar on Debates about Religion and Sexuality

From June 5 to 14, 2012, Harvard Divinity School will host the Seminar on Debates about Religion and Sexuality. This seminar is for scholars, other writers, religious leaders, and public advocates who are working on a first large project in which they hope to change the terms of current debates around religions and sexuality. For scholars, this project would be either a doctoral dissertation or a first book. For other writers, religious leaders, and public advocates, it might be a first book, though it might also be a new curriculum, series of public presentations, or media piece.

The seminar understands both "religion" and "sexuality" broadly. Though its staff will have done specialized work mostly in "Western" religious traditions and expressions of sexuality, participants' projects may cover a wide range of religions and sexual cultures. The seminar welcomes various methods in religious studies and theology, from the most focused ethnography or local history to the grandest policy proposal or normative argument. It is also interested in projects about media communication, public policy, religious advocacy, and religious education. It especially seeks the participation of writers from outside the United States.

The seminar will be directed by Mark D. Jordan, Richard Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Divinity, Harvard Divinity School. Faculty from Harvard University and other institutions or organizations will lead sessions in their areas of expertise. Large portions of the seminar's time will be devoted to discussing participants' writing in workshop format.