# Cultivating Generations of Religious Scholars The 50th Anniversary of the Undergraduate Concentration in the Comparative Study of Religion November 19, 2024 ![Room of event attendees raising glasses for a toast](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/05102024-comstdrel-3352.jpg?itok=9tebwur7) Faculty, alumni, staff, and students toast during the 50th anniversary celebration on May 10, 2024. Photo: Alex Klaus Faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends gathered on May 10, 2024, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the undergraduate concentration in the comparative study of religion at Harvard. Founded in 1974, the concentration introduced more than a new opportunity for College students to deepen and expand their study of religion. It also ushered in a generation of collaborators across disciplines, presented opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students to learn from one another, and represented a significant step for religious studies within higher education. Event speakers included Dean of Harvard Divinity School Marla F. Frederick, Catherine Brekus, chair of the Committee on the Study of Religion, and Courtney Bickel Lamberth, director of undergraduate studies in the comparative study of religion, as well as an alumni panel featuring artists, scholars, and recent graduates. Faculty highlighted long-standing partnerships between Harvard Divinity School and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences developed through the concentration, while alumni recalled the importance of mentorship from professors and the impact of the concentration on their professional journeys. The event emphasized the contributions of professors—including Bill Graham and Diana Eck, both of whom played key roles as faculty members and advocates in the development of the concentration. Since the concentration’s establishment in 1974, HDS faculty have regularly contributed to innovative pedagogy within the undergraduate program. Building on decades of collaboration, the partnership between FAS and HDS became official in 2014, as FAS and HDS faculty joined forces to administer a joint doctoral program in religion. In addition, faculty at HDS were invited to serve on the Standing Committee on the Study of Religion if they taught at least one course designed for undergraduate students. Today, the 32-member committee is evenly composed of HDS and FAS faculty. Introducing the event, Dean Frederick noted: “There is an important relationship between FAS and HDS that works to build the strength of the undergraduate concentration, not just at Harvard but throughout the entire field of religious studies. Today, we have helped to cultivate generations of religious scholars.” ## Intellectually Rigorous and Deeply Meaningful The celebration also highlighted the impact the concentration has had on the comparative study of religion, by offering groundbreaking classes to shaping the pathways of alumni over the past 50 years. Many courses within the concentration are open to both graduate and undergraduate students, creating opportunities for conversation across different fields of study. Recent courses include Annette Yoshiko Reed’s “Judaism and the Making of Christianity,” Jacob Olupona’s “African Spiritualities,” Teren Sevea’s “What Is Lived Islam,” and David Holland’s “Ballots and Bibles.” Within a recent course taught by Eck, “Ritual and the Life Cycle,” one could find undergraduate students across concentrations, master’s students from HDS and HKS, and members of the Advanced Leadership Initiative, as well as auditors and alumni. “Our courses are routinely praised for being intellectually rigorous, deeply meaningful, and even life-changing,” said Brekus. Alumni confirmed this point, sharing the impact of such courses in their work. “The voices in the texts we read, these authors . . . they offered learning that was truly transformational, and a gift that I don’t think my friends in other concentrations had,” said Alicia Rivera, AB ’22. Rivera added that her study of textual sources within the concentration informed her work in communications, allowing her to understand “how people communicate, what their needs are, what they need to hear, and how they need to hear it.” While some alumni have gone on to pursue graduate work in religious studies, others have become ordained as leaders across faith traditions. Many more have worked at the intersection of religion and other fields— including business, ethics, education, technology, government, and nonprofit organizations. “Our alumni are doing all kinds of work out in the world. They’re artists, filmmakers, doctors, finance analysts—we even had a retired CIA officer speaking at our celebration. And all of them, in their different careers, speak powerfully about the important role that the study of religion has played in their lives,” said Brekus. In academic year 2023–24, more than 850 students enrolled in the concentration, which speaks not only to the curriculum’s vitality but also the increased interest in religious literacy. Brekus explained: “There is a yearning for learning about how religion operates, how belief systems shape our world, and how religious communities are marked by internal diversity.” At the event, faculty and alumni spoke to the importance of the concentration as a space to build community, seek mentorship, and find connection. Many described the community within the concentration as warm, accepting, and transformative. “It was the feeling that you could bring what was in your heart—and it was okay to have a heart, and it was okay to be heartbroken,” said artist Shelby Meyerhoff, MDiv ’06. Dean Frederick concluded her remarks by noting the importance of the study of religion in times of conflict and division, saying: “We are indeed coming together during what we all know to be very challenging times, and yet working to continue to cultivate community in the midst of divisions and very real conflicts. But these conflicts, if nothing else, underscore the deep importance of the study of religion and the many fields religious literacy informs.” ## A Look Back: Supporting a Yearning for Religious Learning at Harvard Courtney Bickel Lamberth, in her introductory remarks at the anniversary event, shared the impact of theologian Richard Niebuhr on establishing the concentration. She also noted the importance of scholars who supported Niebuhr’s efforts, including Diana Eck, who has been instrumental in the concentration’s success, and Bill Graham, who strengthened connections with FAS during his tenure as Dean of Harvard Divinity School from 2002 to 2012. “They were all in on the formation of this incredible multidisciplinary endeavor that became part of the College in 1974. But it was not easy,” said Lamberth, “The concentration was controversial.” She brought minutes from a faculty meeting in 1974, where Niebuhr spoke before a “not altogether convinced group of colleagues” about the importance of studying religion at Harvard. Lamberth quoted Niebuhr’s description of the study of religion as “a humanistic discipline which offers an underived original insight into the human nature . . . a unique opportunity to pierce into the motives, dispositions, and values that inform and shape human activity.” Niebuhr noted that the principal objective for establishing the concentration emerged not from the faculty, but from “the marked increase of interest by undergraduates,” as students in the 1970s petitioned to design their own concentration in the interdisciplinary study of religion. He also emphasized the passion for learning that emerges from studying religion, and he urged faculty to take this under consideration when making their decision. The concentration—which began as honors-only—was formalized in 1974. Shaped by faculty, students, and staff from both HDS and FAS, the concentration encourages students to explore historical and cultural learning through both national and global lenses. Students investigate questions of philosophy, morality, ethics, language, art, politics, and public health in relation to the study of religion. Although the concentration is now honors invitational, all students are encouraged to deepen their focus areas through writing a thesis. This year, two undergraduate theses from the concentration were awarded the prestigious Hoopes Prize. *—By Shir Lovett-Graff, MTS ’24, Communications Specialist* ### Honoring the Pluralistic Imagination of Diana Eck, Professor Emerita “Central to this celebration is our honoring of Professor Diana Eck, who has been instrumental in the study of religion and pluralism at Harvard and around the globe,” said Dean Frederick at the 50th anniversary event. Diana Eck, PhD ’76, Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies, Emerita and Frederic Wertham Research Professor of Law and Psychiatry in Society in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, is well known for her candor, her deep knowledge of religious diversity within American and Indian contexts, and her commitment to mentoring generations of students and scholars. As a faculty member for 49 years, Eck’s contributions to the concentration created opportunities for innovation and connection. ![historic photo of Eck, Austin, and Miles](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/hds2/files/eck-1990s.jpg?itok=OAk8ox7b) From left to right: Diana Eck with her wife, Dorothy Austin, and Margaret Miles, the first woman to be named as tenured faculty at HDS (c. 1993).Beginning her PhD in comparative religion at Harvard in 1970, Eck studied popular religion in India, with a particular focus on temples and sites of pilgrimage. In 1983, she was the 20th woman awarded tenure at Harvard. She and her wife, Dorothy Austin, served as the faculty deans of Lowell House for 20 years, building lasting relationships with students and breaking barriers as the first openly gay, married faculty deans at Harvard. Though she began teaching primarily on India and world religions, Eck expanded her focus to include religious pluralism within the United States. “In the late 1980s, I started having students who were the children of new American immigration . . . Hindu students who were not from India, or Muslim students whose heritage was Chicago or somewhere else. That whole question of diversity within the classroom became more salient than just talking about general diversity around the world,” said Eck. Her academic interests grew to include exploring “the evolution of the religious landscape in the United States and the repeopling of America through wider immigration.” She began teaching small seminars on religion in Boston that involved fieldwork visits to growing Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh communities in the area. Eck worked with Harvard students to explore interfaith initiatives, organizations, and partnerships developing across the United States. Eventually, this became the groundwork for the Pluralism Project, an online learning resource and database of case studies, analyses, and insight into the internal diversity within global religions. ![Group photo with Eck and five grad students](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/hds2/files/04232024-dianaecklastclass-129.jpg?itok=HSknppL0) Diana Eck with her 2023–24 teaching fellows after her last class in May.In spring 2024, Eck taught her final class at Harvard: “Ritual and the Life Cycle.” This course, cross-listed with HDS and the concentration in the comparative study of religion, provoked conversations on identity, intersectionality, gender, and community. Students left with new insights into their religious and cultural contexts and the religions of others, as well as a deeper understanding of how to think beyond binary definitions of religion. Though Eck’s tenure at Harvard ended in May 2024, religious studies at Harvard has been shaped by her presence and scholarship in innumerable ways. Connections with students, alumni, and faculty will keep Eck’s legacy alive within the concentration. When asked about her favorite moments from the 50th anniversary celebration, Eck reflected on the pleasure of learning about the impact of the concentration. “It’s just a joy to hear from alumni . . . what the study of religion meant to them as they stepped out into a world that may not have been distinctly related to religion, but in which they found the study of religion to be immensely valuable,” she said. See also:- [ Alumni/Alumnae Council ](/topic-tags/alumnialumnae-council) - [ Religious Studies ](/topic-tags/religious-studies)