Three Distinguished Divinity School Professors Retire
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From left, Harvey Cox, Paul Hanson, and David Little. HDS photographs. |
Harvey G. Cox, Jr., has been teaching at HDS and in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences since 1965. He arrived as Associate Professor of Church and Society, was promoted to Victor S. Thomas Professor of Divinity in 1971, and became the Hollis Professor of Divinity in 2002. He has published numerous books, including the bestselling Secular City, which was selected by the University of Marburg as one of the most influential books of Protestant theology in the twentieth century.
Beloved by the many generations of students he has influenced, Cox's scholarly interests have always been wide-ranging, including urbanization, theological developments in world Christianity, Jewish-Christian relations, and current spiritual movements (particularly Pentecostalism). Cox will become a research professor at HDS and will teach one course next year. He continues to travel and write, and his newest book, The Future of Faith, will be published by HarperCollins in September.
In keeping with academic lore about the Hollis professorship, Cox's retirement will be celebrated on September 10 with a "cow procession and grazing" from Harvard Yard to HDS, followed by a reception at HDS.
Paul D. Hanson has taught at Harvard since 1971 and has been the Florence Corliss Lamont Professor of Divinity since 1988. He was the Bussey Professor of Divinity from 1981 to 1988, and Professor of Old Testament before that. He has published multiple books and mentored countless students in his areas of expertise, which include Hebrew prophecy, Jewish literature of the Second Temple Period, the religion of the ancient cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt, and biblical theology.
Among his many publications are The Dawn of Apocalyptic: The Historical and Sociological Roots of Jewish Apocalyptic Eschatology; Visionaries and Their Apocalypses; Old Testament Apocalyptic; and The People Called: The Growth of Community in the Bible. He is currently working on a book examining the interplay between religion and politics, with emphasis on American faith communities rooted in biblical tradition. Hanson will also remain at HDS as a research professor, and his retirement will be celebrated with the conference "The Bible and Politics," to be held in the fall.
David Little came to the Divinity School in 1999 and was, from 1999 to 2005, the T. J. Dermot Dunphy Professor of the Practice in Religion, Ethnicity, and International Conflict. In 2005, he became Professor of the Practice in Religion, Ethnicity, and International Conflict and Faculty Associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.
Little writes and teaches in the areas of moral philosophy, moral theology, history of ethics, and the sociology of religion, with an interest in comparative ethics, human rights, religious liberty, and ethics and international affairs.
His publications include the book Islamic Activism and U.S. Foreign Policy, written with Scott W. Hibbard, and two edited volumes: Peacemakers in Action: Profiles of Religion in Conflict Resolution, and Religion and Nationalism in Iraq: A Comparative Perspective, edited with Donald K. Swearer, Distinguished Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies and director of the Center for the Study of World Religions at HDS.
Coinciding with Little's retirement, three of his students have organized a conference on religion, ethics, and peace, in collaboration with the Kroc Institute at Notre Dame, to take place at HDS November 13-14, 2009, when a dinner honoring Little will also be held.
